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Made In Africa

The Power of Media

Barefoot Workshops is pioneering unique formats, or “media templates”, to assist governments, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and medical institutions, among others, to tap the power of low-cost digital video technology to deliver solutions into communities in which they work.

We customize programs to help those directly affected by issues such as HIV/AIDS, war/conflict, displacement, poverty, and illiteracy, to message more effectively to their own people, and to bridge them together with stake-holders—locally and internationally—who can assist their goals.

The long-term role of Barefoot Workshops in Africa is to facilitate a hub of media-interested organizations to collaborate in the creation of MADE IN AFRICA: HIV/AIDS Media Library, a video library that serves as a resource for all organizations engaged in HIV/AIDS education, training, treatment and care.

Barefoot also aims to catalyze broader distribution of media at a grassroots level, in the communities that need it most, through mobile devices and community screenings as well as through mainstream media. To this end, we offer continuous workshops and training to NGO caregivers, counselors and staff to produce ongoing content that can be distributed to a growing network of local and international members. Subscribe to receive news and updates for Made In Africa DVD Club here.

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We are presently seeking funding to role out the first 18 months of training, and to create a local steering committee to advise the project in South Africa.

Barefoot Media Templates

History

The President’s Digital Freedom Initiative

“Video Policy Letters”

In November of 2006, Barefoot Workshops partnered with the President’s Digital Freedom Initiative (DFI) to train students and NGO workers to leverage digital video technology to highlight effective solutions to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. International students were paired with South African organizations, Nurturing Orphans of AIDS for Humanity and YouthAIDS, to create three-minute videos that could serve as a practical aid to idenify funding priorities on the ground. NGO filmmakers then shared their "Video Policy Letters" from the U.S. Consulate in Cape Town, through a videoconference screening, with representatives of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), USAID's Global Health office, U.S. Department of State Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), Computer Frontiers and the Corporate Council on Africa.

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Nurturing Orphans of AIDS For Humanity (NOAH)

“Peer Counseling Videos”

In April 2007, Barefoot Workshops co-facilitated a ten-day workshop together with NOAH staff members in Soweto entitled, “True Life Stories: Girls Speak Out!”, The purpose of the training was to raise self-esteem and reduce at-risk behavior in girls, ages 13-17, who have been orphaned by AIDS. The workshop culiminated with a live videoconference screening of "Peer Counseling Videos" created by the girls to empower others like them who had lost a parent to AIDS. Videos were intended thereafter to be used in a confidential setting to assist with counseling at NOAH Arks.

Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation

“Behavior Change Dramas”

In May 2007, Barefoot Workshops trained staff members of Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF), to produce short videos on topics such as: HIV testing, ARV treatment, disclosure issues (between grandmothers and their grandchildren), how to maintain HIV-negative status, and communication strategies for parents and teens to address sexual behavior. The videos screened at the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine at the Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Cape Town, and won a commitment on the part of Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation to initiate a film library produced by the  DTHF Film Team.

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Peer Education Development Agency (GOLD)

“Most Significant Change (MSC) Stories”

Based on lessons learned in past workshops, Barefoot Workshops will lead a two-week workshop in Cape Town in May 2009, that will support ten staff members from Peer Education Development Agency (GOLD), including four members of their Research & Assessment team, to integrate "participatory video" into their core outreach strategy. GOLD presently reaches 9000 young educators in more than 110 schools and communities across Botswana, Zambia, Kwa-zulu Natal, and the Western Cape with a unique model of peer education that positively influences behavior with regard to HIV/AIDS. The course will also cover for the first time, MSC technique, a participatory method of monitoring and evaluation.

For more information, please contact Alison Fast at alison.fast@barefootworkshops.org.

 
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