In partnership with the Uganda National Chapter of the Movement for Community-led Development, The Hunger Project-Uganda has produced a beautiful nine-minute video on Community-led Development that shares the beauty and complexity of community-led development in practice. This video showcases women, youth, rural people, people with disabilities, and inspirational community leaders spanning the country.
Gorgeous clips give voice to community members who share their lived experiences, and to proximate leaders dedicating their lives to partnering with communities. You’ll also hear from other Ugandan stakeholders–a pastor, a civil servant, and nationally-focused development professionals.
Together, they paint a picture of community-led development across Uganda. Chapter members describe the genuine, real power of the CLD model and show how it serves as a foundation of a wide variety of initiatives–enabling national and global evidence to fuel local innovation and ownership.
The Movement’s National Chapters live by the maxim: Our Actions Match Our Words. This video brings that truth to life by witnessing community members as the “main characters” of their own stories, with other stakeholders as “best supporting actors.” Together they tell a story of the joy and dignity of local leadership and collective action.
Watch it to feel the solidarity, and see clearly how appropriate support–from fellow Ugandans, and any others who care in the world– can help leverage and amplify the power of CLD.
Global CLD Leaders and the Producers themselves unpack what makes this nine-minute video so effective.
Every month, National Chapter and other CLD leaders meet by Zoom to share, inspire and learn.* Last week, during our 14th gathering, we screened the video…and once the standing (zoom) ovation was over, we broke into small groups to discuss what made it so good (full notes here).
Next, we heard directly from the Uganda National Chapter members that conceptualized and produced the video. The Hunger Project’s Joanna Mbakulo, Daisy Owomugasho, and Chapter Chair Nixon Ochatre shared how they took their vision for a film and made it happen.
A great producer works their magic behind the scenes. In this case, Joanna Mbakulo shared the intricacies of producing a substantive, on-point, and sincere video–the key was to stay focused on portraying the “truths of CLD.” Joanna worked with Chapter members on articulating their goal for the video and built out the nuances from there. How could they portray a process, a set of ideas that are essentially intangible? And link those to the tangible results. By characterizing their intentions as “highlighting what CLD is about and why it is important,” Joanna and the Chapter members knew the key was fully involving diverse Chapter members because they know their communities best.
Meanwhile, Joanna identified a professional videographer who was right for the job–and made sure he had the understanding and supervision to get what they needed on a whirlwind trip around the country, capturing footage under pressure as the 2021 holiday season quickly approached.
Joanna, Chapter members, and the videographer traveled across Uganda to ensure representation from across the country. They visited Marecha district in the North, Mayuge in the East, and Kasese in the West, taking care to consider and respect the cultural norms of each community along their way.
Community members spoke for themselves, without scripts, as they shared genuine answers to the thoughtful questions co-created by the Chapter members. Nixon explained that this dialogue-based approach generated such powerful material that the film’s final length was nearly twice the original intention of five minutes.
To Joanna, the strength of this video came from the clarity of the collective vision of the Uganda Chapter – “It is about knowing what you’re going for, and why you’re going for it.” That is, community-led development for all Ugandans.
But of course, no one is stopping here. The point of the video is to help stakeholders understand and support community-led development efforts. The Uganda Chapter will be using this in-country in a multitude of ways, and they encourage the rest of us to do the same! Consider showing it yourself and holding your own group discussion about it, possibly making your own…and all to leverage more awareness, enthusiasm..and ultimately action.
Special thanks to the Uganda National Chapter and THP Uganda for this groundbreaking work.
*If you’d like to join our monthly CLD leadership call in the future, you are welcome! To be added to the recurring invitation: Email: ann.hendrix-jenkins@thp.org