i3 - July/August 2017 - 26

video can't encourage them to change their behavior. Rather, the
To educate communities
opposite is likely true. The more novel video is to a person, the
about health issues, OMPT
more likely it is to affect them.
helps local communities
shoot and edit videos.
While video is now more common in very rural parts of the
world, video created locally is still rare. It's not uncommon for
people in rural parts of developing nations to have mobile phones
that can play video. The content, however, is highly produced and
not local. People are far more surprised to see a video of someone
who lives two villages away than the new
"Spider-Man" film.
In places like Guatemala, a SpanishNGO PARTNERS
speaking country, there are 21 different
Mayan languages actively spoken.
AIR
INTERNATIONAL
Haiti
RESCUE COMMITTEE
Delivering a unified message in a comEthiopia
munity's native language is exceedingly
CATHOLIC RELIEF
SERVICES
OPEN
difficult. But when NGOs (non-governGuatemala
UNIVERSITY
Bangladesh
mental organizations) equip field workCATHOLIC RELIEF
ers with small, battery-powered
SERVICES
PLAN
Senegal &
INTERNATIONAL
projectors to show locally produced vidGuinea-Bissau
Guatemala
eos to communities in need, the results
CEASPA
ROOM TO READ
often surpass expectations.
Panama
Cambodia
Plan International, an organization
CENTER FOR
SAVE THE
DISEASE CONTROL
CHILDREN
that supports the health and developAND PREVENTION
Ethiopia
ment of young girls, was challenged by
Guinea
SAVE THE
a goal of improving a specific commuCONCERN UNIVERSAL
CHILDREN
Guinea
Mozambique
nity's nutritional health because men
were unperceptive to aid. However, by
CORPS
SAVE THE
Guatemala
CHILDREN
taking video education to the commuNepal
nity on a mobile projector, they were
DIGITAL GREEN
India
U.S. EMBASSY
finally able to engage men and boys and
Guinea
DIGITAL
further the progress of the initiative.
STUDY HALL
U.S. EMBASSY
When the Centers for Disease
India
Liberia
Control and Prevention (CDC) took
EDC
WINGS
South Sudan
Guatemala
videos they had created using local personalities, spoken in the native lanGLOBAL
WORLD
COMMUNITIES
HEALTH
guage to rural communities in Guinea,
Rwanda
ORGANIZATION
Liberia
they were shocked when viewers
INTERNATIONAL
exclaimed, "Play it again! Play it again!"
MEDICAL CORPS
WORLD VISION
Ethiopia
Ethiopia
after each viewing. These short videos
about public health practices were

Non-profit One
Mobile Projector
per Trainer provides developing
areas with cameras
and projectors
to create educational videos.

JULY/AUGUST 2017

often viewed multiple times by the same
people out of enthusiasm for seeing people
like themselves on screen.

THE METHOD

OMPT bases their method on two principles. The first is quality video production
should be simple enough that NGOs don't
need to hire freelancers or companies to
handle production for them. OMPT trains
existing staff members in organizations to
use inexpensive cameras and free editing
software to make simple educational videos.
The second principle is that video should be
distributed anywhere in the world, regardless of how remote the location is and what
kind of technical infrastructure is in place.
Distribution relies on a concept known
as the sneakernet: a method of distributing electronic media by physically transporting it. In OMPT's case it happens on
battery powered projectors equipped with
SD cards full of content. The projectors are
small enough to fit in a pocket and project
an image large enough and bright enough
to screen a video for 50 people.
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

i3 - July/August 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - July/August 2017