What happens when an established media group like the Herald joins hands with a strong grassroots
media organisation Video Volunteers? It certainly paves way for strengthening
the society.
“Video Volunteers empowers India’s poorest
citizens to right the wrongs they witness, using the most evocative medium
there is. Our flagship initiative, IndiaUnheard, is the news agency for India’s
disenfranchised communities. It is India’s only reporting network focused
exclusively on providing broad coverage from the poorest, most media-dark
districts in India,” Assistant Communication Manager, Video Volunteers,
Nilankur Das said.
Operating from Goa, Video Volunteers’
achievements are its impacts.
“Impact videos are inspirational stories
of bottom-up change that document how community media has led to concrete
change. VV teaches Correspondents not just to report, but also to initiate
local campaigns, and approximately one in five videos manages to solve the
underlying issue,” Das said.
This is done by providing information, rallying people to
believe collective action works, networking with other activists, fostering
community-level discussion through screenings and discussion clubs, and acting
as a bridge to the local administration, which is often unaware of people’s
problems.
“When necessary, Video Volunteers starts petitions, lobby the
state or national administration, or engage the media in order to bring about
the change,” he said.
Video Volunteers has now tied up with Herald Group for its free
training programme Buland Bol.
“Buland Bol is a movement to empower the voices of the
marginalised communities in India. It offers free training and mentoring for
citizens who are interested in becoming digital changemakers. After the
training, the participants will become the voice of their communities. They
will be trained to use video and social media to further the selected cause,”
Das said.
This training programme will create a pool of community
journalists in Goa to highlight various issues.
“Herald Group is going to encourage the Buland Bol participants,
the community journalists, by giving them internship opportunities on a
rotational basis in their press and digital sections,” he said.
Speaking on the future prospects o this association, the
organisation spokesperson said that presently they are training 800+ people
from 23 States and this movement is rapidly growing across India.
“The programme allows participants to internalise grassroots
issues, work closely with the remote communities and uphold the spirit of
democracy and justice. ‘Buland Bol’ movement is an opportunity to understand
and realise the ecosystem of citizen journalism,” he said.
“We are sure that the connections established by Buland Bol
participants with our network of changemakers and Herald Group will be
beneficial to them in their professional careers as communication practitioners
or journalists,” Das said.
Further,
this could also be an opportunity for some of the participants to be employed
in the Video Volunteers network or Herald Group, besides highlighting local
issues in social media and the press, he added.
