200 community correspondents; 9,000 videos, nearly 2,000 videos impactful; 100s of government officials reacted to the videos by taking positive action against corruption and poor governance. These and more stats stand out on Video Volunteers’ website, www.videovolunteers.org.
Described by an award’s platform as a human rights media organization, VV describes itself as enabling “marginalised citizens to hold the government accountable, by telling their stories to the world and launching impact campaigns”.
Issues ranging from health and sanitation to gender issues, caste and more are addressed by correspondents who live in the same community, often experiencing the same problems themselves, and who pursue their stories till solutions are implemented.
“About eight years ago, I raised the issue of women farmhands being paid much lower than male workers. Today, both are paid equally in my village, Walhe,” says 32-year-old Rohini Pawar, VV’s Pune-district correspondent since 2009.
Madhuri Chauhan, VV’s UP correspondent, has been with the organisation since six years. Describing herself as from the scheduled caste community, she says she loves her work for the strong women’s network it has enabled.
“Women in my community are not encouraged to take up jobs unless it’s teaching or nursing,” says the 28-year-old who first “lied and got caught” by family and later insisted vehemently that she wanted to be a correspondent and was reluctantly allowed to undergo VV’s training.
Today, apart from helping her community and earning her own livelihood, she has reduced the gender discrimination in her family.
And then there’s VV’s South Goa correspondent Devidas Gaonkar from Cotigao. The author of a Marathi book on tribal history and traditional practices says his research skills have been honed by his work at VV.
“They hire only those who also do social work, who care for their community, so that the work is not just work, it makes a difference,” says the 34-year-old.
Hoping that every village in India will someday have its own journalist working to solve its issues, Jessica Mayberry, co-founder of VV, says the reason why this form of media works is because the community is involved.
“When they see that one of their own isn’t just doing a story but is pursuing their issue, they participate, they support and that’s how change occurs,” says Jessica.
VV’s content has been carried by numerous Indian media companies. Particularly worth watching are VV’s two shows, ‘India Loud and Clear’ and ‘Fixing India’, on their YouTube channel. “Now the issues raised by our correspondents don’t just have a local appeal, they have a world audience,” says Jessica.
