Day one afternoon was dominated by parallel sessions all in one way or the other focusing on access and sustainability of rural water supply. I attended a session on Rural Water Cinema where participants watched short films submitted by different organisations focusing on different topics pertaining to rural water supply.
A film by WaterAid in Tanzania really impressed me. It showed practical challenges faced by community owned water supply organisations in managing day to day operations. It also highlighted financial, technical and institutional challenges in rural Tanzania. It concludes with analysing the advantages and disadvantages of different management models showing the strength and weakness of each model in ensuring sustained functionality of rural water supplies.
Key learning
After watching the films, it was obvious that in communities where the reading culture is poor, audio-visual documentaries is the best way to explain a concept, approach of work or showcasing the impact of a particular intervention on community.
It was however noted that while films are good campaign awareness creation tools, if translated in local languages they are also powerful tools in knowledge management and dissemination to a bigger audience.
Production of good films and airing them on national televisions is very costly in most countries. Organisations were advised to always make short and precise because long development films tend to bore.
As a solution to having free air time on national televisions organisation making films were advised to always work with media houses or journalists while filming. This way they can have an opportunity to have key issues identified while filming feature on national television free of charge.
To reach wider audiences at community level, films should be translated into local languages, distribute to local NGOs and support them in screening them at community level.
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