Media
Media development action with informed and engaged societies
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Children As Media Producers (CAMP)

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CAMP©-Children As Media Producers is a participatory video initiative of the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad (India). The basic premises of CAMP include:

  • "Children must be seen as producers and contributors of information and not only as consumers.
  • Community media can play an important role in strengthening cultural rights, and in particular, the rights of linguistic and cultural minorities, and indigenous peoples by providing access to the means of communication.
  • Access to the means of communication must be supplemented by education and training to assist a critical understanding of the media and to enable children to develop their media and communication skills."
Communication Strategies

CAMP seeks to use the power of video for social change. It works with agencies on projects that aim at building human capacities in participatory video production and, in turn, network with social movements and campaigns that believe in using information and communication technologies (ICTs) for action. Through projects it engages in with its partners, CAMP aims to demystify ICTs and form a network of video activists.

 

As part of a contest that took part in 2010, over 200 children belonging to different social strata - some of whom were affected by HIV or who are streetchildren, orphans, and so on - from Andhra Pradesh wielded the camera to produce films on child rights, education, health and hygiene, etc. What ensued was a 2-day festival, with over 1,500 children and over 600 adults in attendance. Every child who participated in the film-making process was given a certificate of participation. Two Best Contributor Trophies (facilitating organisations that actively participated in the entire process and submitted thought-provoking films produced by children) were also awarded: one to a civil society group and another to a school from Hyderabad. Every organisation that participated in the festival was also presented with a memento.

 

Videos made by the children as part of CAMP can be viewed here. The CAMP website also features a number of resources on participatory video as a communication strategy, particularly when working with children and youth.

Development Issues

Children, Youth.

Partners

Initial funding was provided by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Hyderabad Field Office.

Sources

Submission to The Communication Initiative from fverani, March 17 2011; CAMP website, December 30 2011; and email from Vasuki Belavadi to The Communication Initiative on January 11 2012.