On assignment as an NGO videographer for UNICEF in Stung Treng
I’d worked as an NGO videographer on a Generation Future video for UNICEF a couple of years ago, so it’s always good to get the call to come back and make a follow up video to show how the programme has progressed / evolved.
We filmed the last video in Siem Reap Province. This time the location was Stung Treng Province with a focus on female empowerment and getting more girls involved in STEM subjects (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
This area where girls are underrepresented. They can also face barriers when trying to study STEM subjects.
Four Generation Future projects, Code for Girls, Cyclo Day, Meakea and RULErs, ran workshops to recruit and train 48 student volunteers from 4 schools in Stung Treng Province. All the groups featured female trainers and female student volunteers.
‘Code For Girls is a project that encourages girls to learn about coding and engineering,
which are both STEM subjects,’ says Sereny, the Code for Girls project leader.
‘We want them to use coding and 3D printing to come up with solutions to solve everyday problems,’ she adds.
‘I really enjoyed learning how to draw 2D and 3D models. I’ve never done this before,’ says Sovy, one of the student volunteers.
‘I've learnt a lot of new skills and gained a lot of new knowledge,’ she adds.
‘I’d like to see all Cambodian girls being confident and assured in the decisions they make,’ she concludes, which is a sentiment we can all agree with.
It was great working with the future generation of trainers and volunteers. Living in a country with such a young demographic, it’s essential that the younger generation, especially girls, learn leaderships skills and demand a voice in the decision-making process.
You can see the last video I made for Genreation Future here and more examples of my NGO videography work here.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have an NGO videography you would like to discuss.
Collaborating with WHO on a Video Case Study About Malaria Prevention in Siem Pang, Cambodia
This was the third time in a bit over a year that I’d been hired by the World Health Organization to work as a videographer on a case study for them.
This time it was malaria prevention in Stung Treng Province following Chan Sophal, who supports The Mekong Malaria Elimination (MME) programme at the provincial level.
Sophal works with remote communities close to the Lao border in Stung Treng Province.
‘I am stationed in Stung Treng Province, with a focus on Siem Pang, which is a malaria hotspot’, he says.
Sophal works closely with the head Siem Pang Health Center and the nurse in charge of the malaria elimination programme.
‘We plan our outreach campaigns together’, he says.
It was a great experience to work as a videographer for WHO and get to follow Sophal to some of the remote villages he works in.
Siem Pang itself is very remote, but it took a small ferry, a horse and cart and small boat to get to some of the highest risk communities.
As part of the Last Mile to Malaria Elimination, Sophal and his team of Village Malaria Workers (VMW) focus on the target group of men aged 15-49 years, who go regularly go into the forest and are the most likely to catch malaria and transmit it in their community.
‘We educate and encourage them to take preventive medication before they go to the forest or other high-risk malaria areas. They have never heard of preventive treatment, so taking the medicine when they're not sick worries them a lot. It is important to build trust so the community believes the medicine is good for their health,’ he says.
The medical care and education they provide is a key factor in helping to eliminate malaria in Cambodai.
This isn’t something Sophal takes lightly.
‘The work I’m proudest of is the contribution I’ve madeto eliminating malaria in Stung Treng Province’, he says.
For me working as a videographer on projects like this is a pleasure. Sophal and his team are dedicated in their work, they’ve won the trust of the communities they work in and their efforts are having a genuine impact.
Here’s a shorter version that was used as part of WHO’s 75th annievrsary social media campaign.
Working as an NGO Photographer Covering Leprosy Elimination for WHO in Cambodia
After a successful collaboration with WHO last year, it was great to be asked to work as a documentary photographer to produce another photo essay as part of their People of the Western Pacific Series.
The brief was to produce 25 photos to tell the story of Visal and the invaluable work that he does in eliminating leprosy from Cambodia.
Visal works for the National Center for Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control, under the Ministry of Health, and has been instrumental in implementing the National Programme for Leprosy Elimination.
Visal is dedicated and passionate about his work and even faced discrimination from his own family. They asked him not to visit his home town before he educated them about how easily treatable the disease is.
I spent a day taking photos of Visal as he worked in the community.
I photographed Visal conducting a training session, speaking to the local health authorities to explain their activities and conducting screening in the community.
At the end of the day, we visited a couple who both had leprosy and suffered disabilities as a result.
Visal’s work has helped to reduce the stigma within their community and he’s helped them to establish a chicken husbandry business that helps them to be financially independent.
Visal has also been instrumental in establishing networks using social media to help identify new cases. This has been very effective, particularly when working with people from remote areas, which is where most new cases are detected.
Leprosy is easily treatable and can be eliminated from Cambodia.
Due to the hard work of people like Visal, there are very few new leprosy cases in Cambodia and by educating people, their work has helped to reduce the stigma.
I wish them luck in achieving their goal.
You can see more of my photography work for WHO here. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any NGO photography projects you would like to discuss.
On Assignment for WHO - Directing 4 Videos About their Social Prescribing Campaign
I was commissioned by the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office to direct 4 videos about their Social Prescribing for Healthy Aging programme in Cambodia to form part of their training toolkit. The toolkit provides implementing partners with an overview of the best practices of how implement social prescribing at the community level.
The Social Prescribing for Healthy Aging programme is a way for healthcare workers to connect people to a range of non-clinical services in the community and to help the elderly not feel anxiety, loneliness or depression.
The toolkit is designed for policy makers and community health centres to help them run effective social prescribing schemes.
The brief was to make 4 videos to highlight the key aspects of successfully implementing social prescribing schemes.
The first video (above) features Dr Kao Sovandara, a lecturer at The Royal University of Phnom Penh and part of the lead team implementing social prescribing in Cambodia. He gives an overview of the programme, the training they provide and how that works at a grassroots level.
The second video features Yem Sameoun, who is a commune councillor responsible for running the scheme in her community. She talks about the training she receives, the work she does in the community and the positive outcomes.
The third video features Nget Krin, an elderly community member. She talks about the situation she faces, the support she receives and how that makes her feel.
The fourth video features Dr Khan Sareth, a lecturer at The Royal University of Phnom Penh and part of the lead team implementing social prescribing in Cambodia. He gives an overview of what they’ve achieved and reflects on how the scheme can be improved in the future.
While the project is intrinsically nebulous in nature, I hope it can have an impact in Cambodia, regionally and in the rest of the world. As the world’s population is aging, it’s increasingly important to make sure everyone feels included within their communities.
Veasna's Story - Working as an NGO videographer on a case study for VSO
This is the second case study I made on assignment as an NGO videographer for VSO.
The video tells the story of Veasna and the positive impact VSO’s RECOVER project has had on her livelihood.
As part of the project, Veasna received agricultural training and financial support to improve her growing facilities.
Held in the community with other vegetable growers the training shows Veasna best practices about what to grow, how to grow it and pest control.
Veasna has used the financial support she received to construct a net house for growing higher value crops.
VSO have also set up agricultural cooperatives. This gives the vegetable growers additional selling power as the cooperative can sell larger quantites direct to market.
They sign contracts to guarantee fair prices for their vegetables and a constant source of income.
A storage facility has also been built in the community so the vegetable growers can store their vegetables to cut down on wastage and to be able to control the sale of the vegetables they grow to the market.
It was great to see the positive relationship Veasna had with Ravuth, the trainer, and how she is looking to expand her growing activities in the future so she can support her young family.
Below is the final video:
And here’s the shorter version I made for social media: