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 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.

You can see other example of my work for WHO here and here.

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:

You can see the other case study I made for VSO here and another video I made for WHO here. Please get in touch if you have any NGO video projects you’d like to chat about.     

On Assignment as an NGO videographer for VSO

I was contracted by the NGO VSO to work as a videographer to produce 2 case studies to highlight their RECOVER project.

The RECOVER project, funded by the EU, is a technical vocational education and training programme (TVET) designed to help people in rural communities recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is important to provide viable livelihoods for the almost 75 percent of people in Cambodia living in rural communities, to alleviate poverty and to prevent people having to migrate for work.

This video tells the story of Thavy. Thavy worked in South Korea, but when COVID-19 hit, she wanted to return home to be with her family.

Thavy enrolled in an agroprocessing course run by VSO where she learnt to make banana chips, which she now sells in her shop to supplement her income. 

The chips are a healthy snack enjoyed be people in her village. The TVET training has taught Thavy valuable entrepreneurial skills. She’s looking at adding new flavours and expanding her product line and it allows her to live at home and look after her elderly mum. 

Here’s the final video:

As part of the project, I also made a shorter version of the video for social media, which hopefully expands the reach of the campaign.

You can see more examples of my NGO videos here. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss any NGO video projects.

Producing and directing stop motion, social media ads for Buffalo Sister

Trevor for Buffalo Sister contacted me to discuss making a series of Facebook adverts for him to showcase his Sunday lunches and his week day menu. 

 Trevor was clear that he wanted stop motion videos of the dishes being prepared and plated up . Together we found examples and discussed what was achievable for the budget. I got someone to animate the logo and then did some tests in the studio before filming a number of dishes from the menu.

The videos have increased his exposure on FB and he often receives comments complementing him on their quality. Hopefully, we’ll work on more creative projects in the future.

It was interesting for me to use my flat as a studio. It’s a long-term plan to improve my lighting and rigging options so I can use the space for a range of productions. Unfortunately, there’s quite a lot noise from the road, so I won’t be able to use it for interviews, but it would be good to experiment with green screen, product shots or music videos.