Washington, DC - When I received the tragic email entitled “In Loving Memory of…” from Ishita Chaudhry, founder and managing trustee of The YP Foundation, a GFC grantee partner in New Delhi, India, I was shocked to read about the sudden loss of Purple Malik, a 19-year-old graphic designer and a member of The YP Foundation’s Organizational Development Committee, to blood cancer.

In January 2009, I had the opportunity to work with Purple during a digital media and storytelling workshop that GFC and The Center for Digital Storytelling provided for ten YP Foundation youth staff members. The digital storytelling workshop offered them a new medium through which they could voice their perspectives. Purple was one of the ten ambitious, innovative young people who participated in this workshop, which focused on the artistic elements of digital storytelling and photography. Read more

Gurgaon, India - During today’s afternoon session at the media capacity-building workshop, we focused on the key components of a video storytelling toolkit we were building for NGOs serving adolescent girls. We discussed the inclusion of one very important topic: the need for basic computer training skills as a foundation for learning video software editing.

Editing video can be a lengthy, multifaceted process. Editors need to be able to conceptualize the story, sort through multiple video clips, and be proficient in video editing software technology. The editing process is time-consuming and takes much practice to reach a point where any sort of video editing software can be operated confidently to produce a solid piece of work. A few of GFC’s partner organizations expressed the difficulties the girls faced while learning how to edit video using Final Cut Pro. Final Cut Pro is an extremely high-tech, complex piece of editing software used by many professional film directors and studios. Read more

Gurgaon, India - Have you thought about the importance of empowering girls in media? Traditionally, historically, and culturally, girls and women in many parts of the world have been deprived of opportunities for learning and advancement, especially in the realm of technology. For many of us, this is no surprise. As manager of digital media projects for GFC, I’ve personally benefited from involvement in new media and technology. While at GFC, I’ve been able to learn new video-editing software to create videos to share GFC’s story; I’ve been able to learn new open-source web development software to manage GFC’s website as a communications tool for the organization; and I’ve had the chance to be involved in The Nike Foundation Brain Trust video storytelling project to help develop a toolkit on how community-based organizations (CBOs) and the adolescent girls they serve can use digital technology to share their stories.

I strongly believe in the importance of empowering girls in media, and all of the partners present at the GFC/Nike Foundation Brain Trust Toolkit Development Workshop share this belief. This common thread is what brought partners from India and Africa together to discuss the development of a video storytelling manual to teach CBOs and the girls they work with how to use visual media to amplify their voices. Read more

Gurgaon, India - “No meat?” said one of the participants of the GFC/Nike Foundation Toolkit Development Workshop and the Grassroots Girls Initiative Knowledge Exchange. The workshops brought together participants from South Asia and Africa for a few days of knowledge sharing. The food and cultures throughout both of these regions vary significantly. I listened with compassion and understanding as some of the participants spoke about the challenge they felt when faced with the pure vegetarian food offerings of the Global Arts Village, where the workshops were held.

How did people from different backgrounds and cultures process the strict “no meat” rule? One of the participants said that she was accustomed to eating meat regularly but the vegetarian meals were a good “test” for her. She seemed to approach the unfamiliar food as an adventure. I started to think about the cultural significance of food and the challenge of traveling outside one’s own country and partaking in new meals consisting of flavors that one may or may not like or may not have been exposed to in the past. On one hand, I feel that it’s important to remain open to sampling new foods. On the other hand, I can understand how the change can be overwhelming. Read more

Gurgaon, India - “We’re bringing together girls from two different states, from two different backgrounds and upbringings, and we needed to take into consideration these differences before the training,” said Bolaji Fati of Communicating for Change (CFC) while explaining the ten-day video storytelling workshop that brought together girls from Kaduna and Lagos, Nigeria, in April 2009.

Initially, there seemed to be many differences between the girls from Girl Child Concerns (GCC) in Kaduna, located in northern Nigeria, and the girls from Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) in Lagos, located in western Nigeria. The girls from Lagos dressed in jeans and T-shirts, while the girls from Kaduna typically wore full hijabs. In relation to technology, the girls from Lagos seemed to be more tech-savvy because Lagos is the commercial capital and is more technologically advanced than the North. The girls from Kaduna didn’t have regular access to computers in their schools, so they felt a little intimidated by the girls from Lagos. Read more