Dear Friends,

I am sitting at a friend’s place because I cannot go home. I’m sitting here not because I am afraid but because I am apprehensive. I am wondering how corrupt one of the world’s largest democracy can be. On 8^th May, 2012 I filed an RTI and any day now, I can go to jail for it.

I am Mukesh Rajak from Madhupur, Jharkhand. For the past two years, I have been representing the issues and concerns of my community through my videos and I have actively worked for social change. Over the two years, with the support of Video Volunteers and the people around me I have helped re-opened shut schools, stopped corruption and bribery and reported on some of the most difficult issues in the region. Today I am asking for your help and support.

I had heard of rampant corruption in the manner in which the MNREGA scheme was being implemented in Madhupur. To find out the truth behind the situation, I followed the legal constitutional procedure by filing a Right To Information Application at the local Block Development Office. As soon as I filed, I began hearing about how much of a furore my action was causing. Well-wishers asked me to expect a backlash.

On 12th May, 2012, the Rojgar Sevak, Mrs. Vandana Kumari filed an FIR with the Madhupur police in which she accused me of blackmailing her, threatening her, abusing her and snatching a gold chain. She mentions that the event occurred at around 1 pm on the 8^th of May after seemingly waiting for a suspicious 4 days to put the blame on me. Around the supposed time and date of the offense, I was at a local NGO and I have witnesses to attest to the fact.

I have been threatened and verbally abused over the phone. The caller threatened that not just me but my whole family will have to bear the consequences. In the meantime, I have also been receiving offers of making a compromise i.e. I keep the RTI report a secret and they withdraw the FIR.

This is my story. This is the story of how a common citizen of country who decides to seek out the truth is harassed, made an outcaste, defamed and framed by the authorities. And the sad part is that it is a common story.

I have witnesses, records and proof that I have been falsely accused and that my reputation has been wrongly maligned. My work speaks for me. The camera doesn’t lie. I stand my ground.

I am asking for simple solidarity. Please share my story. Tell me what else I can do.

Sincerely,

Mukesh

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Anand Pagare, Community Correspondent with Video Volunteers  from Malegaon dist., Maharashta.

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TechSoup is a nonprofit that provides other nonprofits and libraries with technology that empowers them to fulfill their missions and serve their communities. As part of that goal, they provide technology products and information geared specifically to the unique challenges faced by nonprofits and libraries. The TechSoup global currently has a special focus on innovations in the social sector and particularly technology driven innovations. They speak to Video Volunteers’ founder Jessica Mayberry about taking on and adapting to the challenges of today’s scenario where an idea is no longer considered ‘innovative’ if it can be replicated.

Because it can be replicated, is it no longer an innovation?

Replication is very hard, and one of the things that have made it hard for us is the disinterest in funders to fund things that are not new.  Precisely because it can be replicated and scaled, it is no longer an ‘innovation,’ and so funders aren’t interested.

Video Volunteers started a dozen ‘Community Video Units’ with different NGOs in India, all of whom were in essence replicating our idea. There were numerous more NGOs who wanted to start them also, but by this point, the funding for these projects was essentially saturated and so these other NGOs couldn’t get funding to do it.

So we had to switch gears. We thought, okay, if there is no more funding for this kind of project, let’s modify it so we can pitch it again as an innovation – and so we came up with our IndiaUnheard model, where we have about 40 community correspondents working in different districts. It is very like the Community Video Units, but at lower cost and without reliance on NGOs’ success at finding additional funding.

The upside was that this lack of funding forced us to become more cost-effective, and that will in the long run help us scale. I think the whole process of thinking about replicability forces NGOs to think about reducing costs, and that is a good exercise. Read more here.

Caste practices have been captured on camera. Local videojournalists have spent the last few weeks documenting untouchability across India and demanding its abolition.  They will be releasing their videos on Saturday 14th April, on Ambedkar Jayanthi as part of our new ARTICLE 17 Campaign. Because these men & women are “community correspondents” they have been able to capture intimate images rarely witnessed by outsiders.

“As a child, I had experienced untouchability at school where I was forced to sit and eat separately from the children of upper caste families,” says 24-year old Community Correspondent Neeru Rathod from  Gujarat, one of the many trained by Video Volunteers who participated in the project. “We wanted to gives viewers the responsibility, as witnesses, to end this age old oppression once and for all.”

For all those who believe that untouchability practices are a thing of the last century, these videos will relate a different story. On April 14, VV will release at least 20 short videos from across the country that will make it difficult to for anyone to deny the continuance of this inhuman practice. Viewers will be urged to petition the National Commission of Scheduled Caste to take cognizance of these videos as evidence of offenses, and to take all steps to put an end to untouchability practices. In affected communities, Video Volunteers will screen these videos and mobilize people to petition the state offices of the NCSC. Watch a preview video of VV’s ARTICLE 17 Campaign.

Appeal to Rights Activists/Campaigners/Social Sector
We need your help in spreading this message globally so that enough pressure can be built on public institutions like NCSC. Please email your suggestions to Stalink@videovolunteers.org or call him at 99235-94636.

About Video Volunteers
Video Volunteers identifies, trains and empowers grassroots media producers who create change in and for voiceless communities in the developing world. With 100 community producers currently working with salaries, Video Volunteers is one of the largest social change media networks in the world. More than 500 videos on topics like child marriage, temple prostitution, insurgent conflict, atrocities against Dalits and peace between Hindus and Muslims have been produced, and more than 17,000 people have taken direct action after seeing one of our films.

Video Volunteers’ work has received awards or funding from Ashoka, The Knight News Challenge, Echoing Green, TED, UNDP, and many others; our content has been seen on Al Jazeera, NewsX, Nickelodeon, MTV Iggy, as well as in countless villages and slums during night time open air screenings and discussions. Viewers can visit our IndiaUnheard website to watch one new community-produced video posted daily.

This is the final post in a 4-part series in which Video Volunteers is sharing what we’ve done over the last year, our experiences, and what we’ve learned. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

After five years of doing community media in India, we’ve come to understand what Video Volunteers is good at. We’re great at training — the people we work with keep doing this for a long time after they’re trained. And we’re great at getting impact in the villages. We know how to produce the content that people in rural India want to see; the evidence for this is that people turn up in large numbers for the screenings and actually take action.

Community producers trying out their camera skills.

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