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““I was always interested in filmmaking but didn’t know where to start,” he (Amol Lalzare) says. Help came in the form of a Goa-based organisation called Video Volunteers. Through their ‘Community Correspondent’ programme, they provided him with film-making equipment and know-how.”

“Initiated by Stalin K and Jessica Mayberry, VV, which is now based in Baga, comes up with locally produced media to stimulate dialog and to find solutions to endemic problems.
Under VV they recently started the India Unheard programme …This new initiative constitutes of a network of community correspondents, trained to tell unique stories, stories about their own communities, stories otherwise left untold”.

They are community journalists of the ‘India Unheard’ campaign; change-makers from some of India’s most remote districts and marginalized communities, who use their cameras to shout from the rooftops the ills that plague their world…The awards ceremony is part of a longer training workshop, where these ‘community correspondents’ sharpen their skills and are helped to master their craft.

“Film Actor Abhay Deol is in Goa on Thursday, Feb 24 for a film awards ceremony– but these are film awards with a twist. He is giving out prizes to community filmmakers from slums and villages around India trained by Video Volunteers, a media organization for which Mr. Deol serves as Ambassador.”

A Kodak video camera and a few thousand stories from the grassroots may seem like an odd combination in a world inhabited by the trappings of mainstream news and TRPs. But, Jessica Mayberry and her team of Video Volunteers have done just that — they armed locals with a video camera and made journalists out of day labourers, rickshaw drivers, and women from an India Unheard.

“…grassroots stories of community empowerment are documented every day at Video Volunteers, a media organisation that strives to equip disadvantaged communities with critical skills.’

“Founded in 2003, well before hyperlocal news became a buzzword as the pillars of traditional media crumbled, Video Volunteers took aim at the widening gap between rich and poor caused by technology…Video Volunteers has trained 150 community producers so far, most of whom are working full time to produce short “video magazines” that have already been seen by more than 200,000 people.”

“Video Volunteers (VVs) is encouraging the world’s poorest citizens to participate in the community media movement to right injustices… By providing disadvantaged communities with journalistic and technology skills through its ‘community video unit’ project, it has helped to set up various media production companies that are financially self-sustaining and locally owned and controlled.”

“While volunteering with an NGO in India, Jessica realised that the underprivileged and marginalised communities lacked an authentic voice…”

“Community Correspondents report on various issues…”

“Army of rural ‘journos’ can trigger a news revolution in India…”

“…the NGO launched IndiaUnheard, a nation-wide community-based news agency dedicated to help the country’s most marginalised communities tell their own news…”

“Abhay, the brand ambassador of Video Volunteers visited Dalit Shakti Kendra at Nani Devti village to interact with the first batch of community correspondents and exchanged ideas on how to use news videos as a tool to bring about change….”

“An ambassador of Ahmedabad-based NGO Video Volunteers, film actor Abhay Deol will launch India Unheard, a Community News Service…”

“Every six weeks they create a video on a subject of interest for the community…”

“His address is as impossible as his mission. To meet Stalin K., you have to tramp through a small jungle and huff up several steep steps to reach his den on an invisible hill, off the beach sprawl of Baga in Goa…”

Pictures of actor Abhay Deol who became the brand ambassador for video volunteers.

“Things just happened. “I met Jessica (of Video Volunteers) at a conference in Mysore. Both of us were speakers there; I was to talk on the power of stories. Jessica explained the concept of Video Volunteers, post the conference and I found that to be a very challenging task,” says Abhay…”

“Goa will witness the first ever community video camp where champions and makers of community video will come together for the first time.”

“What happens when the poorest one billion people in the world have their own media industry?…”

“A boy and girl look at each other from across the classroom, smile and the communal boundaries separating them melt away. This two minute film without dialogues, shot on a mobile phone, touched thousands of hearts across the world recently.”

“Noor’s film, shot through a Nokia N 95 mobile phone, was chosen from over 2,500 films and telecast across the world on Saturday, as part of the Pangea Day film festival that connects amateur filmmakers and audiences across the globe.”

“With his powerful documentary on the genesis and growth of caste system in India, Stalin K provokes you to ponder over your own attitudes…”

CNN-IBN, January 2007: Mumbai’s Slum Youth Says Cut It

“Who says our youth is indifferent? A group of five youngsters living in the slums of Mumbai have proven otherwise. They have filmed a video magazine that aims to push a Mumbaikar to the polling booth on February 1. (ApnaTV, a Community Video Unit in collaboration with the NGO Akshara)”

“In some of India’s poorest villages, videos examining subjects that are often taboo—child brides, HIV, hunger, land rights, or the status of the country’s dalit, or “untouchable” caste—are drawing big crowds….”

“How often do you see women from India hosting documentaries? That’s the mission of a new organization—to give poor and forgotten people the opportunity to tell their stories to the world and, more important, to themselves…”

Jessica Mayberry on Wisconsin Public Radio Program “Here on Earth”, October 2005: Video Volunteerism

“In parts of the world where literacy rates are low, an organization called Video Volunteers is helping people tell their stories to the world through video production. This hour on Here on Earth, join Jean Feraca for a conversation with Jessica Mayberry, founder of Video Volunteers.”

“…Apart from the heat, I would normally find this type of situation exhilarating. But, right now, I’m disturbed by the awkward quiet of my fellow passengers. After about 20 minutes, I finally break the silence. “So, what did he say?”…”