This post was written by Federico Moscogiuri, Founder of C4Urselves.
There are many reasons why meaningful connectivity is important: social inclusion, technological and economic development, increased societal equity and engagement… For me, it comes down to one key thing: empowerment.
The empowerment of communities to demand and access the things they need to thrive and grow. The empowerment of countries to be part of the global digital economy. And the empowerment of individuals to tell the stories that matter to them about who they are, and where they come from.
The internet provides us with an unprecedented opportunity to not only access and share information instantly across the world, but to communicate with people from totally different countries and cultures – and in so doing, achieve a deeper understanding of each other and of the world we live in.
That, at heart, is the purpose of C4urselves: uniting people in a shared appreciation of our world, with all its variety, as seen through their own eyes.
At a time when technology risks creating deeper divisions – of access, of opportunity, of worldviews – we want to use technology to bring people together, and give a greater voice to those who are seldom heard.
That’s where our project, Local Voices, comes in. Last year, C4urselves teamed up with Tom Martin photography and the Kwetu Film Institute in Kigali, Rwanda, to showcase places and “snippets” of daily life in Kigali as captured and shared by people “on the ground”. Over the course of two months and three online workshops, conducted remotely, a dozen young people from the Film Institute were briefed and invited to go out and capture short videos of aspects of Kigali that they wanted to share with the world – and in so doing, tell their own “story” about what Kigali means to them, and what it’s really like today.
The outcome is a rich collection of diverse snapshots, each slightly different in style, each focusing on slightly different aspects of everyday life, but together painting a single, fascinating mosaic about the many different things that combine to make Kigali what it is today – thereby providing an authentic, “visual voice” to the stories which the participants want to tell the world about their hometown. Have a look here.
Doing this project was not without its challenges, particularly in terms of internet connectivity. Running workshops remotely is never the same as in real life, and if on one hand, it was exciting to be able to engage directly with young people from Rwanda in real-time through Zoom, not everyone was always able to be in the same room at the Film Institute, and several students struggled to participate fully because of intermittent internet connection. As the GDIP has noted, fewer than one in 160 Rwandans have “meaningful connectivity” today, despite the country clearly making big strides towards being a technological hub for the region.
And yet, the project was a big success, not just in terms of producing a great overall virtual “experience” of Kigali, but in terms of genuine engagement: all of the participants said that they enjoyed the project very much, and almost all felt that they were able to capture and share what they had set out to showcase – making Local Voices a great demonstration of what meaningful connectivity can achieve, particularly in terms of creating “active and participatory digital societies.”
But this is just the start.
Kwetu Film Institute is a center of excellence for exploring new kinds of communication, cultural expression, and regional civic engagement, and an internationally recognized media training facility. It is also a strategic partner of the Rwandan government in delivering media education, and we are hopeful about getting official backing for scaling up the project locally, and engaging many more people in creating an even richer canopy of “visual stories.”
Local Voices provides a great template for using technology to engage and empower communities and to advance meaningful connectivity, anywhere in the world. Its simple but powerful format is easily replicable, provenly impactful and fully scalable.
If this is what we can do in just one place, in just a few months and with just a dozen participants, imagine how much more we could do with many more people in many different places, each of them telling their story through bite-sized videos, and showcasing them all in a single place. Indeed, a million brushes painting one picture.
Could a Local Voices project help engage people and make the case for meaningful connectivity in your country? Get in touch at federico@c4urselves.com.
About C4Urselves
C4Urselves is an ethical community exclusively dedicated to celebrating and enhancing our experience of the world as it really is, as captured by everyday people.
About GDIP
The Global Digital Inclusion Partnership is a coalition of public, private, and civil society organizations working to bring internet connectivity to the global majority and ensure everyone is meaningfully connected by 2030. GDIP advances digital opportunities to empower and support people’s lives and agency, leading to inclusive digital societies.