Asia Pacific VRC Network meets in Singapore

Knowledge-based Activism for Strengthening Civil Society: Post-Johannesburg Challenges' was the overall theme of the fifth regional workshop of the Asia Pacific Video Resource Centre Network, recently concluded in Singapore.

A total of 43 participants from 21 countries participated in the week-long activities held from November 18 to 22. These included representatives from TVE's partner network as well as colleagues from other like-minded civil society organisations, UN agencies and independent film-makers from around the region.

Participants engaged in lively discussion and debate on how the audio-visual media and the new media (Internet, digital cameras and VCD/DVD formats) can be used to promote sustainable development and social justice issues at local, national, regional and global levels.

They reaffirmed that civil society now has an even greater role to play, in the aftermath of the Johannesburg Summit, to advocate and work for a more equitable and fair world. One of the many films screened during the workshop was the TVE-inspired television debate recorded during the Summit and later broadcast on BBC World and PBS.

The workshop also saw the launch of six half-hour documentaries produced under the Truth Talking Project, a two year regional media initiative of TVE Asia Pacific in collaboration with the partner network. The six films -- produced in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal and the South Pacific -- cover issues as diverse as global climate change, HIV/AIDS, violence against women, coping with natural disasters, cultural globalisation, and the proliferation of small arms. Across the six films, the common theme was how communities and civil society are coping with crisis and change. Click here for more information.

The regional workshop was organised by TVE Asia Pacific in collaboration with the Pan Asia Networking Programme of International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Asian Media, Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), TVE Japan and Witness. Funding support was received from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), Novib - Oxfam Netherlands and the Japan Fund for Global Environment.

This was the fifth in a series of regional VRC workshops organised in the Asia Pacific since 1995. Previous workshops had been held in Colombo (1995), Bangkok (1997), Manila (1999) and Chiang Mai (2001). As in the past, the Singapore workshop consisted of a business meeting of the network, thematic sessions, film screenings and interactions with local film-makers and broadcast representatives. In an informal yet disciplined setting, participants shared information, critiqued each other's work and discussed priorities and action plans for the next two years.

The business meeting held on the first day provided an opportunity for Asia Pacific VRCs to update each other on what they have been doing since the last network meeting in mid 2001. "The partner updates and the amount of energy and enthusiasm at the workshop clearly demonstrated that the Network has come of age," remarked Nalaka Gunawardene, TVE's Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific. "Our partners, between them, now have the access, capability and commitment to use television, video and internet to reach out to a large proportion of this region's population of over two and a half billion."

During the business meeting, TVE Asia Pacific and TVE Japan presented their own progress reports to the partner network. TVE Asia Pacific reported how the Truth Talking Project has inspired and supported dozens of broadcast and non-broadcast activities in the 13 countries it covered. TVE Japan outlined the Japanese NGOs' plans to promote Japan's proposal to the United Nations to declare a Decade on Education for Sustainable Development.

A whole day was set aside for Asia Pacific VRCs to undergo training in using information and communication technologies for development (or ICT4D). This was conducted by Pan Asia Networking, and covered e-commerce, video streaming, e-communities, website management and video streaming.

The week's events culminated with two-day thematic sessions held on November 21 and 22. Separate sessions addressed the following topics:

• Media Activism and Civil Society Strengthening: how the media can be a force for positive change.
• Building a Just World: using the audio-visual media to safeguard and promote human rights and human dignity.
• Relating the Global to the Local: connecting the mainstream broadcast media with the grassroots

These thematic sessions involved keynote speakers from TVE International, Witness, and the Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP). Representatives from the regional offices of UNEP and UNICEF spoke on how their current activities promote the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Content managers from two Singapore-based regional broadcasters, Discovery Channel Asia and Channel News Asia, joined the discussion and shared their perspectives on using television to strengthen civil society.

Other activities during the week included:

• A mini-workshop on planning and managing video productions, conducted by the experienced Australian film-maker Bruce Moir, who served as executive production consultant for the six Truth Talking productions.
• The screening of The Sense of Wonder, an epic 90-minute cinematic documentary produced by Mr Shukichi Koizumi, Chairman of TVE Japan and head of Group Gendai Films in Japan.
• Screening of Seeing is Believing, a new Canadian-made documentary on how handicams and digital technologies have become powerful tools in the hands of activists and journalists to safeguard human rights.
• Meeting with Tan Pin Pin, the young Singaporean film-maker who screened her recent documentary Moving House, which had recently won Hollywood's Student Academy Award.

During the hectic week, participants also had the opportunity to informally screen their own video productions in the evenings. Social activities included a dinner reception that involved several Singapore based civil society and broadcast representatives, and a visit to Singapore's award-winning Night Safari.

To see photos from the workshop, click here