General
- What is FilmAid?
- What is FilmAid’s mission?
- What are FilmAid’s principles?
- How do FilmAid’s programs work?
- What kinds of films does FilmAid screen? Who chooses them?
- Who does FilmAid serve?
- Where does FilmAid currently work?
- Where has FilmAid worked, in the past?
- How many people are helped each year by FilmAid?
- Are there specific issues that FilmAid programmes address?
- How do you know if FilmAid programmes are making an impact?
- Is there a religious or political mission for FilmAid?
- Why does FilmAid believe film is a powerful tool in aid work?
Funding/Support
- How is FilmAid funded?
- Why should I support FilmAid instead of organizations that provide direct services such as food, protection and health care?
- How can I make a contribution to FilmAid?
Getting Involved
WHAT FILMAID DOES
FilmAid International is a humanitarian organization that harnesses the power of film to bring education, inspiration and life-saving information to refugees and others displaced by war, famine, and natural disaster. FilmAid was founded during the Balkan crisis in 1999 by award-winning producer Caroline Baron (Capote, Monsoon Wedding) after she learned the most prevalent problem for hundreds of thousands of Kosovar refugees was psychological trauma and unrelenting hopelessness. Since then, FilmAid has worked in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other global aid organizations to bring film-based programs that inform, inspire and empower to more than two million people across the globe. Currently operating in Kenya (in UNHCR camps on the borders of Somalia and South Sudan), in Haiti, and along the Thai-Burma border, FilmAid’s community-centered mission focuses on three primary practices:
INFORMATION AND EDUCATION. In places without TV, Internet, and very limited access to education, FilmAid produces and distributes films addressing critical public health and safety issues such as HIV, pediatric malnutrition, cholera, human trafficking, resettlement and sexual exploitation and abuse.
SKILLS TRAINING AND SELF-EMPOWERMENT. Through FilmAid’s filmmaker training program, we teach young refugees basic filmmaking skills and provide them access to equipment and a platform to tell their own stories.
PSYCHOLOGICAL RELIEF AND HEALING FROM TRAUMA. Using mobile cinemas, we present screenings of feature films with universal appeal, providing joy, laughter and relief to those who need it most: communities ravaged by war, trauma, and displacement.
FilmAid International uses the power of film to reach the world’s most vulnerable communities with messages that inspire them, address their critical shared needs, and effect social change.
What are FilmAid’s Principles?
FilmAid has been embraced by many leading humanitarian organizations due to unwavering commitment to its core principles:
- FilmAid works with local advisory committees to ensure that the content used in its programs is appropriate and relevant for the intended audience. These Advisory Committees represent a cross-section of the local population and engage the rarely heard voices of women and youth.
- FilmAid collaborates with local communities in program design, implementation and evaluation.
- FilmAid partners with humanitarian experts, physicians and nongovernmental organizations in the field
- FilmAid performs ongoing evaluations to measure results and identify possible program improvements.
FilmAid’s programs achieve both positive immediate change as well as providing enduring long-term impact. In the short term, individuals experience emotional relief from the harsh realities of their existence and obtain constructive knowledge and skills. In the long term, the films offer individuals a broader view of the world, an opportunity to imagine other futures for themselves and a vision for how they can make a difference in their communities. Effective interventions, which engage people in constructive activities, can maximize other core investments made in health care, conflict resolution, reconciliation, repatriation and community development.
FilmAid works closely with communities to develop and convey the educational messages most needed for survival and strength. We help communities create films in their own voices, and we screen these films in settings that provide maximum impact. Our approach includes:
- Film Screenings: FilmAid’s outdoor screenings reach thousands at a time by creating “events” that are both informative and engaging. FilmAid’s facilitated indoor screenings engage targeted audiences in discussions about critical information, presented in a safe setting.
- Community-Based film Production: FilmAid works bottom-up, supporting communities in bringing their own voices and concerns to the screen. Utilizing a participatory media production methodology provides an opportunity for people to document their own experiences and ideas and to share them with a community of people most likely to understand and be affected by them.
What kinds of films does FilmAid screen? Who chooses them?
The most important films shown by FilmAid are those addressing community strength and survival. Screenings are most likely to focus on issues of health and safety or community stabilization. All films screened by FilmAid are vetted by the community, are culturally sensitive and recognize that the most effective communication starts with the community itself. FilmAid includes entertaining films in many of its screenings, which brings relief and encourages large attendance.
FilmAid serves individuals and communities suffering the effects of war, poverty, displacement and disaster. Through its film-based programming, FilmAid conveys crucial, lifesaving information on health and social issues. FilmAid screenings, workshops and filmmaking programs provide an innovative way of reaching broad audiences; overcoming literacy boundaries and empowering communities with messages that educate, entertain and inspire hope.
Where does FilmAid currently work?
FilmAid is currently working in Kenya, Thailand and Haiti. We have operated in Kenya since 2000 when we set up a programme in Kakuma Refugee Camp, run by the UNHCR, on the border of what is now South Sudan. We expanded in 2005 to the Dadaab Refugee Camp in eastern Kenya on the border of Somalia. These two programs serve refugees from Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Burundi and Ethiopia. More recently our Kenya programmes expanded to include urban slums around Nairobi and Mombasa. In 2009, we started working with Burmese refugees in camps near the Thai-Burma border and in 2010 we began work in Haiti with internally displaced people following the earthquake.
Where has FilmAid worked, in the past?
Since its founding in 1999, FilmAid has assisted people in need from areas as diverse as Tanzania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and the US Gulf Coast following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
How many people are helped each year by FilmAid?
Annually, over 250,000 people receive critical information for community and individual survival and strength through FIlmAid’s collective programs.
Are there specific issues that FilmAid programmes address?
One of FilmAid’s most valuable attributes is its ability to address a wide range of issues through its core film-based methodologies. FilmAid works with NGO partners, community-based organizations and community members to identify the most important issues needing to be addressed through wide-reaching, culturally relevant ways, and then FilmAid does its part. To date, FilmAid has focused primarily on two issue areas:
- Health & Safety: Malaria, Cholera, HIV/AIDS, TB, Maternal & Reproductive Health, Family Planning, Maternal Health, Hygiene, Sanitation & Water, Gender-based Violence, Landmine Awareness
- Community Stabilization: Conflict Resolution, Peace Building, Girls’ Right to Education, Human Rights, Repatriation/Resettlement, Skills
How do you know if FilmAid programmes are making an impact?
Each FilmAid programme sets out to communicate life-saving knowledge and relief to its target community. Accomplishments differ from programme to programme. In 2006, FilmAid commissioned an evaluation of its refugee programmes (conducted in the Kakuma refugee camp) by Boston University’s Center for International Health and Development. This comprehensive survey showed that 96% refugees sampled felt that FilmAid screenings helped with conflict reduction and community building; 94% felt films provided assistance with problem solving; 77% perceived FilmAid as making a positive impact on how people feel; 67% felt a positive impact on individuals’ willingness to get tested for HIV; and 64% expressed more willingness to discuss women’s issues because of FilmAid screenings.
Is there a religious or political mission for FilmAid?
No. FilmAid is run with no religious or political intentions. Our goal is to project knowledge and hope in ways that strengthen communities, allowing them to survive and thrive.
Why does FilmAid believe film is a powerful tool in aid work?
Through film, FilmAid is able to addresses the frequently neglected problems of isolation, lack of information and psychological trauma. FilmAid’s programs break monotony and isolation, as well as conveying essential information. The power of film lies in its ability to convey complex ideas through the combination of image and sound, and to reach many people at once. FilmAid understands that Africa and other developing parts of the world have a tradition of story telling. By working with local community members to create and film stories with messages on health or local issues, FilmAid has been able share information with a wide range of people despite language, literacy and cultural boundaries. FilmAid’s signature outdoor evening screenings have allowed us to share these films with thousands of people at a time.
FUNDING AND SUPPORT
FilmAid receives its funding from a variety of institutional, governmental, corporate and individual sources. Our refugee-focused programmes receive considerable funding from the United Nations and the US Government’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM). Private foundations and corporations contribute both programme-specific and general funding. Countless individuals contribute donations large and small to support FilmAid’s efforts.
Communities in crisis must have access to food, clean water and basic health services in order to survive. But this only the beginning. FilmAid provides communities with critical information that helps them effectively access the food, medicine and shelter they need in an emergency, and FilmAid provides knowledge vital to ensuring survival, stability and revival. FilmAid’s programmes leverage the unique power of film to convey complex ideas in a visual and easy-to-understand manner, capable of reaching thousands at a time. And by working directly with communities, FilmAid can create messaging that is even more effective because it is culturally relevant.
How can I make a contribution to FilmAid?
The easiest way to donate to FilmAid is by visiting our website: www.filmaid.org. If you are interested in donating in-kind items, stock or other financial instruments, please contact info@filmaid.org.
GETTING INVOLVED
FilmAid has a robust internship and volunteer programme for those interested in the use of film as a means of effecting global health and social improvement. Interns and volunteers focus on different parts of our work, including development, communications, video editing and administration. Please contact info@filmaid.org if you are interested.
US
363 7th Avenue, 20th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10001
p. +1.212.529.1088
f. +1.212.695.0531
info@filmaid.org
UK
11 Thurloe Square
London
SW7 2TA
p. +44.207.581.6546
f. +44.207.591.0351
vicky@filmaid.org
Asia
8th Floor, Ruttonjee House
11 Duddell Street, Central
Hong Kong
asia@filmaid.org