Participatory journalism in Katine

Above: Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, explains his motivation behind the Katine project. (Youtube)

A lot have been said and written about the Guardian Media group`s Katine project.

The £2.5 million project is aimed at supporting development work in Katine, a rural sub-county of north-east Uganda. The work is carried out by the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) and Farm-Africa, and is funded by donations from Guardian and Observer readers as well as Barclays bank.

In an exciting new development of the three-year project, Guardian have given training to villagers in shooting video. By doing so, the villagers are able to report on their lives and challenges themselves.

According to Journalism.co.uk, Richard Kavuma, a Ugandan journalist working for the Guardian on the project and who was named CNN Multichoice African journalist of the year in 2007, stated:

“My own understanding of the media from the elementary classroom is that we are supposed to be the voice of the people. Especially those who do not have the voice to be heard. I see it (Katine) as an extension of what I was meant to be doing as the media.

“This project is bringing the voice of Katine to a wider interational audience - what they perceive as their problems and how they think the project is helping or not helping them.”

A similar participatory journalism project runs in Sierra Leone, through Network Movement for Justice and Development in eastern Sierra Leone. When launched some ten months ago, a spokesman said:

“Participatory video is a very good tool for marginalized people because it shortens the distance between grassroots-people, the voiceless and policy makers. It gives grassroots people the opportunity to tell their stories, which to me is very good, because when the policy makers hear directly the voice of the suffering, they will actually feel the pinch more than if somebody else comes and report on the matter. The camera doesn`t care whether somebody can read or write. All the PV (Participatory Video) cares about is whether the individual actually tells their story or not.”


Above: Slideshow portraying the Participatory video-project in eastern Sierra Leone (Youtube)

For more reading on Partipicatory development theory, I would recommend to read Colin Sparks` book on the issue: Globalization, Development and the Mass Media.

The book explores ways in which the media can be used to effect change and development. It traces the evolution of thinking from attempts to spread 'modernity' by way of using the media through to alternative perspectives based on encouraging participation in development communication.