1. Manon Koningstein
Jennifer Twyman, Shadi Azadegan, Simon Cook
PARTICIPATORY VIDEO FOR
INCLUSIVE RESEARCH
Two-way communication in International
Development

2. Let’s have a look at this video…
• https://www.powtoon.com/show/eGOhNzMRAlG/participatory-
video/#/

3. Case-studies
• How PV helped the community of Somotillo
(Nicaragua) to diffuse conservation practices.
• How PV helped young rural women in Estelí
(Nicaragua) to feel empowered.

5. Shift from one-way to two-way
• Problem: case study Somotillo, one-way
information flow.
• Need for tools and approaches that bring
the voices of (marginalized) groups into
the policy-making arena
• Shift from Development Information (one-
way) to Development Communication (two
ways)
• Inclusive to gender, age, ethnicity,
educational background

6. PV as a communication tool in
Participatory Research
• Gain understanding of their situation, as well as
the confidence and ability to change it (Servaes,
2007).
• Support process of empowerment (Kindon,
2003).
• Reduce gap between researchers and reality
(Kane, 1995).

7. Shannon and Weaver model of Communication (1949)
Sender
Message/
Channel
Receiver
Encoding Decoding
Noise
Feedback

8. Articulation points
• Hall uses term ‘articulation’ to give meaning
to a message.
• Encoding and decoding are “determinate
moments” (Hall 1980: 129).
• Meaning is created through articulation.

9. Sender Channel
Coding Decoding
Noise
Feedback
Articulation
point
Articulation
point
Receiver

10. Reception Theory: Jauss (1980)
• Interpret texts and give meaning under
predetermined conditions.
• This happens through the articulation
points.
• React differently when viewing collectively
or alone (Morley 1992, Lull 1990)
• Braden (1998) suggests, it’s the familiarity
of image, location of viewing, and subject
matter.

11. Sender Channel
Coding Decoding
Noise
Articulation
point
Articulation
point
Predetermined conditions that influence
interpretation
Receiver
Feedback

12. Improvements in the communication
framework through the use of PV
Sender
• PV provides for awareness-building of the PV-makers
• Inclusion of marginalized groups
Message
• People are more willing to listen to what others were saying when they
watched it on video than they would have in face to face encounters
(Ramella and Olmos, 2005).
• Video helps to produce (representations of) linguistic expressions that are
comprehensible and intelligible (Huber, 1999).
• It can affirm the ingenuity and perspective of society’s most vulnerable
groups
• Linking intellectual and emotional reasons to reach community adaptation
Channel
• Accessible and available
• International iGDP has increased drastically
• Mass media having great potential to promote gender equality

13. Receiver
• No literacy required
• 83% of learning occurs visually (Lester, 1996)
Coding/Decoding
• Extended language
• Power lies with the audience
• Audiences are able to confront and contest representations of them
Feedback
• Provide for interaction where otherwise impossible

14. Conclusions
PV is an adequate tool for (agricultural) research
for development
• Allows understanding the local needs, wants
and knowledge of local and/or marginalized
populations.
• The higher possibility of positive reception
leads to a higher possibility of acceptance of
the message.
However, there are cultural limitations, locally
specific.

15. References
• Traber, M & Lee, P. (1989) Video for Animation and conscientisation. Media Development 36(4): 1
• Kane, E., (1995). Seeing for yourself: Research handbook for girls' education in Africa. Washington, DC: World
Bank.
• Kindon, S. (2003) ‘Participatory Video in Geographic Research: A Feminist Practice of Looking?’ Area. Vol 35 (2)
pp142-153.
• Koningstein M., Azadegan S. (2014) Participatory Video in Somotillo, Nicaragua. CCAFS Working Paper no. 100.
CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Copenhagen, Denmark.
Available online at: www.ccafs.cgiar.org
• T.J., Servaes, J. & White, S.A. (eds).Participatory Communication for Social Change. New Delhi & London: Sage
Publications, Ch. 11.
• Ramella, Marcelo and Olmos, Gonzao (2005) Participant Authored Audiovisual Stories (PAAS): Giving the Camera
Away or Giving the Camera A Way?, London School of Economics and Political Science Papers in Social Research
Methods, Qualitative Series 10, London: LSE
• Huber, Bernard (1999) Communicative aspects of participatory video projects An exploratory study. Department of
Rural Development Studies Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Uppsala, 1999 - ISSN 1403-7998
• Lull, J., (1990). ‘Inside family viewing’. UK: Routledge
• Morley, D.(1992). The 'Nationwide' Audience: a critical postscript. (In Morley, D. (ed). Television, Audiences and
Cultural Studies. London & New York: Routledge, pp. 119-131.
• Jauss, Hans Robert (1982) Literary History as a Challenge to Literary Theory, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception,
trans. Timothy Bahti (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982), 3-45
• Braden, S. (1998).Where's participation without representation. The Rural Extension Bulletin, June, 8-11.
• Photocredits: Manon Koningstein (CIAT), Gian Betancourt (CIAT), Shadi Azadegan (CIAT)

16. Manon Koningstein
m.j.koningstein@cgiar.org
Research Associate/Communications Specialist
Gender & Climate Change
International Centre for Tropical Agriculture
CIAT
Colombia

17. Questions
Answers
&