CREATING AND USING AUDIOVISUAL RESOURCES

Through our work on audiovisuals, especially Powerful Images: A Women's Guide to Audiovisual Resources, Isis International has been in contact with women's groups from all parts of the world who are creating and using audiovisuals. Many of these groups have interesting and exciting experiences to share. At the NGO Forum in Nairobi, we organized a series of workshops to give groups the opportunity to exchange their ideas and experiences and to develop further the use of audiovisuals as an instrument for women's self-empowerment.

The Workshops

About 140 women from different regions of the world participated in the workshops, "Audiovisuals, Participation and Development" organized by Isis International. The aims of these workshops were to:

• Share ideas and experiences among women's groups, especially in developing countries, on producing and using audiovisuals for women's empowerment.
• Identify the needs and expertise of the groups and ways of meeting needs and sharing skills.
• Study the need and potential for establishing means of networking and cooperation among the participating groups.

Three half-day workshops were held, each focusing on the experiences of women from a different region: Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, and Africa. In each workshop women from these regions presented their experiences and showed their audiovisuals - videos and slideshows - and discussed these with women from their own and other regions. During the last hour of the third session, women from the Film Forum joined us to work on a coordination plan for future action through the creation of an audiovisual network.

The many women who participated in the workshops confirmed the interest in this area. More and more women have been using audiovisuals in recent years as tools for communication and organizing around issues of women's development.

Everyone agreed that communication is a key factor in any process for change. Women see this as a strategic element which must continue to develop: not only as a channel for new ideas, attitudes and alternative projects but also in challenging dominant communication channels which generally have negative effects on women's development.The importance of alternative media in oppressive situations was especially stressed by women from Latin America.

What are women's experiences of audiovisual communication in the different regions of the world?

Slideshows are commonly used in Latin America and the Caribbean. Women have little experience with video, but the choice of slides many 25 times is based on economic factors rather than preference.

In Asia and the Pacific slideshows are also the most commonly used audiovisual media in small development projects. But it seems that video is more accessible and is beginning to be used more frequently.

In Africa audiovisual communication is used less than in the other regions, but the African women present were very interested in learning the techniques to enable them to use this media.

Some of the groups attending presented their audiovisuals. Among the materials shown were a slideshow on sexuality prepared by SOS Corpo of Brasil; an audiovisual made by a group of Philippine migrant workers in Italy about working conditions and their organization; DOMUS of Chile showed some of the material they use in their work with poor urban women. An audiovisual made by CENDIT from India showed the different aspects of their work and Vimochina, also from India showed a slideshow made with a group of peasant women. Unfortunately there was not enough time to show them all the materials brought along by the participating groups.

Among the important points raised in the workshop, Nighat Khan from Simorgh of Pakistan stressed: "People from the grassroots must participate in the production of audiovisuals." The need to use participatory methods in the making of audiovisuals was also emphasized by other participants.

Cecilia Torres from Centro de Accion de Mujeres, Ecuador referred to the usefulness of translating unjust situations, which many times are interpretated as personal problems, into social terms and how positive it is to be able to discuss these problems collectively. Audiovisuals give us the opportunity to do this. She added that "it's important to use these tools to show women's real images and to stimulate solidarity and help women to organize".

Sheba Chhachhi from Saheli of India stressed the importance and effectiveness of this media for work with illiterate persons.

The value of audiovisuals as a means to distribute the results of research done at the grassroots level was also emphasized. Angela Hernandez of CIPAF from the Dominican Republic said that audiovisuals are one of the tools most used in her country for popular education. Research studies presented in audiovisual form enable researchers to feed back the results of their investigations to the people researched. Audiovisuals have proven effective in this educational process.

The needs that emerged during the discussions in these workshops were: financial resources, training, distribution of audiovisuals and sharing of experiences beyond the local communities.

Although quick solutions do not exist, there were many ideas and suggestions on how to work towards fulfilling these needs. Everyone was very enthusiastic about the possibility of regional networks. Moema Viezzer from Red Mujer, Brazil urged the study of possible joint projects that would allow everyone to use the existing resources. The majority of the women present agreed that this was something to be followed up.

The importance of a centre which can gather and then distribute all the available information on resources was brought up many times by the participants. The work that Isis International is doing in the creation of a computerized data base and the publication of the Audiovisual Resource Guide was highly appreciated.

Kamla Bhasin from PAWF in India, referring to the sort of network to be formed, said that "we are thinking of a type of network that already exists, in which we have to add the audiovisual element, we are not thinking of a network of people working in films". She continued: "We must use audiovisuals to promote the participation, and the mobilization of women. We must influence public opinion through this media. I think we should orient our audiovisuals towards this. Media, thought of in this way, can be a key element in educational and development processes."

LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN WOMEN'S HEALTH NETWORK

The Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network, created during the First Regional Women's Health Meeting in Colombia in 1984, is coordinated by the Isis International office in Santiago, Chile.

The Network links women's groups working in the area of health throughout the region and provides information and communication channels for promoting and strengthening this' work.

The NGO Forum in Nairobi provided a good opportunity for the Latin American and Caribbean women present to meet with Isis International to discuss their expectations of the Network and how it is working. Approximately 30 women participated.

Isis International coordinated the workshop and presented the background of the Network and its objectives, the kinds of groups which form the Network and the services it offers. We explained how the health documentation sent to us by different groups is organized and made available. We presented a dummy of the first issue of the Health Bulletin and then opened the floor to discussion.

The workshop participants each made a brief presentation of their work, and talked about what they expected from the Network and how they planned to contribute to it.

The discussion showed the range of experiences and the many levels on which women are working in the different countries of the continent. It revealed the enormous imagination and energy of women as they forge ahead.

Some of the issues the participants were particularly concerned about were:

Breastfeeding: Groups were very concerned about the health policies in countries which promote the use of infant formula. The Pro-Breastfeeding Committee of Peru is trying to motivate groups which work with women and children to promote breastfeeding. It has produced booklets on the work of the IBFAN Network, infant formula multinationals, and breastfeeding and women's rights.

Nutrition: Many groups are working to improve nutrition through encouraging and assisting women to start home vegetable gardens. Community kitchens and meal programs were also discussed.

Reproductive Rights: Many groups are concerned about policies restricting reproductive rights in the region and stress the need for strategies to protect and expand these rights. The importance of the quality of Family Planning Services was also discussed.

Mental Health: Some groups stressed the need for a critical review of the concepts of women's mental health and the need to make psychologists and doctors more aware and informed. Some groups are working with feminist therapy and research in this field.

Occupational Health: There is a lack of information on the risks to which women workers are exposed. An example are the maquiladoras, whose personal and reproductive health are in danger due to exposure to toxic substances.

All the groups expressed the need for a pool of audiovisual and graphic materials which can be used by different groups in their work. Several groups have produced slides, pamphlets and booklets. Many of these materials are without words which makes it easier to adapt them in different situations. All the groups use a participatory method in creating and using these materials.

During the workshop there was also a call for action from Action DES and WEMOS HAI (Health Action International) to publicize the dangerous effects of the drug DES. In many countries, such as Mexico, the drug is still being prescribed. WEMOS and HAI aim to stimulate action and research about medicines and contraceptives and their effects on fertility; organize campaigns against products which may cause fetal malformations and which are harmful to women such as: DES, Norplant, Net-en, Depo-Provera. Many groups expressed the need for further campaigns and research on Depo-Provera, sterilization and population control policies in general.

The participants discussed how the Network could best address their concerns and needs and some of the things that they would like to see included in the Network Health Bulletin. These were:

• information about possible sources of funding for health projects.
• information on the sort of relationships that health groups establish with government organizations, since it is the state's responsibility to provide an efficient health system which responds to our needs. We need to analyze our strategy so that our principles are incorporated and not co-opted.
• experiences from women's health groups in different countries.
• information about working methods.
• demystification of the medical profession.
• information about campaigns.
• information on a wide range of issues affecting women's health.
• discussion about the problems encountered by women's groups working in the area of health. Description of a group's work should not be limited to an account of its experience, but give reflections on this which are useful for other groups.
• information for contacting other groups working in the area of health. The workshop participants confirmed the importance of the Health Network and committed themselves to contacting other groups working in this field in their countries.

WORKSHOPS ON DEVELOPMENT, EMPOWERMENT AND SOLIDARITY

Four workshops on this theme were organized jointly by Isis International, ICDA, Gabriela and the American Friends Service Committee. The first two of these workshops dealt with Multinational Corporations and Free-Trade Zones, with Trade and the Debt Crisis.

In these workshops, there were presentations by women activists working with women workers in the Free Trade Zones of Mexico, Philippines and the Dominican Republic, which translated the issue of multinational corporations into something that had direct and immediate consequences for thousands of women. The relationship of the struggles of these women workers in the Third World to those of women workers in the United States was made clear by the film ((Life on the Global Assembly Line» shown at the workshop. It also revealed the shocking attitudes of those behind TNCs and their concern with maximizing profits above all else. The presentations and the film together had an impact on participants that will make it impossible for them to consider TNCs and Free Trade Zones so far away from their lives and reality. A trade-unionist from Kenya got up to say how useful the session had been to her in particular, because Free Trade Zones were soon to be introduced in Kenya but the workers did not know anything about them. Expositions in the second workshop centred around the Debt Crisis and the ways in which it directly and indirectly affected women, and on the unequal international economic order, where terms of trade and terms of aid, and systems of money and financing weighed heavily in favour of the developed, and against the developing, countries. With the deepening global economic crisis, women's situation especially that of poor women in developing countries - was becoming grave.

The other two workshops dealt with alternative development and networking with women. Various forms and levels of organisations - local, grass-roots groups, national coalitions, inter-regional networks and international coalitions - were discussed for their roles and limitations. Grass-roots organising in the South is an intensive consciousness-raising effort, but is limited in outreach. They are no doubt important but could become redundant if they could not feed into a more broad-based national movement. National coalitions and organisations in turn would benefit from and need networking with like minded groups and coalitions in other countries of the North, especially considering the international character of the structures of oppression. The fourth workshop, on networking, was in fact an open floor in which any group or participant could talk about its/her network or call for action. This was done because everyone present felt that the need was to plug into and strengthen existing networks and actions instead of creating yet another one.

Following are a list of addresses for the workshop's sponsoring organizations:

Isis International, via Santa Maria dell'Anima 30, 00186 Rome, Italy

ICDA (International Coalition for Development Action), rue des Bollandistes 22, 1040 Brussels, Belgium

American Friend's Service Committee, Nationwide Women's Program, 1501 Cherry Street, Philladelphia, PA 19102,'USA

Gabriela, PCI Bank Bldg. Rm. 221, Greenhills Commercial Center, San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines