Country: Nepal

Indigenous Media- Project Lead

A drastic turn of events had Sanjay competing with 300 candidates and being interviewed amongst five by the Ford Foundation to leads its pilot Indigenous Media Project in five Greater Himalayan countries. In two months’ time, Sanjay had to disassemble his established life and don the cap of a Development Professional, with pleasure, of course.

With the onset of New Media (i.e., usage of television, computers, and mobile phones) the communities were broadly beginning to be divided into haves and have-nots. Simply put, those with access to electricity and these new gadgets were at the front line of receiving new and useful information. However, those without access to electricity and new gadgets, most of whom were already illiterate or semi-literate, were increasingly being left behind. In effect, on the one hand, the world was developing leaps and bounds, and on the other, a large section of the underdeveloped population was being pushed back into the dark ages. Waiting for this section of the community to become literate and/or have access to new media would further widen the void. This alarming void needed to be addressed urgently.

Aimed at improving communication methodologies between knowledge generators and knowledge seekers in the Greater Himalayan region, the project was to examine and promote the use of traditional media for passing on relevant agriculture and livelihood-related information to grassroots communities. Indigenous Media being a pilot project, Sanjay needed to exercise careful judgement in selecting project sites and partners that could provide representative samples of the regions of the Greater Himalayan region. Cultural attitudes, languages, currently used Indigenous Media and capabilities of local NGOs and institutions, were the basis for selecting partners and sites.

Having selected appropriate partners, and visiting each of the project partners in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, Sanjay trained partners in creating Indigenous Media prototypes, visual communication, composition, storytelling, entertainment, problem-solving, acting, puppet making, prop making and directing and producing presentations disseminating livelihood and agriculture-related messages and processes.

Step by Step- Theatre and Puppet Show

Aimed at improving communication methodologies between knowledge generators and knowledge seekers in the Greater Himalayan region, the project was to examine and promote the use of traditional media for passing on relevant agriculture and livelihood-related information to grassroots communities. Indigenous Media being a pilot project, Sanjay needed to exercise careful judgement in selecting project sites and partners that could provide representative samples of the regions of the Greater Himalayan region. Cultural attitudes, languages, currently used Indigenous Media and capabilities of local NGOs and institutions, were the basis for selecting partners and sites.

To showcase the effective use of indigenous media to disseminate complex scientific processes and matters about soil erosion prevention, Sanjay built a team of young local talented college students, and wrote, designed, storyboarded, and choreographed a theatre performance ‘Step-by-Step’.

Sanjay trained the team in acting, puppet playing and puppet making. Emphasis was given to the fact that these productions were also to be replicated in impassable villages of the Greater Himalayan region; thus, producing these with minimal use of props and ensuring that the props were to be easily sourced locally. The production was designed such that each member of the team got to play each role on a rotation basis, i.e., the lead actor became the director the next day and the accountant the next day and so on. This ensured total focus of the team and ensured the smooth running of the production in case of any member’s absence.

This creative technique also trained each member to go to several villages and be able to reproduce the theatre all by themselves with the help of local talent and resources.

The theatrical production was also forerunner in the magic of puppets being intricately woven with a theatre (humans acting). The shadow puppet brought in the huge advantage of time-lapse and possibility to visually present the technique of formation of a step farm.

Violence Against Women and Girls in South Asia- Interactive Digital Program

In 2004, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children estimated that every year between 41 and 88 million children in South Asia witnessed violence at home – the highest regional total in the world. Evidence also showed that half of the world’s child brides lived in South Asia, and around 44 million children were engaged in child labour in the region. Sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as child trafficking and corporal punishment, were also the major concerns for countries in South Asia.

This interactive CDROM is aimed at training the local officers of UNICEF in understanding, preventing and /or helping the traumatized victims. The project required Sanjay to sensitize himself to the gender issues in Asia. He took extreme care with the kind of photographs published, and the interactivity in CDROM was simple considering the diverse age groups and cultural sensitivities of users and the quality of computers available to the trainers.

BeeCause- Street Theatre, Object Animation

Aimed at improving communication methodologies between knowledge generators and knowledge seekers in the Greater Himalayan region, the project was to examine and promote the use of traditional media for passing on relevant agriculture and livelihood-related information to grassroots communities. Indigenous Media being a pilot project, Sanjay needed to exercise careful judgement in selecting project sites and partners that could provide representative samples of the regions of the Greater Himalayan region. Cultural attitudes, languages, currently used Indigenous Media and capabilities of local NGOs and institutions, were the basis for selecting partners and sites.

To showcase the effective use of indigenous media to disseminate complex scientific processes and matters, Sanjay built a team of young talented college students and wrote, designed, storyboarded, choreographed a street theatre production ‘BeeCause’.

Sanjay trained the team in acting, puppet playing and puppet making. Emphasis was given to the fact that these productions were also to be replicated in impassable villages of the Greater Himalayan region; thus, producing these with minimal use of props and ensuring that the props were to be easily sourced locally. The production was designed such that each member of the team got to play each role on a rotation basis, i.e., the lead actor became the director the next day and the accountant the next day and so on. This ensured total focus of the team and ensured the smooth running of the production in case of any member’s absence.

This creative technique also trained each member to go to several villages and be able to reproduce the theatre all by themselves with the help of local talent and resources.

Another pioneering technique of animating the props to impart otherwise technically complex processes was used for this presentation.

ICIMOD Silver Jubilee Poster Designs

With rapid population growth, economic development, urbanization, high rates of out-migration, and consequent feminization of rural activities, the Greater Himalayan region has experienced huge changes in the past years. In particular, the mountains have gained greater attention as hotspots for climate change. These changes pose challenges to traditional livelihood strategies and coping mechanisms. At the same time, the mountains have been widely recognized for the ecosystem services they provide. ICIMOD Nepal has been working to enable sustainable and resilient mountain development for improved and equitable livelihoods through knowledge and regional cooperation.

On the silver jubilee of ICIMOD’s existence, a series of posters depicting the areas of ICIMOD’s efforts to bring safety and better incomes to the people of the Greater Himalayas were created by Sanjay.

Project Report on Indigenous Media

Aimed at improving communication methodologies between knowledge generators and knowledge seekers in the Greater Himalayan region, the project was to examine and promote the use of traditional media for passing on relevant agriculture and livelihood-related information to grassroots communities. Indigenous Media being a pilot project, Sanjay needed to exercise careful judgement in selecting project sites and partners that could provide representative samples of the regions of the Greater Himalayan region. Cultural attitudes, languages, currently used Indigenous Media and capabilities of local NGOs and institutions, were the basis for selecting partners and sites.

At the head office, Sanjay checked the possibilities of replicating the Indigenous Media process and prototypes and assessed the responses and impacts. He also held workshops to see future courses for Indigenous Media efforts and to write proposals.

At the end of this pilot project, Sanjay extensively wrote a 400-page report explaining the timeline, methodology, and findings of the project, the relevance of using indigenous media in technique and message dissemination, the role of religion and culture in message dissemination, and the potential use of the digital media in such endeavors. The role visual communication plays in effective and precise technical knowledge transfer in absence of literacy was thoroughly researched and presented. For future reference, he defined and documented the Process Design of Indigenous Media production with sensitivity toward cultures, languages, religions, and issues.

Film Documentary on Indigenous Media

Aimed at improving communication methodologies between knowledge generators and knowledge seekers in the Greater Himalayan region, the project was to examine and promote the use of traditional media for passing on relevant agriculture and livelihood-related information to grassroots communities. Indigenous Media being a pilot project, Sanjay needed to exercise careful judgement in selecting project sites and partners that could provide representative samples of the regions of the Greater Himalayan region. Cultural attitudes, languages, currently used Indigenous Media and capabilities of local NGOs and institutions, were the basis for selecting partners and sites.

Along with the training of the use of the Indigenous Media process and creating prototypes in the project areas, Sanjay scripted and directed a documentary film about the project to be used as a reporting tool.

Throughout the project, Sanjay hired a photographer and a videographer to assist documentation of the activities and to interview key partners. At the end of the project, Sanjay scripted and storyboarded the documentary and produced it in a story form.

Marionette Show with HIV+ Children

Aimed at sharing the stories of HIV-positive children on World AIDS Day 2007, Sanjay directed a Marionette show with HIV-positive children from ages 5 to 12 living at Special homes. Sanjay spent time with HIV+ children and learnt more about AIDS and the ’dos and don’ts’. Once the children were at ease with him, Sanjay held workshops with these children to collect their stories. Among these stories, a common story was picked up and worked upon to give out a message.

Next, Sanjay went around Kathmandu to find material to make marionettes and researched several ways of making marionettes. The moppets were designed simply, so that the children could play with them easily. Sanjay trained the children in acting and making Marionettes act. Extreme care was taken to hide these children’s identities (thus, no pictures). Having a month-long preparation, a Marionette show was presented by the children in front of a mass gathering on World HIV Day.

Tourism Sector Training Design- Interactive Digital Training Program and Book Design

The book and its interactive CDROM were aimed at travel agents and experts to provide them with complete and comprehensive information on market data and strategies to assist tourism businesses in Nepal and Latin America.

Based on the report – ‘The Market for Responsible Tourism Products in Latin America and Nepal’, Sanjay designed the publication and restructured the content for the CDROM. Sanjay designed icons and illustrations that were commonly recognized across the audiences. In the otherwise tedious text, Sanjay added several interactive elements like interactive maps and stimulating animations to give the user a sense of control and participation.
Online report link: https://www.slideshare.net/Vitchetduoi2987/the-market-for-tourism-products

Posters Designs on Human Trafficking

The illegal selling and buying of girls is one of the major social crimes in Nepal that is being closely monitored by international agencies. In human trafficking, innocent and illiterate girls from rural areas are sold within Nepal and overseas for prostitution and forced labour. These posters were designed by Sanjay to highlight the trafficking issue, raise awareness, and to trigger a dialogue.