Girls Voices 4 Change

Digitally creative young women have the best opportunities in an increasing digital world. The impact of digital creativity influences all aspects of society.
Commendable effort was made by iEARN media mentors and Partner schools to see to it that, digital creativity is a key part of our educational world. Participating girls were, briefly, guided on how to create stories, prepare storyboards, direct and produce their own video and photography content. From the paper to the screen, our girls were given hands-on experience on writing their own story and shooting. They were also introduced to the theory and technical knowledge on shooting, e.g. rule of thirds, types of shots, sound design, lighting, green screen, effects etc.
The media contents are more focused on girl’s personal view - more like a profile, based on her interests, what she cares about, what she wants for her future; Community view- revealing something about the community that she wants addressed or seen. Alternatively, or she appreciates it in her community; and Exploring general Life: experimental, exploring the imagery - beautiful and sometime uncomfortable- of her surroundings and life.
In addition to empowering the girls, we hope that the storytelling created by girls using toolkits and resources from Greatorgood.org and iEARN will inspire other girls from around the world, including donors who can be a source of support over a young woman’s education journey.
The process:
Writing, Narrating, and Planning:
After the facilitations, by media mentors, the girls started writing and planning for their stories – story circles. They prepared their storyboard and shared with the media mentors and the teachers.
Storyboarding
Shooting:
After planning, photography and video shooting took place at the different times, mostly after class hours and weekends.

Editing and Finessing:
The editing strictly relied upon the storyboards provided by the girls.
Lessons Learnt

• We need a Girls Voices for Change film festivals.
• We need to provide girls with digital cameras, even the small ones. In school where there was no camera, girls were forced to talk to their teachers to shoot for them – teachers are not willing to leave their phones with students.
• Most of the participants require more training on how to shoot. Most the video taken by phones were in portrait instead of landscape. Some were upside down. It was such a struggle-piecing things together during editing.
• Internet connectivity is still a big issue in most schools. In future we need some allocation for internet cost to enable girls in the rural areas participate in the program. Travelling to such areas also require resources.
• We propose to have digital media Bootcamp for girls which will see all girls who participated in the program taught more about editing, shooting, storyboarding, copyright issues, publishing, and even Vlogging – these are great skills for sustainable livelihood.
•iEARN and partners should seek for such resources.