PROJET HEPA
Indigenous Voices from southern Madagascar
Projet Hepa was launched in collaboration with Panos London in 2007 with the aim of increasing the voice of local populations, and to improve awareness about the knowledge and experience of the indigenous people in southern MadagascarHEPA is an abbreviation of Hetahetam-Po Ambara signifying "Proclaim what is in your heart".
Oral Testimony and Participatory Video
Panos has considerable expertise in media for development, and builds skills and capacity for communications in developing countries. Its work on oral testimony spans communities in Sudan, Pakistan and Namibia and brings to life the development challenges in these countries:
"Testimonies challenge the generalisations of development literature, increase our understanding of development issues, and enlighten planners and policymakers about how it feels to be at the sharp end of development." Panos
Communities in the southern littoral zones of Anosy and Androy, Southern Madagascar, were identified to participate in Projet Hepa, being subsistence farmers, women, local producers and fishermen who live below the poverty line and who depend on their local environment for their daily needs of food, fuel, livelihood and medicines. Some face annual drought and food shortages, others displacement from their lands and traditional livelihoods.
Funded by IFAD, the activities commenced in November 2007 with the training of local villagers in interview techniques and the collection of oral testimony. This was the first time southern villagers had recorded interviews about their community.
Eight villagers and four ALT staff were trained and collected 58 testimonies between the Androy and Anosy areas of Southern Madagascar, 44 of which have been transcribed and translated. Radio programmes are now being developed to broadcast some of the personal histories and experience recorded by villagers about their daily lives, the environment, climate change, local development challenges, and culture.
Much of what has been learnt by the ALT local teams through this process will enhance their radio programme work and will influence the future vision of the communications strategies of ALT in Madagascar.
All the testimonies will be edited and a selection will be published in English, French and Malagasy later this year to share with local and national development agencies and decision makers, and to inform international donors, development workers and the general public about the lives, challenges and concerns of the Antandroy and Antanosy people.
In March of 2008 a participative video training was carried out and five films were made by villagers who had never seen or picked up a video camera before.
The films were viewed by a local audience in Faux Cap and extracts are about to be launched on the Panos website as part of the day of Indigenous people, together with a selection of oral testimonies. The project also aims to air the films on television in Madagascar.
For more information about Panos and oral testimony visit http://www.panos.org.uk/survivalstrategies
This work represents ground breaking communications activity in the south of Madagascar where there are few opportunities for local people to express themselves publicly or have their stories heard by a wider audience.
It is also their first direct interaction with audio and visual media and is an exciting opportunity for remote communities who are marginalised and not visible to the outside world.
Read their stories and see their lives.
Projet HEPA - by the people, for the people
Note: This site will be posting HEPA materials as and when they become available, or will be directing you to the relevant link at Panos.
Watch this space!
© The Andrew Lees Trust 1995 - 2008