“My name is Bahamboula Gertrude. I was a stonecutter in Kinkala before the war. I helped make stones used for building houses. When the war began they started destroying houses instead of building them …” Photo of Gertrude cutting stones published with permission from Silence Speaks. Seven women affected by Congo-Brazzaville’s (also known as Republic of Congo) civil wars between 1997 and 2003 came together in November 2009 for a four-day digital storytelling workshop organized in a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (UNDP-BCPR) and the Center for Digital Storytelling’s initiative Silence Speaks. Since their beginnings in 1999, Silence Speaks, which is based in the United States, has coordinated more than 40 projects across the United States, and in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Congo-Brazzaville, South Africa, and Uganda. Congo-Brazzaville workshop group. Photo published with permission of Silence Speaks. On behalf of Global Voices, I interviewed the director of Silence Speaks, Amy Hill, to learn more about this wonderful project. Amy explains that their workshops blend oral history, popular education, and participatory media production, enabling people to create short videos about their own lives, with stories that may otherwise go unheard. “We modify our methods to accommodate languages, literacies, and technologies in a given setting and emphasize reflection on the implications of bringing sensitive personal narratives into the public sphere. Following careful informed consent processes, stories are shared locally and globally, as strategic tools for training, community mobilization, and policy advocacy to promote well being, gender equality, and human rights,” she says. GV: How did you start working with women survivors of war in the Republic of Congo? Amy: “In April of 2009, I was approached by a staff member with UNDP’s Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (BCPR) in Geneva about the possibility of developing digital storytelling work in the context of UNDP’s Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programs… “In recent years, BCPR personnel have recognized that critical to the success of their efforts are the development of communications strategies that ensure a voice and audience for those directly affected by conflict. Because we shared a particular interest in women’s health and well-being and because DDR efforts have been criticized for failing to emphasize the need for gender-specific approaches to post-conflict support, we outlined a collaborative project to assist a small group of women affected by/involved with the most recent civil war in Congo Brazzaville (1997 – 2003) in sharing their stories. “The goal of the project was two-fold: (1) to use a participatory production process in creating a collection of short videos and radio pieces that can be screened by UNDP in various local and international settings (ie, at community events, trainings, conferences, meetings, web presentations, etc.) to highlight examples of success and positive change; and (2) to provide a mechanism for addressing the deep scars left in the region in the wake of years of conflict (both through the workshop process itself, and through subsequent distribution of the digital stories in Congo).” GV: With what local organizations did Silence Speaks work with in Congo? Kinkala. Photo published with permission of Silence Speaks. Amy: “The BCPR chose Republic of Congo as a site for the project because its DDR team maintains a special emphasis on income generation activities for women. Local UNDP communications officers and program staff based in Brazzaville (the country’s capital) and Kinkala (a heavily war-affected city in Congo’s Pool region, where much of the most brutal fighting took place) were involved in project planning from the outset. “A key piece of the participant recruitment process involved informing interested women from the outset that their stories were intended for public sharing. After years of working in extremely resource-poor settings and in communities experiencing high levels of poverty and distress, I do not view “informed consent” as a one-time procedure involving the signing of forms. Instead, I am committed to weaving the notion of consent throughout projects… “Our goal with the project was to support as best we could a process that gave the women themselves a sense of clear ownership over their work and a sense of commitment to how their stories can assist community reconciliation and peace building activities in the wake of war both locally and globally.” Workshop in Congo-Brazzaville. Photo published with permission of Silence Speaks.