In February 2017 the DPU joined Lagos based NGO, Justice & Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), to realise a workshop that utilised participatory video as a tool to explore the impact of the threat of evictions on the wellbeing of residents.
For the DPU this project aimed to help think about applying wellbeing thinking in research through participatory methodologies. In the case of Lagos, the workshop was about looking at the lives and experiences of marginalised groups to see how wellbeing thinking can help to empower them to resist the threat of evictions, and to mobilise communities to bring about change in the context where they live.
In addition, the workshop built on previous experiences of using participatory communication for development methodologies, such as the use of participatory video at a recent workshop in Rio de Janeiro that explored the upgrading and integration of favelas into the city. Communication for development and social change can be understood as the strategic use of communication processes and tools to achieve development goals, with a focus on cycles of reflection and action. The lessons learnt from these experiences are feeding into the continued development of a DPU communication for development and social change methodology, and is informing research and advocacy activities that are aimed at supporting the production of sustainable and socially just cities.
As one of the outputs from the workshop, a video was produced that detailed the workshop activities, with a particular emphasis on participatory video as a methodological process that can contribute to action-learning. It is hoped that the video can encourage the use of participatory video in an urban context.