Turning Floods Into an Asset in Bangladesh

USING THE AUDIOVISUAL DIMENSION TO ADVANCE SUSTAINABILITY

Turning floods into an asset in Bangladesh

Project proposal

presented by Dr. Isabelle Antunès

USING THE AUDIOVISUAL DIMENSION TO ADVANCE SUSTAINABILITY

Turning floods into an asset in Bangladesh

The context

Every year, Bangladesh is prone to huge and regular flooding due to being situated on the Ganges Delta and the many distributaries flowing into the Bay of Bengal, thus affecting low and high density of population alike. Each year, millions of people are forced to internal migration during 4 to 5 months. Once in the cities, if they don't find a job, they are forced to migrate out of the country.

Portrayed in the award-winning documentary film Happy Rain, floodplain fisheries developed by Shisuk NGO and local communities in Daudkandi - Bangladesh since 1999 have been successful in mobilizing community development while turning an obstacle into a profitable commercial venture. Nearly 2000 hectares of water become fish farms during the monsoon. This has considerably improved the life of more than 7000 households and enabled them to remain in their villages and to make a living all year round. With an average production rate of over 3 tons of fish per hectare, floodplains contribute to food security in the country and to local development.

Five million people would be provided with food and jobs if only 10% of the suitable areas for replication of the model could be tapped for such organized, community-based aquaculture. Shisuk NGO is currently working at scaling up their community enterprise approach for intensification of floodplain fish production in 20 sites with the support of Bangladesh government.

Growth and sustainability of initial Daudkandi initiative and model are key to facilitate replication and ensure sustainability. While Daudkandi's model is inspiring, continuous support needs to be given to the communities to encourage them and provide them with options and information that will help them make best decisions and overcome challenges as they develop.

Success is contagious. La fabrique du géographe believes in supporting pioneering initiatives to help them grow, prosper and create more jobs. This current project proposal aims to support Shisuk and Daudkandi communities' s on-going efforts using films in an innovative manner to fuel people with energy for good for major shift creation of natural resources, new business models and jobs.

Objectives

The objectives are twofold:

Firstly, this project aims to advance sustainability of tomato value-chain and its model so that it further encourages and inspires other communities in Bangladesh, learning from Daudkandi's lessons learnt, building on their momentum.

As any endeavor or enterprise, Daudkandi initiative is in constant evolution and therefore faces challenges. After mastering the art of producing fish in open floodplain waters and exploring management options, communities are faced with the issue of maximizing profits from the sale of the production within a limited time and without compromising paddy culture. Finding a solution to this issue is key both to ensure sustainability and to convince more and more communities in the area to build on existing initiatives.

Secondly, this project aims to support Shisuk NGO's scaling up efforts by transferring Daukdanki's knowledge and lessons learnt in an easy and ludic way while portraying each step in video modules/capsules.

Finally, this project will build replication momentum by sharing the story about how promising new champion communities have also found solutions with which to overcome obstacles in floodplains and met their needs, thus bringing hope and inspiration in other places in Bangladesh

Methodology

Human energy is a renewable resource.

We talk about renewable energy as “alternative energy” but we forget that the most valuable, untapped energy is human energy.

Human energy is the basis for a new approach to development.

For film subjects, seeing their efforts broadcast on television is to step out of the shadows. By the same token, witnessing the reaction of the viewers to the solutions they’ve found makes it possible to fully gauge the impact of their work and the collective benefit their story can have. In such cases, emotions are released that generate positive energy, a force both constructive and contagious, which supports the efforts of the community in difficulty.

From this perspective, documentary film is a formidable development tool. Not only does it encourage and support the actors concerned, but also it in turn provokes a positive reaction from the viewer: it inspires and motivates, making people reflect and react.

La fabrique du géographe has developed an original approach to development encompassing this “mirror-boomerang” dimension. Individuals can see themselves, recognise themselves, and develop an awareness of their accomplishments in order to consolidate that experience. In doing so, a feedback loop is created showing the reaction of the public to the documented images, enabling the initiators to witness the impact of their experience on others.

The methodology centers on 3 steps:

The making of positive and constructive documentary aimed at national and international television audiences is the first step. The writing of our film is based on extensive field research enabling an understanding of the issues in their complexity. The film Happy Rain is already produced. It has been shown at COP 21 and broadcast on French TV so far. It has won 2 awards at festivals.

The second step is to use the film according to the "win-win feedback loop" approach developed by La fabrique du géographe to enable film subjects to benefit from viewers reactions and to feel emotions. This win-win feedback loop would act as the new driving force behind growth, prosperity and sustainability. It offers many advantages: it generates positive emotions in film subjects, who upon seeing themselves realize "the big picture", difficulties but also how their life has changed for the best and the importance of pursuing joint efforts to overcome challenges. The win-win feedback loop approach enables to select viewers so that their can provide ideas and solutions to issues film subjects are encountering and therefore act as "capacity- builders". Finally, it also contributes to inspire viewers in general.

Benefiting from reactions and feeling emotions

the new driving force

behind growth, prosperity and sustainability

In the case of Daudkandi initiative, Happy Rain will be screened to a broad range of audience from local communities, business school to professionals in the fishery sector both in Europe and in Asia (10 screenings in each region). Reactions from the viewers will then be edited, shared and discussed with film subjects. Reactions from films subjects will also be filmed and edited for research purposes and to further encourage future viewers to participate. 5

In order to transfer knowledge to others, this project will present Daudkandi initiative and lessons learnt in a serie of audiovisual ludic modules/capsules available on La fabrique du géographe's website so that anyone who is interested can find inspiration and a solution to his/her problem. These capsules coupled with an online survey will both continue to inform film subjects on the impact of their work and collective benefit their story can have and help evaluate their uses and appreciations. Thus, the objectives will be to inspire and to transfer solutions in order to facilitate replication or adaptation. The idea is to enable anyone to learn from another as his/her project grows or to find a solution to his/her problem.

This approach offers the advantage to connect people thanks to solutions. Beyond making films, the aim is to contribute to change-building by generating ‘positive contagion,’ which builds confidence and can help people find the necessary personal resources to continue or initiate projects of great importance to them. The win-win feedback loop creates a reality connecting people. It will benefit Bangladesh but also beyond its boarders. Access to internet is now widespread even to most remote places. Developing countries have adopted strategies with the objective to expanding digital culture by 2021 for Bangladesh and by 2015 for Senegal for example through the implementation of appropriate infrastructures.

This project will partner with a national operator in Bangladesh to make audiovisual modules/capsules available for free directly on mobiles.

La fabrique du géographe believes that the sharing of solutions helps us solve problems for a sustainable future.

Transferring solutions and lessons learnt

Expected results by 2020

Analysis of impact will be supported by research based on an online survey, field visits and monitoring and evaluation conducted in partnership with universities in Europe and researchers in Bangladesh.

Positive results are expected both in Daudkandi and in Bangladesh as follows:

! Income increases and new jobs are created thanks to added value on fish production and new marketing strategy; ! Increased superficies of floodplain aquaculture in Daudkandi region thanks to positive local feedback winning more neighboring participation; ! Five million people provided with food, jobs and improved livelihood in other floodplains areas of Bangladesh that have turned into organized community-based aquaculture; ! At least 2 other initiatives in other sectors are inspired by the community enterprise approach in Bangladesh and begin to develop;

Furthermore, an analysis of the multimedia website visits/use and the online survey will help identify potential impact beyond Bangladesh.

Timeframe

Activities will be conducted over 3 years as presented in table below. First year will focus on strengthening Daudkandi initiatives and preparing transfer of knowledge. Second and third year will aim at monitoring and evaluating impact in Daudkandi and other region of Bangladesh.

Activities 2018 2019 2020 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 selecting viewers filming and editing viewers's reactions sharing reactions producing ludic modules/capsules developing online survey making films about new champions monitoring and evaluation Restitution

Estimated budget

Total budget for this 3-year project is estimated at 1 500 000€. La fabrique du géographe has already invested total amount 300 000€.

Remaining funds to be found: 1 200 000 €

Dr. Isabelle Antunès biography

Isabelle Antunès is a PhD in Geography and Development with broad background in development practices and cooperation in Asia-Pacific (Indonesia, Pakistan, New Caledonia, Bangladesh) and Africa (Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Botswana, Marrocco) including post-conflict and post-disaster environments (Aceh). Isabelle has 20 years experience working for governments, international organizations, research institutes and private sector in liaison, public relations and strategic communication and in management, coordination and team leadership of economic rural development, fisheries development and natural resource management projects. 5 years experience working at assisting policy formulation and decision making process. Closely worked with fishermen, farmers, SME, communities, buyers, investors, financiers, exporters, food processors and NGOs; managed many professionals from scientists to administrative staff for various projects and research. Her speciality in cultural geography or studying culture through space adds a unique dimension to her expertise and enables her to think out of the box. Isabelle last posting was at the Royal University of Bhutan under a cooperation agreement with the Embassy of France in Delhi to develop a Centre for Rural Development Studies and to contribute to the development of documentary film industry in Bhutan. Her work involved close collaboration with the government for the management of demonstrative and constructive projects aiming to promote agricultural and local produce by culture, to encourage the development of existing and new small businesses and to guide the emergence of young filmmakers in the country.

Whilst holding these positions, the documentary continued to be her medium of choice for communicating and promoting development. When writing her thesis she also made a 52- minute production for general viewing entitled Rêve de pêche en Indonésie that was broadcast on France 2, France 3, La Cinq, RFO and TV5 Monde. In 2006 she made La tomate au Sénégal, celle qu’on s’arrache, 52 minutes on the formidable history of the tomato industry in Senegal, a successful partnership between 14,000 producers and a French industrialist, broadcast on French and West African television networks, and selected at the Festival Vues d’Afrique in Montreal in 2007 and at the Festival Ciné Migrante in Argentina in 2010. This film gives a positive image of West Africa, encouraging young people to go back into farming and the government to protect the industry and peasants against mass imports. In 2015, Isabelle signs award-winng Happy rain, telling the story of some 5000 farmers who pooled their meagre savings to create a capital and started a company to farm fish on the vast expanse of water created during the rainy season. By looking at their problem from a different perspective, these villagers turned an obstacle into an asset. As a collective, they were able to invent a solution and to lead their own life and progress.

Today, with a view to contribute to change-building by generating positive contagion, Isabelle founded La fabrique du géographe - a unique and innovative research and film production house focusing on sharing and measuring the impact of positive initiatives, solutions found by a community to improve their daily lives, or promising experiences.