Making a WAVE, called Video Blogging!

30 women, 30 regions videoblogging every day. Wave is our collective voice for a positive change! – Yes it indeed is and that’s what greets you when you log on to the official website of an initiative called WAVE, Women Aloud Videoblogging for Empowerment, a unique Goa-based digital platform for young semi-urban Indian women to voice their perspectives on issues that matter through video blogs. WAVE was the first winner from India of the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Competition in 2009. This was mainly due to their innovative use of the internet technology and interactive media for maximum impact and scale.

The website www.waveindia.org was launched in March 2010 and has already received nearly 5000 unique visitors from 78 countries. WAVE’s mission is to encourage women around India to voice their perspectives on social change using a shared digital platform.

One young woman from every state in India was selected through non-government organizations and colleges for an innovative nine-month mentorship program, and provided with video equipment, intensive training and monthly stipends for participating in the project. The women were then sent back to their hometowns to make short videos about issues they want to spread awareness about. The videos are put up on their website.

The participants selected come from interesting backgrounds and reflect the spirit of the initiative – Lebul Nisa, human rights lawyer in Srinagar, Vinitha D’Souza who lives in a women’s shelter in Mysore, Sarah Rindiki affiliated with Mizoram University, Kalki Subramaniam directs her own NGO in the field of transgender rights, Rama Barhat who’s pursuing alternative education in Udaipur and others.

A WAVE video blogger with a cam

ABOUT THE FOUNDERS

WAVE was founded by Sapna Shahani and Angana Jhaveri to give women a modern day tool to empower themselves.

Sapna directs the WAVE project, overseeing the program in its pilot phase, producing the videos and working towards its sustainability. She worked at Berkeley Community Media, a public TV station near San Francisco, California in the United States, as a manager for almost six years. This is where she learned about using media as a tool of change and providing access for the ordinary citizen to voice their issues, thereby strengthening democracy by enabling community dialogue, she tells The Sip of Life. Angana mentors the girls, enabling them to better communicate their perspectives online, produces videos,andis working towards WAVE’s sustainability. She has been a classical Manipuri dancer and a student of theatre in the US where she did a PhD on the Raslila Performance of Manipur. While filming the work of NGOs both in India and the US, Angana was inspired by projects that served the community and has pursued this interest working, she tells us.