Solar Power = Community Power

Participatory video is used as a tool for documenting the challenges and decision-making processes involved in the community-led installation of solar power within different shepherding villages. The solar panels are neither sold nor given to the communities. Instead, villagers decided that each family should exchange one ewe and one female lamb for their solar lighting system; these animals become the collective property of the village and are used as a "community action fund." As this flock increases in size, so, too, does the villagers' resource base for carrying out their own community action. Villagers have to set up and manage this flock themselves through a system based on traditional practices: one person is elected to look after the community flock and another is elected to represent the interests of the village and to check on the growth and condition of the flock. Under these terms, the shepherd must achieve an 88% birthing rate and is entitled to keep half the lambs as his payment. Insight facilitators help each village develop a community action plan outlining the improvements they wished to carry out over the next 3 years with the help of this newly created community flock. The idea is that, since everyone contributes equally to this flock, everyone feels they have a voice in deciding how it should be used. Each time Insight personnel start work in a new community, a shepherd from the last village accompanies them to pass on his technical knowledge and to share his community's experiences.

In an effort to "get the whole village onboard", the project's participatory video facilitator undertakes house-to-house visits designed to fully involve children, the elderly, men, and women in the planning and implementation stages. Members of each household are also involved in the installation process; in this way they learn how their system works and develop skills to carry out routine maintenance. All decisions are made at community meetings in order to maintain transparency and local ownership; sometimes video is used to document these meetings and to enable women, especially, to offer their own ideas/suggestions. All footage, including the women's evaluations and feedback, is played to the whole community at evening screenings to make sure they feel that their ideas and opinions are heard. Participatory video is also being used for community evaluations, in which the villagers film and interview each other in their own homes and without project staff needing to be present. According to Insight, villagers, especially the women, are much more likely to speak their minds in this way. Over the years Insight has built up a video archive of opinions and feedback on the changes that have taken place as a result of the project in an effort to create a kind of live record of the participatory process in action. The community drew on this footage to create a short film about the programme called "Solar Power = Community Power". A Turkmen version was shown to local administration officials to help communicate the work and get their support; it was also shown to new villages joining the programme. An English version was shown to international donors and can be seen on the Insight website.

Renewable Energy.

According to Insight, the major political and economic changes that have taken place in these former Soviet countries has had an impact on the lives of shepherding communtities. Earlier participatory video work in this area carried out by Insight had indicated how important it was that these communities themselves filled the void left after the collapse of the top-down Soviet system. Villagers recognised that this required better cooperation within villages and a greater capacity for community action; only then could villagers address the issues which threatened to squeeze out more families. The Solar Power = Community Power programme aimed to unite these different elements.

As part of this programme, since 2001 more than 450 individuals have been provided with electricity in 6 different shepherding villages. Further, "in each village dependency on external solutions and support has been reduced and collective community action and decision making has been encouraged. An additional shepherding job is also created." One local young man commented, "Electricity is helpful. It is good to watch the news; good for education, good for your life. If you don't have a radio or TV you don't know what's going on."