Films for Ashden Awards 2015 winners

I was recently in Kenya to film two short profiles of the winners of the prestigious Ashen Awards.

“BURN Manufacturing is helping improve the lives of women and girls in East Africa with its efficient charcoal-burning Jikokoa™ stove and opportunities for women to participate in its workforce. The stove itself represents a step-change in the design and efficiency of charcoal-burning cookstoves. As well as being an aspirational household product, it cuts down on smoke and soot by more than 60% compared to the widely used Kenya ceramic jiko. But it’s not just women using the stoves who benefit. With all manufacture now done in a new state-of-the-art factory in Kenya, BURN emphasises that all jobs are open to both men and women at all levels – just over half of its workforce are women.”

“Lake Victoria’s fishing villages and other rural communities in Kenya are benefiting from clean light and power for the first time, thanks to renewable energy micro-grids. Using the natural energy of the sun, they work like mini power stations for each village, supplying enough energy to run small businesses, as well as power TVs, radios and bright lights in the home. Solar power in East Africa is not new, but what’s exciting about SteamaCo is the technology behind it: the micro-grids use an innovative cloud-based remote metering and payments system that monitors energy use, lets people pay for power using their mobile phones, and quickly troubleshoots any problems. With around 80% of Kenyans lacking access to mains electricity, SteamaCo is helping to bring the benefits of clean energy to increasing numbers of off-grid customers.”

Kufa au Kupona (Life or Death)

A new docudrama following three families fighting against malaria. This innovative film uses interview and dramatic re-enactments by the actual characters to portray their life and death struggles with this deadly disease.

Produced in conjunction with Media for Development International.

The Children of Muhimbili

A short film about the amazing children at Muhimbili Children’s Cancer Ward in Tanzania. Since 2008, Children in Crossfire have been supporting a project providing free cancer care to children in Tanzania. By supplying essential chemotherapy drugs, employing medical staff, and improving protocols, survival rates have increased from 20% to 60%. The aim is to achieve the international standard of 85 % survival rate. Check out www.childrenincrossfire.org

BBC TV commercials

Three TV commercials for BBC Media Action.

Filmed in Tanzania and Zambia

Check out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaaction/

BBC Media Action in Tanzania

This film looks at how BBC Media Action in Tanzania is helping strengthen the media through journalism training and radio programmes that foster debate and participation. A new radio show produced by BBC Swahili in collaboration with BBC Media Action aims to bridge the gap between leaders and ordinary Tanzanians, and support local and national media to bring the voices and opinions of people to the fore. BBC Media Action has previously worked in partnership with the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation to support its transition into a public service broadcaster, particularly in the run-up to national elections in 2010.

New 10 part series for Sesame Workshop

We have just finished a new 10 part series for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street. The 10 films feature the muppets Kami and Zobi with Ghanaian TV star Matilda Asante. Filmed on location in Nigeria and South Africa, the series will be used for teacher training across west Africa.