KELLY LORENNIJ
The youth non-profit Jo-Jikum is hosting a two-week Digital Storytelling workshop on climate change, a first in the Marshall Islands, which is headed by Jo-Jikum’s Director Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and Project Manager Jina David. The program is supported by the non-profit organization 350.org’s Pacific Regional Coordinator Fenton Lutunatabua and Campaigner Joseph Sikulu.
The workshop is funded by World Bank and carried out by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The first week of the workshop was held at the International Conference Center, starting Monday, where facilitators of local agencies presented on interviewing, information gathering, and climate change including Waan Aelon in Majel, or WAM, for a traditional view on climate change.
All 15 participants, who represent KUMIT, WUTMI, Majuro hospital, CMI Media Center, Laura High School Media Club and others will go out on the second week to put the skills provided during the first week to practice. Participants will interview, practice filming, and edit films with help from Jo-Jikum and IOM’s youth representative Anfernee Kaminaga.
“We start with what they know, not the problem. Then, we fill in the blanks,” Jetnil-Kijiner explained about the process in which the workshop talks about climate change. Lutunatabua added that since one of the values of 350.org is for Pacific Islanders to become tellers of their own story, teaching young people how to take control of their own narrative is a huge part of this.
In “marrying” traditional storytelling with technology, the goal is to teach youths how to make better use of their phones through responsible storytelling. By the end of the workshop not only will participants know the tricks to using a digital platform, they will also become witnesses and “citizen journalists” on the ground who will make sure the rest of the world know what is happening, Lutunatabua said.
Read more about this in the April 26, 2019 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.