Showing our story our way: exploring the learning processes of gender awareness videos in Papua New Guinea

ABSTRACT

In Papua New Guinea (PNG), smallholder farmers, particularly women and girls, are the backbone of food production and food security; therefore, engaging these farmers in learning and development programs is key. We present and analyse a project that developed a story-telling digital video for farmers with low literacy as a learning tool in the sensitive area of gender equity. Although the video was a cross cultural collaboration between PNG and Australian team members, the PNG team took responsibility for the video’s vision, content, and process to ensure that the video resonated with the farmers’ local culture and context. As adult learners make meaning from their interactions in their own social world and that world is culturally, linguistically, and place-specific, we conclude that a locally created video drama featuring a PNG family can facilitate situated, affective, collective, and transformative learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Papua New Guinea
• participatory educational videos
• agricultural extension
• transformative learning
• gender awareness
• smallholder farmers
• critical pedagogy
• feminist pedagogy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the many people who contributed to the development of the videos: Kiteni Kurika (video presenter), Elisabeth Medline Ling (video presenter), the Femili Studios production team, and the community members from Port Moresby and New Ireland who skilfully played roles in the drama video. We also acknowledge the contribution of Dr Josephine Saul who provided significant insights into audience reactions to the videos. We are also very grateful for the insightful contributions by the two referees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research [grant numbers ASEM/2020/052 and ASEM 2014/095].

Notes on contributors

Barbara Pamphilon

Barbara Pamphilon AM is a Professor of Community Learning and Development in the Centre for Sustainable Communities at the University of Canberra, Australia. She specialises in critical participatory action research with a focus on gender. In her research for agricultural development work, she has developed innovative research and adult education methodologies that enable multiple knowledges to emerge and that are effective in groups where there is low literacy.

Katja Mikhailovich

Katja Mikhailovich is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Centre for Sustainable Communities at the University of Canberra, Australia. She has extensive experience in the leadership and management of research and evaluation. Over the last ten years, her focus has been on research for development projects focusing on women’s economic development in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and Tonga.

Lalen Simeon

Lalen Simeon is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Pacific Adventist University in Papua New Guinea. She has wide experience in qualitative research in the areas of health, education, leadership and youth, women and families. She is the PNG lead researcher on an ACIAR project investigating youth farming futures and the role of churches in family-based agricultural development.