Core team

InsightShare Director Chris Lunch

Chris Lunch

Co-Founder & Director

InsightShare Director Chris Lunch

Chris works to empower communities by curating collaborative spaces, both online and offline; valuing equality, diversity and shared responsibility. Whether he’s working with marginalised communities in the global south, the vibrant youth of Marseille’s neighbourhoods, or with business leaders steering companies of varying sizes, he believes that those directly affected should design and lead transformative initiatives rather than have them imposed from above.

At InsightShare, we’ve spent over two decades pioneering participatory approaches centred around community storytelling, collective intelligence, and empowerment. Chris has always believed in sharing knowledge, making our innovative practices accessible through open-source toolkits and guides and developing countless trainings and capacity strenghtening courses.

Chris’s journey has equipped him with a versatile toolkit that adapts seamlessly to diverse environments, drawing from his studies in Anthropology at Oxford University and building in skills like design thinking, Theory U, and Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Wherever he’s working, he begins by valuing existing strengths and ideas and encourages groups to cultivate fertile ecosystems for dialogue and cross-pollination.

Languages: English (native) ~ French (fluent) ~ Spanish (intermediate)
InsightShare Director Nick Lunch

Nick Lunch

Co-Founder & Director

InsightShare Director Nick Lunch

Nick is an experienced Participatory Video facilitator, working at home in Oxford and in over 20 countries since 1996. His passion for the methodology grew from experimenting in handing over control of the camera and film project to indigenous youth in Nepal.

Nick co-founded InsightShare with his brother Chris, and has helped lead the organisation through an eventful journey of ongoing learning, and evolution. Today his focus is on honing the organisation’s capacity building skills, working with community animators to support a growing grassroots Participatory Video movement.

Much of his fieldwork has involved repeat visits to indigenous partner communities in Africa, Asia and South and Central America; working together to preserve and promote traditional knowledge, advance the cause of indigenous rights, and support local representatives as delegates at key global gatherings.

Nick has completed accredited training in Non-Violent Communication, Theory U (Presencing Institute), and Permaculture Design.

Languages: English (native) ~ French (fluent) ~ Spanish (intermediate)
InsightShare Head of M&E Soledad Muniz

Soledad Muñiz

Director of Programmes

InsightShare Head of M&E Soledad Muniz

Soledad specialises in participatory communication with particular skill and experience in deploying participatory video in international development. Soledad has over 20 years of experience working in communication and 14 years’ experience researching, planning and implementing numerous participatory video projects, with a strong understanding of the application and potential of the tool in a range of contexts. She has worked in more than 30 projects in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia in a range of issues including environment, Indigenous peoples, gender equality and youth & children’s rights.

Soledad has experience in capacity building, community development, research and monitoring & evaluation. As an independent consultant, She has also been part of external evaluations alongside an international team of independent consultants, focusing on gender equality, capacity building, communication for social change, media development and freedom of speech.

Languages: Spanish (native) ~ English (fluent) ~ Portuguese (basic)

Tania Ocampo-Garcia

Learning and Trainings Officer

Tania leads on trainings, learning and knowledge management within the M&E team. She supports the core team in project management, operations, and crafting participatory video learning materials for diverse audiences.

Tania’s journey into participatory methods began during her postgraduate studies at the University of Sheffield, where she cultivated a profound passion for participatory video as a tool for fostering locally-led change, merging her academic pursuits with practical applications.

Being particularly interested in environmental and social justice activism, Tania has actively engaged with locally-led grassroots movements across Yorkshire, such as ‘Rooting for Justice’ – an initiative launched with peers from the MSc program in Sheffield that focused on combating food poverty – and ‘Peaks of Colour’ – an intersectional walking club by and for people of colour offering hikes in the Peak District National Park.

Languages: Spanish (native) ~ English (fluent) ~ Portuguese (basic) ~ French (basic).

Zahra Wazifdar

Campaign support - SOAS student placement

Zahra Wazifdar is a final year Global Development student who has a particular interest in Environmentalism and Migration and Diaspora studies. Her professional journey included environmental campaign work with Islamic relief where she organised eco-iftars in her local community as well as participating in deployment projects in Lebanon for refugees. Through taking up modules on development economics, development from below, migration, borders, and spaces: decolonial approaches, Zahra have developed a deeper appreciation for the cultural nuances, historical factors, and systemic issues that shape international development efforts from below.

Through studying Global development and through her own personal experiences, she is committed in contributing to sustainable development efforts and empower marginalised populations.

Languages: English (fluent) ~ Urdu (partially fluent) ~ Japanese (basic) ~ Spanish (basic)

Associates

Josiah Imbayi Mukoya

Associate (Kenya)

Josiah is a monitoring and evaluation expert, socio-economist and researcher with over 15 years of experience supporting, designing and leading outcomes and impact measurement processes for conservation, resilience, health, livelihoods and development programs. His strengths, interests, and passion are in the designing and application of modern monitoring and evaluation processes for donor-funded programs in public, private and not-for-profit organizations. He has an in-depth understanding of PV/MSC approach having conducted trainings and served as a facilitator on a number of InsightShare PV/MSC assignments including evaluation of Pact Inc. and Mercy Corps Peace building, youth empowerment and organizational capacity building projects in Kenya and Karamoja, Uganda. He also presented a paper at the 7th African Evaluation Association (AfrEA) Conference, held in 2014 in Cameroon. The paper titled “The Strengths and Challenges of Participatory Video (PV) for M&E Youth Programming in Kenya,” was co-authored with Soledad Muniz.

Josiah holds an SDC-funded Master’s degree in Development Policies and Practices from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies – IHEID (Switzerland). He also completed a World Bank and ILO partially funded Postgraduate training in Applied Economics for Development (Italy) and a BSc. Degree in Agricultural Economics and Resources Management (Kenya). He is a Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) fellow/alumnus (2017), and also an alumnus of the Leadership and Governance Fellowship Program (2010) supported by Fredrich Ebert Stiftung. He is a Member of the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA), the American Evaluation Association (AEA), the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Kenya and an Associate Member of the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM).

Languages: English (fluent) ~ Swahili (fluent) ~ French (basic)

Lara Bezzina

Associate (Malta)

Lara has been working as a freelance researcher and consultant since 2017 when she graduated from her PhD degree at Durham University, which explored the lived experiences of persons with disabilities in Burkina Faso in relation to the interventions of international NGOs working in the field of disability. Before starting her PhD, Lara graduated from the same university with an MA in Research Methods, where she focused on decolonising research, participatory development and participatory action research, particularly participatory video and diagramming.

During her research in West Africa, where she had previously worked with disabled people’s organisations, Lara facilitated her first participatory video process with a group of disabled people. She has since employed participatory approaches in research studies and external evaluations for civil society organisations, public bodies and academia in both Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Her main areas of expertise are international development, disability, migration and gender equality. In 2021, Lara co-facilitated (with the University of Helsinki) a participatory visual methods training course for University students in Benin and Burkina Faso. Her experiences in participatory video have been the bases of multiple publications, including books and peer-reviewed journal articles; and presentations at international conferences.

Languages: Maltese (native) ~ English (fluent) ~ French (fluent) ~ Italian (intermediate) ~ Spanish (basic)

Claire Hill-Dixon

Associate (UK)

Claire has worked with InsightShare since 2015 as a core team member and facilitator. She has delivered projects in the UK and Liberia and has co-facilitated a number of InsightShare’s flagship 6-day facilitation trainings.

Claire has over a decade of experience working in the charity sector in the UK with a particular focus on youth rights, gender justice and community participation. She is currently CEO of the Young Trustees Movement, an Action Learning Set facilitator and a coach.

Languages: English (native)

Ryan Powell

Associate (UK)

Ryan is a freelance filmmaker, video artist and PV facilitator. He uses film to amplify the voices of marginalised groups and has facilitated projects with groups of homeless and vulnerably housed people in London and Brighton. He has directed, shot and edited award-winning short films on a range of themes including climate activism, housing issues and local history and has worked for diverse clients including the University of Cambridge, The Dean Heritage Centre and Novara Media.

Languages: English (native)

Sébastien Taylor

Associate (Senegal)

Sébastien is a multimedia producer and participatory media facilitator based in Dakar, Senegal. He has been travelling extensively throughout West and Central Africa for most of the last 12 years, successively living in Mozambique, Burundi, and the Republic of Congo, working for the UNDP, UNICEF and SOS Children’s Villages International, combining communication for social change approaches, community engagement, and creative media.

Sebastien now consults independently behind the social enterprise DOYOUKOPI, which supports non-governmental and international organisations and grassroots movements in their community engagement, communication, advocacy, and research work by using creative media and narratives as tools to decode, engage, enable, and mobilise.

He is also working on a collaborative, interactive and immersive documentary project about informal workers in Senegal, connecting personal stories to larger social issues whilst tackling stereotypes and misrepresentations.

Languages: French (native) ~ English (fluent) ~ Portuguese (fluent)
A picture of Kazu Ahmed

Kazu Ahmed

Associate (Finland/India)

A picture of Kazu Ahmed

Kazu a community media practitioner, researcher, photographer and filmmaker. He has been involved with Insightshare as a PV facilitator since 2014. He comes from a journalism and social sciences background with nearly 20 years of experience in the fields of environment, development and media.

Kazu has also been promoting PV for academic research. His current doctoral research at University of Helsinki is about conceptual and methodological aspects of PV from the perspectives of external mediation and support. He has taught participatory visual methods at the university and works with researchers, artists and community workers in combining PV-based methods with digital technology to generate dialogue and conversation.

Beginning as an environment and development journalist with Down To Earth magazine in India, Kazu has worked with Panos South Asia, IUCN and Commonwealth Foundation, and has made films on issues of peacebuilding, climate change and migration.

Languages: Assamese (native) ~ Bengali (fluent) ~ English (fluent) ~ Hindi (fluent) ~ Nagamese (fluent) ~ Urdu (basic)
A photograph of Sara Asadullah

Sara Asadullah

Senior Associate (UK)

A photograph of Sara Asadullah

Sara has worked with InsightShare as a Participatory Video facilitator since 2007, including numerous projects in Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe and the UK. Her work has encompassed issues ranging from young people, climate change, advocacy, women’s rights, integration and immigration. For the past four years, Sara has worked in particular to support Museums in London to better integrate young people in youth programming, using PV MSC.

Sara has an MA in Visual Anthropology and Ethnographic Documentary from the Granada Centre at the University of Manchester, and an MA (Oxon) in Archaeology and Anthropology from Oxford University.

Languages: English (native) ~ French (basic) ~ Spanish (basic) ~ Bengali (basic)
InsightShare Head of Operations Marlene Bovenmars

Marleen Bovenmars

Senior Associate (Canada)

InsightShare Head of Operations Marlene Bovenmars

Over the past decade Marleen has worked with a wide variety of groups ranging from indigenous communities in sub-Sahara Africa and subsistence farmers in the Himalayas to homeless people and refugees in Europe. She has delivered over 30 participatory video projects in 11 different countries. Her main areas of expertise are peace building, therapeutic processes, farmer-to-farmer sharing, M&E and training of trainers.

During her degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Sustainable Development she specialised in bio-cultural diversity conservation, sustainable agriculture, climate change adaptation and urban development.

Languages: Dutch (native) ~ English (fluent) ~ Spanish (intermediate) ~ French (intermediate) ~ German (intermediate)
A picture of Victoria Bridges

Victoria Bridges

Associate (UK)

A picture of Victoria Bridges

Victoria is a producer and director of documentaries and a communications consultant with 3 decades’ experience. She began her Participatory Video career with Communication for Change in New York and has since been committed to giving a voice to others through film and video. In filmmaking workshops, her aim is to help participants clarify their message and turn it into effective audiovisual output.

She has worked in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the US and has an MA in International Communications and Development from City University, London.

Languages: English (native) ~ French (fluent) ~ Spanish (Intermediate) ~ Portuguese (Basic)
A picture of Emilie Flower

Emilie Flower

Senior Associate (UK)

A picture of Emilie Flower

Emilie has 15 years experience facilitating Participatory Video projects. She has a background in social anthropology and video journalism, a masters in forestry and has worked for national and international development organisations.

Emilie’s film work ranges from researching the impact of perestroika on pastoralism in Kazakhstan to evaluating the impact of performing arts in a school in Northern England. Emilie has worked with InsightShare on numerous projects in Africa and Asia.

Languages: English (native) ~ French (advanced) ~ Spanish (basic)
A picture of Ingrid Guyon

Ingrid Guyon

Associate (Spain)

A picture of Ingrid Guyon

Ingrid is a photographer, filmmaker and participatory facilitator since 2007. She is the Founding Director of Fotosynthesis, a social enterprise that uses photography as a tool for education, to create new narratives and peacebuilding. She has worked extensively throughout Latin America, especially Colombia and the Dominican Republic, where her work has focused on gender participation and citizen initiatives in the peace process and the impact of tourism on local communities. Ingrid has a degree in Social and Visual Anthropology.

She has coordinated and facilitated Participatory Video workshops for InsightShare since 2016. As an Associate she has facilitated workshops for USIP and Build Up in Central African Republic, doing community consultation about Security and Peacebuilding policies, UNA Tanzania– a women’s rights and custom law intervention; for Interpeace in Ivory Coast, a youth led participatory analysis of peace initiatives; as well as for Sisters For Change in South Africa, producing videos to advocate for law reform of LGBTQI and women’s right in Commonwealth countries.

Languages: French (native) ~ Spanish (fluent) ~ English (fluent) ~ Italian (conversational) ~ Portuguese (conversational)
A picture of Sabine Hellmann

Sabine Hellmann

Senior Associate (UK)

A picture of Sabine Hellmann

Sabine is a documentary filmmaker, graphic designer and Participatory Video facilitator based in Glasgow. She has been working as a freelancer since receiving her MFA in Documentary Directing from Edinburgh College of Art. She has coordinated and facilitated Participatory Video workshops since 2013 and delivered a Participatory Video for M&E strategy in Malawi for a sustainable farming project.

As an Associate with InsightShare, Sabine has facilitated Participatory Video workshops for PACT Uganda – evaluating a peace building intervention; for Yangon Film School in Myanmar training students in PV Facilitation; as well as for the Green Energy Project in Ukraine as part of a community consultation. She has co-facilitated a number of InsightShare’s flagship 6-day Facilitation Trainings in Oxford and loves to inspire others to tell their stories in film to create positive change in their communities.

Languages: German (native) ~ English (fluent)
A photograph of Jack Jenkins Hill

Jack Jenkins-Hill

Associate (UK)

A photograph of Jack Jenkins Hill

Jack is a researcher and community development practitioner, who works with civil society organisations on land and natural resource governance issues.  He has lived and worked in Myanmar for the past 4 years.  Jack has used Participatory Video as part of collaborative research and advocacy projects with indigenous communities who have been displaced or have lost lands as a result of conservation and extractive industry projects.

As an Associate of InsightShare, Jack has been training young Myanmar filmmakers in Participatory Video and mentoring them to carry out their own projects throughout the country.

Languages: English (native) ~ Burmese (intermediate) ~ Spanish (basic)
A photograph of Tricia Jenkins

Tricia Jenkins

Senior Associate (Portugal)

A photograph of Tricia Jenkins

Tricia is an experienced InsightShare-trained Participatory Video facilitator, as well as being a lecturer, researcher and consultant, living in Portugal. She is also an associate lecturer on the MA Arts Administration and Cultural Policy, within the Institute of Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE), Goldsmiths, University of London. She started her career as one of the first media studies and media production teachers in further education in the early 1980s, and has worked in FE and community settings, using media to stimulate dialogue and promote change throughout her professional life.

She worked for Film London, both fundraising and grant management for programmes to develop new talent from unheard voices and in policy development. She has also held positions in both fundraising and in grant-making, having been a grants manager for the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Development Associate for Hi8Us Projects and Head of Training and Development in arts fundraising for Arts & Business.

She is a founder director of DigiTales Ltd., a research and digital storytelling company established in 2008, hosted by ICCE, using visual and participatory methods as action research tools. She has co-developed large-scale international projects using participatory arts and media and Digital Storytelling with marginalised groups. She has recently been awarded her PhD in Digital Storytelling with Older People.

Languages: English (native) ~ Portuguese (intermediate) ~ French (intermediate) ~ German (basic)

Pooja Kishnani

Associate (UK)

Pooja is an artist, visual storyteller and participatory video facilitator. She has 10 years of experience working in development and was previously with Oxfam where she designed and implemented strategies for global programmes on using participatory media such as photography and video as a tool for advocacy and measuring change.

Pooja now consults with a variety of international NGOs to design and facilitate creative ways for communities to share their stories of change and create new narratives to humanize themes around gender equality and human rights.

 

Languages English -Native, Thai – Fluent, Hindi -Basic
A photo of Manon Koningstein

Manon Koningstein

Associate (Spain)

A photo of Manon Koningstein

Manon specialises in communication for a social change. She began working with Participatory Video in 2013, amalgamating the approach with Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) techniques, with a particular focus on the use of Participatory Video in the field of climate change and food security.

Manon has particular experience working on gender-sensitive projects and methodologies as well as celebrating rural indigenous and local knowledge through participatory tools. She has worked mainly in Latin America. She has a European Master in Intercultural Communication from Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Languages: Dutch (native) ~ English (fluent) ~ Spanish (fluent) ~ French (basic)
A photo of Neville Meyer

Neville Meyer

Senior Associate (South Africa)

A photo of Neville Meyer

Neville is a lifelong community worker with over 20 years experience across a wide spectrum of focus areas. He has worked extensively across Africa on community development projects, including as a Participatory Video facilitator with InsightShare since 2008.

Neville is a founder member of the hub seeded by InsightShare in Durban, which continues today as an autonomous social enterprise with Participatory Video at its heart.

Languages: English (native) ~ Afrikaans (intermediate) ~ IsiZulu (basic)
A photo of Thor Morales

Thor Morales

Senior Associate (US/Mexico)

A photo of Thor Morales

Thor first collaborated with InsightShare on 2010 during the last phase of the Conversations with the Earth initiative. He became an Associate in 2015 and has lead since then the projects in northwestern Mexico. During that time he supported the Yaqui and Comcaac video hubs become the first indigenous collective of participatory video facilitators, La Marabunta Filmadora. He then supported four indigenous groups in northern Kenya to become PV facilitators. The same year he also worked in West Africa as facilitator in a participatory video training for social workers of the Lutheran Church of Liberia. Thor is now also involved in supporting First Nations in Canada use PV to monitor climate change and environmental pollution.

Thor has a degree in Biology and extensive experience in community and biocultural conservation. He later on became a professional photographer and filmmaker. When he is not facilitating for InsightShare, he is working on his own documentaries.

Languages: Spanish (native) ~ English (fluent) ~ Brazilian Portuguese (advanced) ~ French (basic)

Jacob Redman

Associate (France)

Jacob Redman is a highly skilled Video Editor and a participatory video facilitator specialising in youth, peacebuilding, environment and sustainable development.

Jacob has recently been in Ivory Coast carrying out an extended PV MSC process with young people for UNICEF on the programme “Learning for Peace”, and has worked in Ukraine supporting youth and adult internally displaced citizens to tell their stories. As an editor, he has been part of post-production coming from InsightShare projects all over the world.

Since 2016, Jacob co-founded a non-profit organisation that uses video and photoraphy based in France, specialised in social, environmental and culture issues. He has directed feature documentaries, designed and facilitated workshops using smartphones on a variety of subjects such as LGBTQI, equality and immigration.

Languages: French (native) ~ English (fluent)
InsightShare Associate Zoe Young

Zoe Young

Associate (UK)

InsightShare Associate Zoe Young

Zoe Young is an author, film director and Participatory Video facilitator with 25 years experience of research and education in the fields of environment, development & human rights. She grew up in London, travels widely and received Masters degrees in Science and Technology Policy and Fine Art. Collaborating with diverse communities within the UK and internationally, her work includes co-directing documentaries such as ‘Suits and Savages’, print and broadcast journalism and presenting papers at scholarly conferences and in peer-reviewed journals. Since training with InsightShare to facilitate participatory video for community action research, Zoe has run PV consultancies for the University of East Anglia’s School of International Development, Coventry’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience and the United Nations.

Languages: English (native) ~ French (intermediate) ~ Spanish (intermediate)

Indigenous Associates

Lucas Ole Sayori

Indigenous Associate (Maasai, Tanzania)

Lucas Ole Sayori is a Maasai community member from Northern Tanzania (Loliondo). He has been an active member of the Oltoilo Le Maa (Tanzania) PV hub since 2017, frontline defending the interest of the Maasai pastoralist in various dimensions such as land rights, education for children from low-income families and the right to education to children with disabilities. 

Lucas is a PV facilitator of Oltoilo Le Maa (Tanzania) through InsightShare. Participatory video has become an important tool in his advocacy ever since.

Languages: Maa (native) ~ Kiswahili (fluent) ~ English (fluent)

Peter Selelo Munyani

Indigenous Associate (Maasai, Kenya)

Peter was born in 1985 at Nkipangasi Olmesutie, Narok County, Kenya. He attended the College of social work and completed his studies in 2010. Peter has served his community as a community motivator of the Ilkerin integral development program for eight years. In addition, he was the Loita’s ward coordinator under the Narok county government for five years.

Moreover, Peter is a primary teacher and board member of the Olmesutie land adjudication section. He is a PV facilitator of Oltoilo Le Maa PV hub (Kenya) through Insightshare.

Languages: Maa (native) ~ Kiswahili (fluent) ~ English (fluent)
Portrait of Jillo Katelo, Indigenous Associate of InsightShare from Kenya

Jillo Katelo

Indigenous Associate (Gabbra, Kenya)

Portrait of Jillo Katelo, Indigenous Associate of InsightShare from Kenya

Jillo is the Director of Programs of the Kivulini Trust, an organisation which envisions a progressive society that cherishes and celebrates its culture, respects its natural environment and enjoying social harmony and prosperity. Their mission is to support pastoralists, fisher folk and other minority communities in semi- arid rangelands of Kenya to sustain their cultural and natural heritage and to realise their socio-economic aspirations. The Kivulini Trust have partnered with InsightShare to use Participatory Video to support this work.

Languages: Gabbra (native) ~ Swahili (fluent) ~ English (fluent)
Portrait of Amos Leuka, Maasai Indigenous Activist from Kenya

Amos Karino Leuka

Indigenous Associate (Maasai, Kenya)

Portrait of Amos Leuka, Maasai Indigenous Activist from Kenya

Amos is a teacher and long-time activist in cultural leadership and practices. He is a young member of the Loita council of elders and a member of the Land Committee in Loita. As a member of the council of elders, he has been outspoken on the subject of the position of girls in society and on the practice of Female Genital Mutilation. Amos is a founding member of the Pan-African Living Cultures Alliance, attended the 2019 Video4Change gathering of Indigenous activists in South Africa, and was a member of the 2020 Maasai delegation to the UK as part of the Living Cultures project to decolonise cultural spaces.

Languages: Maa (native) ~ Swahili (fluent) ~ English (fluent)
Timothee Emini Indigenous Associate InsightShare

Timothée Emini

Indigenous Associate (Baka, Cameroon)

Timothee Emini Indigenous Associate InsightShare

Timothée works with the OKANI organisation in Cameroon, whose work focusses on promoting the rights of Indigenous Peoples related to conservation. In his work as a legal advisor, Timothée uses video and media to support his advocacy activities and share the messages of communities. He sees video as a tool that can help to carry communities’ voices at a national and international level. Timothée is one of the Indigenous activists who attended the Video4Change 2019 gathering in South Africa.

Languages: Baka (native) ~ French (fluent) ~ English (fluent)
InsightShare Associate Jeka Ania Carlón Flores

Jeka Ania Carlón Flores

Indigenous Associate (Yaqui, Mexico)

InsightShare Associate Jeka Ania Carlón Flores

Anabela is a community leader in Sonora, northern Mexico. She has engaged with Participatory Video since 2011, principally deploying it within her local Yaqui community as an educational tool to revive traditional ecological knowledge.

Anabela has facilitated various projects since her first work with InsightShare as part of the Conversations With the Earth project, including as a trainer for a capacity building programme for conservation workers in Bolivia.

Languages: Yaqui (native) ~ Spanish (fluent) ~ English (advanced)

Scholastica Kukutiya

Indigenous Associate (Maasai, Kenya)

Scola is a women’s rights community activist in Kenya. She uses participatory video to promote women’s economic independence within her Maasai community. She supports traditional beadwork and has established an organisation, Olmaa Makes, that sells Maasai-made beadwork and pours the profits back into women’s initiatives, education and up-skilling. 

Scola also works with Oltoilo Le Maa. In 2018, Scola traveled to the University of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum, as part of the Living Cultures programme, to assess Maasai cultural artefacts. In 2019, Scola helped establish a Pan-African Living Cultures Alliance at a Video4Change gathering in South Africa.

Languages: Maa (native) ~ Swahili (fluent) ~ English (fluent)

Magella Hassan Lenatiyama

Indigenous Associate (El Molo, Kenya)

Magella is a pre-primary school teacher and participatory video practitioner based on the shores of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. Magella predominantly uses participatory video to support El Molo youth and to preserve the endangered El Molo culture and language through video dictionaries

In 2019 Magella participated in a Pan-African alliance building event for video4change activists that was held in South Africa.

Languages: Elmolo (mother tongue) ~ Samburu (native) ~ Kiswahili (fluent) ~ English (advanced)

 

Samwel Nangiria

Indigenous Associate (Maasai, Tanzania)

Samwel is the founding director of Oltolio Le Maa, a Maasai-led participatory video group that documents human rights issues, social development and Maasai culture. Samwel began using participatory video to defend Maasai territories from land grabs and forced evictions of Maasai pastoralists, and in 2017 he was acclaimed as Tanzania’s Rural Human Rights Defender of the Year.

Samwel also uses participatory video as a tool for preserving Maasai culture and redressing colonial narratives of Indigenous Peoples in western or globalist institutions. He spearheaded the Living Cultures movement (a partnership between InsightShare and the Pitt Rivers Museum Oxford) which dismantles colonial narratives within museums by empowering Indigenous Peoples to curate their own narratives. He is also the co-founder of the Pan-African Living Cultures Alliance.

Languages: Maa (native) ~ Swahili (fluent) ~ English (fluent)

Kooya Timan

Indigenous Associate (Maasai, Tanzania)

Kooya is a community activist for land and women’s rights in Tanzania and a leading facilitator for the Maasai-led participatory video hub Otoilo le Maa. In the past, Kooya has spearheaded initiatives tackling the issue of girls’ enrolment in schools and facilitated the ground-breaking Olosho video which helped broker a peaceful resolution to violent and illegal land grabbing by a private safari company. In 2017 Kooya was chosen by her community to travel to the University of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum to assess the significance of Maasai cultural artefacts acquired by the museum and to realign narratives from the colonial past and relate them to the continuous struggles of the present.

Languages: Maa (native) ~ Swahili (fluent)

 

Seno Tsuhah

Indigenous Associate (Chakhesang Naga, India)

Seno is a farmer, primary school teacher and community development worker based in Chizami village in Phek district of Nagaland, North East India. She also works with North East Network (NEN) and has over the last 18 years led a team of community based workers on issues of women’s rights, governance, natural resource management and sustainable livelihood. NEN is a women’s organisation working in Assam, Nagaland and Meghalaya, committed to gender justice, equality and human rights. 

Seno established a participatory video hub in Nagaland and supports the team in creating videos relating to the aforementioned themes. Recently, they received the Community Media Award for their video ‘Salt in My Village’. In India, participatory video is helping to forge bonds between communities on the forefront of climate breakdown.

Languages: Khezha (native) ⁓ English (advanced)