In this article Stephen Hancock gives an extensive and inspiring description of the PV process, drawing from his personal experiences, working alongside Nick Lunch on a PV project in India. Through his detailed description of the whole process, it becomes clear how the PV method helped them to facilitate a genuine and participative communication loop by providing the local illitarate farmers and nomads with a tool to express their concerns related to environmental change and bringing them their face to face with scientists and NGO staff.
The result of a Participatory Video consultation process, this film describes how solar power became more than just a means of renewable energy for these remote desert shepherding villages. Each family receiving a solar installation contributed one ewe and one lamb to a collectively managed flock. These flocks gave the communities a new kind of power; the ability to carry out local actions and make their own positive changes
This programme began with a Participatory Video project carried out in Turkmenistan’s Kara Kum desert in 1999. High levels of outward migration were threatening the long-term survival of these remote deserts villages. Community members had talked about their visions for their village. Many felt that electricity would improve their lifestyles and encourage people to stay in the desert.
