WOMEN EMPOWERED - Vital Work Made Visible
Channel: r4d programme
Date: 2023-03-08

When researchers get immersed in communities, from Brazil to Nepal and the African continent, their work helps make women’s work visible.

In Brazil’s Seara region, Inês Gasparin Müller and Claudette Finger were shocked to see their traditional raw-milk cheese thrown away at a regional contest. The problem? It’s considered illegal. Seara’s artisanal cheesemakers are now getting support to claim their right to a long culinary tradition.

Nepali women making a living sorting through landfill waste in Kathmandu get less pay and no recognition for their work. Maya Tamang is treasurer of a cooperative where waste pickers are joining forces to demand acceptance by their government.

Women have little power when it comes to land in rural Kenya. But Beatrice Yamumu, a farmer on a dairy smallholding, begins to see signs of change when a research project helps the community see the value of women’s farmwork.

In West Africa, yam is a staple. But it saps the earth of nutrients, leaving the land too depleted to secure the region’s food supply. Scientists Beatrice Aighew and Chinwe Ifejika Speranza are leading on research to keep soils fertile and grow yam sustainably.

The footage was collected by scientists working side by side with communities around the globe, supported by the Swiss Programme for Research on Issues for Development (r4d programme), an initiative by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Swiss National Science Foundation. The r4d programme mobilizes the scientific community to support global development with their knowledge, creativity and innovative solutions.

More information on the r4d programme: https://www.r4d.ch/en
To watch the original films from the digital storytellers project, visit the Knowledge for Development platform https://k4d.ch/


Credits: 

A FILM BY
Anita Makri & Minos Papas

VIDEOGRAPHY
Adriana Bessa, Sara Baga
Yash Man Karmacharya, CIUD James Mwerea, Damitha Samarakoon Stephanie Jacquet, Hai Ngyuen Santiphap_Meunmany, Julian Greenwood Andrea_Leuenberger

ASSISTANT EDITORS
Liz Sargent, Hiran Balasuriya & Mike Charalambous

VOICE OVER BY
Shobha Srinivasan / The Voice Realm

MUSIC BY 
Tao Zervas

DIALOG MIX 
Ben Wong

TRANSLATION
Boubacar Aribot, Rodrigo de Oliveira Andrade, Marianna Limas, Davina Leonard, Joyce Chimbi, Smriti Jha / KTM Films Private LTD,
Ayushma Regmi

STOCK MEDIA PROVIDED BY 

Aptypkok/Yura Fresh / Pond5

Based on the r4D Digital Storytellers Project, produced by Paititi Lab, Sonja Schenkel, and the Food Systems Caravan.