Study Location and Duration The research was conducted in Bogra, a district in north-west Bangladesh, and situated about 220 km from the capital, Dhaka. Kamarpara village of Sajahanpur Upazila (sub-district) was purposively selected as the locale of the study. The reason for selecting this village was that the farmers were interested to use the video for enhancing their seed production and processing, as well as for organizing themselves in a group. The study lasted from October 2008 to February 2009.
Actors The field research was carried out together with the Rural Development Academy (RDA), Bogra, and the Marginal Farmers’ Development Association (MFDA), Kamarpara. First, a team was formed to facilitate overall video and research activities. This team, called research facilitation team (RT), comprised five members, including the first author. Other members were from the regional farmers’ PV development team of RDA. Two projection meetings were organized in the village to select participating farmers and discuss the intricacies of videomaking. At these meetings, the participants proposed formation of a separate farmers’ video team (FVT). So, an FVT of five participants (three men and two women) was formed, based on group consensus. The FVT was to assist in facilitating field-level video development events. After formation of teams and discussion of research and video development intricacies, participants (men and women) were selected based on their interest to participate in the two PV activities.
Twenty farmers participated in the scripted PV and 26 in the scriptless PV. In each group, the responsibilities were further delegated based on group consensus through the facilitation of the FVT.
Video Styles Farmers proposed several topics for the two types of video to be developed*scripted and scriptless*although the differences between the two were not defined by having a script or not alone. Based on consensus on the importance to the farmers, a technical topic, i.e. local practices for eggplant seed production and postharvest, was chosen for the scripted video, whereas a topic addressing both social and technical issues was chosen for the scriptless video. In the case of the scripted style, local practices regarding eggplant seed production (agronomic practices) and storage were identified based on month-long consultations and observation tours with the farmers in the village. In addition, local extension agents, researchers and eggplant seed producers of the district were interviewed by the RT to understand the practices. The script was developed together with the participant farmers. In the scriptless style, members of the FVT were trained in basic camera operations by the RT for a week. The proposed content of the video was identified in three group meetings involving the FVT and additional male and female farmers. Participants who wanted to narrate stories were organized and identified in a very rough storyboard, i.e. a poster marked with four frames. No script was developed; the participants expressed themselves spontaneously in front of the camcorder. After the development of the final films, three video shows were organized in different locations in the village, one in another village, Chupinagar, of the sub-district, one in a village, Maria, of a different sub-district, Sherpur, of Bogra. In addition, the films were broadcast on local cable television in the district. After each video show, the audience’s feedback was solicited through open discussion.
stories were organized and identified in a very rough storyboard, i.e. a poster marked with four frames. No script was developed; the participants expressed themselves spontaneously in front of the camcorder. After development of the final films, three video shows were organized in different locations in the village, one in another village, Chupinagar, of the sub-district, one in a village, Maria, of a different sub-district, Sherpur, of Bogra. In addition, the films were broadcast on a local cable television in the district. After each video show, audience’s feedback was solicited through open discussion.
In the second stage, pair-wise comparisons were made with 15 farmer participants (FVT and participating farmers) and RT at two one-day workshops. In case of the RT, five regional and national PV experts were also included. The experts were two non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives, one RDA staff member and two national-level participants from the Agricultural Information Service, who had prior experience in farmers’ participatory video development processes. At first, SWOT factors within a group were compared with each other on a nine-point scale. The factors with the highest value within each group represented the group. In the second step, the four groups were brought forward for pair-wise comparison. Group consensus was followed by decision on different pairs of comparison. Throughout the comparison, the inconsistency ratio was kept below 0.1. Finally, data were analysed using the software Expert Choice (Pro version, see http://www.expertchoice.com). Field observations were coded and incorporated manually to interpret the results.