Afflilated to the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, Pamela is leading a community outreach and capacity building program aimed at establishing a network of community film-makers and a video resource at the CCS. Funds were acquired to purchase two basic video production kits for the CCS network.

As well as producing several short documentaries on community-based issues, the team have worked with community groups affected by the xenophobic violence that erupted in May 2008, applying participative communication techniques to assist the community groups in producing their own short documentaries about their communities. To see these videos click here.

After over 70 community members took part in these participatory video workshops, a series of short courses in basic video production were organised. Thirty people undertook this one-week basic training in video-making and are now developing their own projects, with free access to equipment. Additionally, Pamela then ran a course in participatory video facilitation for 12 of the trainees, who are now ready to run their own community workshops and expand the scope of the project.

Past participatory video projects have taken place in the UK and in the Caribbean, including The Barbados Sugar Workers' Video Project, Uprising Women of St. Kitts: Life without sugar, and The Barbados Association of Women in Agriculture, 'A Practical Guide to Small Farming'