Indigenous Media Initiative

Vital Stats

Kate M

  • people helped1000
  • People Doing It 20

The Problem

The community of Q’eros numbers approximately 1,000 inhabitants spread amongst five villages. It is located in the remote Vilcanota mountain range in the District of Paucartambo, Department of Cusco, Peru. Subsisting on potatoes, llamas, and alpaca from its perch at 14,000 feet, the community is thought to be the last of the Incas. Its members speak of self-sufficiency with pride, but Peru’s entrance into the global economy is forcing its indigenous communities into a system that devalues traditional livelihoods and customs and puts them at a disadvantage because of their lack of formal education and institutional resources. When it comes to policy discussions affecting their land and rights, the Q’eros’ inability to speak, read or write in the language of Peruvian policymakers renders them politically voiceless. Video with subtitled translation is critical to increasing these Quechua-speaking peoples’ participation in the political process and the political accountability of local and national governments. Internet presence and community videos would bring these illiterate rural communities into international discussions, thus linking them to an arena that is beginning to value the knowledge and ideas that they provide.

Plan of Action

Accomplishments of the project so far include the training of one community expert in video and computer technology, the donation of three laptops for video editing, the purchase of a DV-video camera, and the production of a short film documenting the project. Perhaps most importantly, the project has gained the interest and trust of the community and eight women from the community between the ages of 14 and 18 have committed to becoming video experts. To this end, we are organizing an intensive week-long workshop in video journalism for these eight women. Professional filmmakers from Independent Documentary Productions in Lima will lead the training, assuring that the community experts will be able to produce and distribute quality videos that successfully communicate the community’s point-of-view and intended messages. The community video expert already trained by project staff will serve as an assistant instructor and translator between the Spanish speaking professionals and Quechua speaking students. After training, a video production studio will be set up in the community of Hatun Q’eros (one of five Q’eros villages), where a secure office is already equipped with solar panels, computers, and a satellite Internet connection. Newly trained community experts will instruct a weekly video class that will build upon the skills learned in the seminar, thereby creating a corps of citizen journalists among a young adult population of the community.
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