December 9, 2017

WaterAid Untapped wins award

WAYout is delighted that the WaterAid UNTAPPED campaign, that three of our filmmakers worked on, has won Best Global Fundraising and Advocacy Campaign award. WAYout’s Josta Hopps, Susan Kargbo and Alusine Kamara were employed to make short films about the well being built, ‘how to’ films such as ‘How to Gut a Fish’ or ‘How to Dance Mende’ as well as supporting the villagers to take their own photographs. The campaign aimed to bring a picture of life in a small village called Tombuhuan to life for the funders.

From Steve Melia, WaterAid Film Manager

“We commissioned WAYout filmmakers to shoot and edit videos to tell the story of a small village getting access to clean water for the first time. WAYout also ran a successful participatory photography project  with people in the village.

The Untapped campaign was WaterAid’s most successful ever in terms if reach and income. This can in large part be attributed to the continuous storytelling from Sierra Leone that was made possible by WAYout.

In a country where young people face a lot of challenges, WAYout’s work is invaluable. I’ve visited their base in Freetown – it’s a fascinating place in a part of town often avoided by visitors to the country. It’s full of young people creating music and films –  finding opportunities that would otherwise be denied them.

I’ve seen the impact of WAYout’s work in Sierra Leone and the UK. They’ve run a Prince Claus funded project which supported six artists artists – one, Mash P, was featured on the BBC and has since been invited to play in Netherlands and UK. Three more from that project are now professional filmmakers. They know how to get things done in Sierra Leone and their work has been shown on National and international broadcasters. WAYout films were shown at this WaterAid exhibition in London last year. ”