'I want to tell you a story' say campaigners
13/03/2009
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In 2003 the Welsh Assembly Government launched the Strategy for Older People and one of the main aims was to give older people (50+) a stronger voice in society. Across Wales local authorities developed older people’s forums as a platform for these voices and in 2004 the Caerphilly 50+ Forum was launched.
Throughout the Forum's development members were aware that forums were not the only way for older people to get their voices heard, indeed many recognised that forums often act as a barrier for people to get involved, for a variety of reasons.
As a response to this the Caerphilly 50+ forum decided to use the medium of Digital Storytelling to enable older people to make powerful short films on issues that matter to them.
For those not familiar with digital storytelling it uses the ancient art of storytelling to enable ordinary people to make powerful and engaging stories using their own images and voices.
The forum launched their Digital Lobbying project in August 2006. The project was initially funded by the Welsh Assemblies Strategy for Older People via the local 50+ positive action partnership, with support from Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations (GAVO) and Breaking Barriers. This funding enabled the forum to train 7 forum members as trainers and 20 films have been produced to date.
The forum aims to use the films to ‘get their voices heard’ and bring about change. The project is all about action and not art for arts sake but it is recognised that not everyone will want to make a ‘serious’ film at their first attempt.
Some of the films cover issues such as fuel poverty, the inequalities in charging for care, age discrimination, environmental issues and mistreatment in the NHS.
After making the initial few films the challenge for the forum was how to get the films out there to start making a difference. Joy Mathews film, about the age discrimination her husband faced when he was admitted to hospital, was the first to make and impact. We contacted Help the Aged who were trying to influence the discrimination law review at the time with a campaign called just equal treatment.
They had an event at Westminster called the mass lobby for age equality and we suggested that they used Joy's film as part of the event. Joy was then invited to attend and take part as part of the expert panel and her film was shown in the main hall to a great response.
From this point on the project began to gain momentum and organisations and groups began to recognise the value of storytelling as a way for people to get their voices heard, particularly in improving services.
For the last two years we have been invited to attend the Public Sector Management Wales EXPO events to share our work, we are working on a pilot project with the Welsh Ambulance Service to involve patient stories in improving services, we have been commissioned by care and repair Caerphilly to make some films on the experiences of service users and the Welsh Local Government Association, which will see us making a film about the day in a life of a champion and what older people think a champion should be.
We have also received funding from another Welsh Assembly initiative, Communities First, which has enabled us to purchase some new laptops and source additional training.
This has enabled us to work in some of the most deprived wards in Wales to enable those older people whose voices are seldom heard an opportunity to have their say and we will be focusing on this area in the coming months.
The biggest challenge for the future is ensuring that organisations are able to embrace the storytelling medium as a way to genuinely offer people a voice so they can improve things for the better, and not just as a funky gimmick that can be used to gloss over the cracks.