How Video Can Help Ugandan Refugees

 

As the number of refugees in the world reaches 50 million for the first time since the Second World War, international development charities like the International Refugee Trust (IRT) are needed more than ever. But they in turn need marketers to help them tell their stories to inspire the funding to support their beneficiaries.

IRT came to the Pimp My Cause community asking for help with creating a video to share the stories of the amazing families who have been taking part in their StepUp programme. And David Burns, a young video editor, responded to their call to action.

IRT’s StepUp programme achieves breakthrough success by working with displaced communities so that the communities themselves address the root causes of poverty and set up the foundations for long-term development.

The StepUp programme offers training support in five core areas: sustainable farming, sanitation and health, income generation and savings, and finally education and gender equity.

David has been named an “IRT Champion” on their website in recognition of the great video he created to showcase their StepUp programme. David was very pleased to be able to use his skills to support their great work and he was also able to use the experience he gained from creating this film to land the video editing job he had been seeking.

David said, “It was the first professional video I had made using After Effects and I wanted to make sure that I kept it simple and got across it was all about the beneficiaries learning to be able to do things themselves. That's why I chose the "handmade" look with cardboard, paper and felt. It also gave the video a bit of a personal feel without being too patronising. I enjoyed working on it because I was able to get out some ideas I had stuck in my head for a while and the project lent itself perfectly to the style I wanted to work with.”