Tag: Youth

#DignifiedUrbanLife Youth Summit: Intergenerational Dialogue and Music Unite to Fight Inequality

As the world marks the third anniversary of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to come together and make sense of what happened and what we can learn from the experience.

SDI and Know Your City TV’s Youth Summit is bringing together youth and elders from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Kenya and South Africa to create a federation song for the #DignifiedUrbanLife campaign, which is set to launch this Friday the 31st of March.

This campaign aims to be a powerful platform for change and progress, providing a unique opportunity for different generations to share knowledge, ideas and experiences.

SDI and Know Your City TV’s Youth Summit

The SDI and Know Your City TV‘s Youth Summit seeks to bring together youth and elders to create a federation song for the #DignifiedUrbanLife campaign. This campaign is a response to the immense challenges exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly for youth living in informal settlements. Through the summit, the aim is to mobilise groups of women and young people to create a federation song, utilising the age-old medium of song to transmit knowledge and values.

#DignifiedUrbanLife Campaign

The federation song is a unique opportunity to bring together different generations to share knowledge, ideas and experiences. Through intergenerational dialogue, young people can learn from the wisdom and experience of the older generation, while the older generation can learn from the creativity and enthusiasm of youth. By combining the two perspectives, we aim to create a powerful platform for change and progress. The federation song is a unique opportunity for bringing together different generations to share knowledge, ideas and experiences. By coming together and collaborating, we can create a song that is both inspirational and motivating. It can be used to raise awareness of the challenges faced by people living in slums, while also providing a platform to inspire and empower them to come together and find sustainable solutions to the problems they face.

Our Workplan

The #DignifiedUrbanLife campaign includes a step-by-step guide for community mobilisation and communications strategy. Our Zimbabwe, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Kenya and South Africa affiliates appointed youth groups with experience in music production to lead the campaign. The steps include intergenerational dialogue, choir recording, youth remix, international collaboration and coordination, distribution, and monitoring, evaluation and outreach.

International Collaboration and Coordination

A small team from each country join us in Cape Town at the SDI Secretariat, bringing audio stems and demo along with behind-the-scenes videos, archive video, images, and documentation for a one-week hack-a-thon. At the hack-a-Thon, they will develop a targeted audience campaign strategy, coordinated media products, a policy shift strategy and plan of action, and a monitoring and evaluation framework.

Distribution

Once the song, media products, and policy strategy have been developed, the next step is to promote and distribute them. This includes launching social media campaigns, creating music videos or other visuals to accompany the song, and distributing materials to the target groups.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Outreach

The final step is to monitor and evaluate the success of the campaign. This wil include tracking the reach of the campaign, as well as measuring the impact it has had on the target groups. We aim to do this through surveys, interviews, or other methods.

The #DignifiedUrbanLife campaign is an inspiring example of the power of intergenerational dialogue and music production to fight inequality. It provides a platform for different generations to come together and share knowledge, ideas and experiences, while also creating a powerful platform for change and progress.

This Friday the 31st of March marks the launch of this exciting campaign, and it is sure to be an inspiring event.

Reflections from SDI at WUF

This year, a delegation from SDI’s network attended the World Urban Forum (WUF), here are our reflections from SDI at WUF.

Katowice, Poland hosted this year’s event from Sunday the 26th of June to Thursday the 30th of June. 

Established in 2001 by the United Nations, WUF is the premier global conference on sustainable urbanisation. The event aims to examine one of the world’s most pressing issues today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. 

Day 1 – 26th of June 2022

We attended UN Habitat‘s session focusing on ‘Grassroots Assembly’. The session highlighted the value and importance of localising Sustainable Development Goals, post-Covid-19 recovery and resilience, and building and maintaining partnerships.

Day 2 – 27th June 2022

Kickstarting the day, “Building a Cities4Children alliance” and a “Global Action Plan” dialogue were the first events to start the day for SDI. The WUF11 opening ceremony presented the perfect opportunity for a display of culture meets insightful dialogue. Delegates mingled with local and international officials, presenting the perfect networking opportunities.

A panel hosted by UN-Habitat tackled the issue of “Tackling the Slum Challenge” with housing ministers from South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe in attendance. The session saw interesting insights and informative yet challenging inputs from the Chair of SDI’s Board Joseph Muturi.

Delegates also met with Euan Crispin about their work with UCLG. The session presented a fresh perspective on some of the work, UCLG is producing.

We hosted a session entitled, ‘Recovery and Resilience: Community-led Strategies to Build Back Better in Informal Settlements.’ The session drew attention to the need to work with organised urban poor communities to address basic needs and services such as secure tenure, housing, food security, water and sanitation to build the resilience necessary to withstand future natural and manmade shocks and stressors. SDI at WUF

Day 3 – 28th of June 2022

The day was jam-packed, ranging from events with the World Health Organisation, Cities Alliance, DreamTown NGO, Habitat Village and The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Insights from the event highlighted the importance of the diversification of knowledge products. This may help to ensure active participation and communication between academia and communities.

Day 4  – 29th of June 2022

The delegates from SDI at WUF attended an amazing session with Plan International, Dream Town, World Vision and SDI co-presentation on the Inter-generational dialogue. The session consisted of video commitments collected by cell phone video across the world with youth speaking their truth. Shared by youth in person and online, in conversations with key professionals at the host institutions. This session was very interactive and the youth rose to the occasion and had a lot to contribute. 

A good exchange of ideas followed, with a number of new potential thematic collaboration points. 

It is clear that grassroots organisations are perhaps less well-represented at this year’s world urban forum than is ideal. Due to this, there was a lot of dialogue and exchange specifically facilitated by the co-habitat network around how to remedy this and raise the voices of grassroots CBOs.

Final Day – 30th of June 2022

Key Messaging

A just recovery from COVID-19: youth speak out from eight African cities

As cities across Africa start to lift pandemic restrictions, youth speak out as they are hoping for a more equitable future. We report on a project that captured the perspectives of young people living in informal settlements in eight African cities.

*This article was originally posted on the International Institute for Environment and Development‘s Website and was authored by Dr Arabella Fraser.

Urban responses to the COVID-19 pandemic remain at a critical juncture. In sub-Saharan African cities, even as COVID-19 measures lift and ‘normal life’ resumes, interventions are still needed to address the enduring legacies of both the disease and responses to it. 

Some city governments are shifting policies towards more sustained support for livelihoods, social protection systems and greater social inclusion. This creates opportunities to build resilience to multiple risks and shocks, particularly in informal settlements.

Almost 60% of Africa’s population is under 25: its cities really are ‘cities of youth’. For young people, living in informal settlements during the pandemic brought distinctive concerns and exacerbated pre-existing structural inequalities around access to services and infrastructure which the youth speak out about in this report.

Read the full report here.

Many impacts were more pronounced than the direct effects of COVID-19: the loss of informal and formal employment opportunities, loss of educational opportunities and a loss of mobility, leading to social isolation and poor mental health. These were combined with exclusion from subsidies, loans and governance structures at all levels.

READ MORE: The world’s poorest have the strongest resilience, yet their voices remain unheard

From 2020 to 2021, young people in youth affiliates of Slum Dwellers International in Lagos, Freetown, Nairobi, Lusaka, Harare, Johannesburg, Gqeberha and Cape Town documented their experiences of the pandemic as part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council project led by the University of Warwick. Through video diaries and interviews, and focus group discussions, they communicated their perspectives on the pandemic and how to support their recovery and future resilience.

This work allows us to reflect from a youth perspective on a vision for transformative urban recovery that IIED produced in collaboration with urban stakeholders in 2020-21.

The IIED framework encompasses principles around governance for transformative recovery that addresses multiple risks. It includes decentralising finance; upholding rights and promoting social inclusion, including institutionalising the co-production of basic services; and supporting holistic interventions, such as climate-change adaptive social protection.

A call for inclusion

Marginalised by age as well as by living in informal settlements, these young citizens passionately echoed calls for action on their social and political exclusion. The youth speak out about the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns.

First, they supported the view advocated by IIED that community-based organisations are potentially more inclusive of marginalised groups, including youth. 

They cited examples where grassroots organisations had provided invaluable support for young people, including training, mental health awareness-raising, and help with medicines and rent.

In one example of a single-purpose intervention with multiple benefits, the Kenyan government initiative Nyumba Kumi, a form of community policing, provided young people in Nairobi with opportunities to get involved in community-level decision-making about COVID-19 responses.

Practising participation in local governance

“The practice of participation matters.” – Youth from Lagos.

Second, young people requested enabling environments where their voices can be truly heard by those in power. As one youth in Lagos said: “The practice of participation matters.”

He noted that local councillors were supposedly representing the people, but contacting them was difficult – and often unrewarding: “Even when you meet them, they will just nod their head as if they’ve heard you, but most times they act to benefit themselves in one way or the other.”

Participants suggested requiring the representation of young people on government and civil society bodies and creating dedicated platforms for young people, alongside strengthening existing youth collectives and federations.

Using social media and bringing forums online could make them more accessible. Young participants want training in local governance and advocacy, including workplace and mentoring opportunities for leadership development. 

Opportunities for community service and employment

Youth speak out and played critical roles in their communities during the pandemic as students, entrepreneurs, caregivers, volunteers, breadwinners and local knowledge experts. They say their capacities could support social inclusion and holistic solutions, both for themselves and their communities. 

Some already work as volunteers, carrying out government surveys and registration drives, and argued they could do more via community involvement, including public health awareness-raising or driving mobile health clinics.

However, this should be paid work that supports their livelihoods – a principle that could be enshrined in co-produced initiatives for basic services and infrastructure. Co-producing services and infrastructure with young people brings distinct concerns, including providing mental health support in ways that avoid fear and stigma, and providing education through multiple means, including radio, TV and social media.

Finally, for young people caught between a lack of formal employment and the increased precarity of informal work, creating livelihood opportunities is paramount. This can tackle multiple risks alongside structural injustices.

Participants suggested that investing in skills development could include training on solar installation and green technologies, and on cultivating vegetable gardens for food security and resilience. Such initiatives need to be more sustainable and more accessible, however, if they are to have a real impact. 

SDI and KYC.TV proudly presents its very first #HiddenTreasure

Slum Dwellers International (SDI), Know Your City TV (KYC.TV) and CoHabitat Network have officially launched our very first digital publication ‘Hidden Treasure’.

KYC.TV is a creative collective of talented youth from the global movement that is SDI. We mobilised to make change at settlement, city and global levels through photography, film and storytelling.

A first of its kind, the publication is a celebration of the wealth of talent and imagination of our federation youth. In the face of poverty and need, there is an abundance of creativity and ingenuity which #HiddenTreasure aims to showcase. The treasure is right here in front of all of us.

“Nothing for us, without us.”

The publication reflects on Life, Work, Change, Rest and Insight from the perspective of our talented youth. We say, “Nothing for us, without us.”

At present, Africa is the world’s youngest and fastest urbanising continent. Estimates show that Africa’s population will reach 2 billion by 2050, with 50% of its population being youths under the age of 25. This means the future of work, environment, technologies, the global economy, health and sustainable cities are dependent on the youth in African cities.

Download #HiddenTreasure here.

James Tayler, SDI’s Youth and Media Programme Coordinator, shares how the digital publication came about.

“The magazine emerged out of the demand for young people in informal settlements to be the authors of their own narrative,” he said.

“Too often media products concerning slums are extractive and based on appeals to people’s pity. We reject that and hope to show that young people in informal settlements hold the solutions to global problems.”

According to James, the aim is to publish the magazine quarterly and grow the distribution and reach globally.

“This magazine represents our approach to learning by doing and demonstrates that youth from informal settlements are capable of producing work on an international standard,” said the Prgogramme Coordinator.

“With this media product, we want to open a window into our world. We carry so many problems but we also carry the seeds to the solutions.”

To professionals and agencies: you are welcome to work with us, but make sure skills, a network and increased access to opportunity remain here with us when you leave. For enquiries, contact us here.

How the Youth are Leading the Way in Tackling COVID-19

This article was originally published by ICCCAD. Click here for the original post.

In Hatcliffe extension, an informal settlement located in the northern part of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, a group of young people are leading the fight against the pandemic. They are  building awareness, adapting their businesses to promote hygiene and encouraging fellow young people to contribute to community well-being. Artwell Nyirenda reports.

***

Hatcliffe extension was once a holding camp for urban migrants coming from different parts of Harare. Young people between the age of 15 and 30 constitute a higher percentage of the community’s population. Social and economic challenges are prevalent in the area, as the young often get involved  in illegal activities for survival. The majority of Hatcliffe’s residents work in construction and informal trading, and few are formally employed.

Continuous expansion of the area has further exacerbated the challenges in accessing services, particularly water and sanitation. Communal boreholes are the only source of water, as tap water is not available. The community is struggling to meet the growing demand for water with a limited number of boreholes, many of which are dysfunctional, resulting in long queues for water collection.

News of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequent safety protocols has added to the community’s existing fragilities. Waiting in a queue to collect water at communal boreholes is a daily reality for the residents of the Hatcliffe extension – increasing the risk of virus transmission. Until now, no positive cases have been found in the area. However, soon after hearing about COVID-19, everyone has been terrified to risk their lives while scrambling for scarce water. With the onset of the lockdown, naturally the demand for water has significantly increased and large crowds have gathered near the boreholes.

In Hatcliffe extension, the youth have always been at the forefront when it came to crisis management. Lonica Kenneth is a young female resident in the area, and a member of the Zimbabwe Young Peoples’ Federation (ZYPF), and its sub-group, Metro Focus Detergents Filming Group. ZYPF mobilises young people to influence positive change in their communities through documenting and sharing their lived experiences with relevant local authorities and other stakeholders.

The Metro Focus Detergents Filming Group is under the Safe and Inclusive Cities project, a youth-led project funded by Plan International, and consists of 20 members, including Lonica. Saving is encouraged within the group, and the members have been practising saving 10 bond notes (approximately USD 0.10) per week. They also make and sell liquid soaps, detergents, liquid gas and different arts and crafts. “The Safe and Inclusive Cities project has been an eye opener, as I have been made aware of opportunities to generate income, and participate in my community. I have realised I can make detergents that will help my family and community,” shares Lonica.

With her own savings, Lonica began a detergent business in June 2019, producing and distributing liquid soap within her community. However, the lockdown has caused her business to suffer and Lonica has had to redesign her production strategy. “My business has declined since the lockdown as I was unable to purchase raw materials for production. But I also realised that there is a growing demand for soaps and sanitisers during this pandemic, and I really wanted to help my community members during this crucial time” says Lonica.

Along with the other members, Lonica identified an opportunity to boost their businesses and support their community during the crisis. She approached Safe and Inclusive Cities to finance her business. “Thanks to their support, I was able to produce sufficient liquid soaps. They helped me to buy the raw materials required for production,” Lonica adds. With increased sales, she is now saving 20 bond notes per week. Because of the high levels of poverty in her community, she sold the products at a very low price so that people can afford them. “We are also distributing hand washing buckets, sanitisers and soaps to community members who are most impacted,” Lonica further points out.

In addition to their businesses, Lonica and her group has also been involved in raising awareness of COVID-19 preventative measures . “My group has managed to distribute hand washing soaps near community boreholes to promote hygiene. We also influenced community leaders to regularly disinfect and monitor the water points to ensure safety. These public spaces have improved. Chaos is avoided as people adhere to protocols set by the leadership” she argues. The community youth members have also asked relevant government ministries for further training so they can disseminate information more accurately.

Hatcliffe extension residents are  fully cooperating in monitoring the water points and advocating for increased youth engagement. “First thing in the morning before anyone comes, I set out the drum, and the bucket with water and soap. Everyone must wash their hands before using the borehole handle. I also use sanitiser to disinfect the borehole handle, to ensure it is clean for everyone to use,” says Steven Nyamapfeka, a local leader in Hatcliffe.

“We are requesting outreach programmes on COVID-19 issues, as we don’t have enough information. If the virus spreads in this community, we will struggle to survive because we are not practising social distancing. More youth can be engaged to disseminate vital information,” shares Phillip Matamande, a member of the community. Residents have highlighted the need for masks and other protective gear, and the implementation of social distancing. They have also requested the Ministry of Health to increase the supply of chlorinated water.

Despite numerous hurdles, Lonica is hopeful that if the youth continue to work together, they will be able to overcome the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 crisis. “I am happy that I am able to play a role during this difficult time, and inspire young girls to lead initiatives for the betterment of our community. Together we can tackle the COVID-19 pandemic!” says Lonika.

Interviewers’ perspective

As we are witnessing during COVID-19, young people from around the world are being innovative and leading initiatives within their communities to tackle the global crisis. Lonica, and others like her, are taking steps to support their communities through active participation. They have been influencing and communicating with leaders in understanding the dynamics of their communities. It is important that the youth realise their potential and the crucial roles they can play within their communities and lead the way for a better, brighter future.

About the interviewer

Artwell Nyirenda is a program officer at Dialogue on Shelter for the Homeless People in Zimbabwe. He is working with young people in slum settlements in documenting the daily experiences in their communities for advocacy purposes.

About the interviewees

Lonica Kenneth lives in Hatcliffe extension and actively participates in community development platforms and programs. Through her work, she has inspired many young people who have joined her in transforming their communities.

Steven Nyamapfeka, is a local elderly man living in the Hatcliff extension for several years. He is also the Secretary of the Water Committee of Hatcliff.

Phillip Matamande is a local community leader and vice chairperson of the Water Committee of Hatcliffe.

KYC.TV Online Training: Lessons Taught and Lessons Learnt

Towards a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for and by youth in slums

Photo credit: Nigeria Media Team

With in person learning exchanges put on hold due to Covid-19 lockdowns, and in response to a demand from participants for training on social impact media, filmmaking and storytelling for change, KYC.TV hosted a number of well attended online learning exchanges between March and September 2020. Each training was hosted on Zoom and simultaneously livestreamed on Facebook to increase accessibility and reach. 

The first session, held in April, was a stock taking exercise to get participant input and better understand what the needs and demands for training were. As the coronavirus pandemic spread to more SDI affiliated countries, federations were confronted with fake news about various aspects of the pandemic. Before long, it became clear how dangerous and destructive these fake news reports were – misrepresenting the disease and increasing the risk of infection. In response, KYC.TV hosted its second online training session to help  participants identify and analyse suspected fake news posts.

As the borders closed and hard lockdowns were enforced in one country after another, participants began requesting updates from their peers in order to better understand their own situation and get a sense of what their futures could look like. This third KYC.TV session was very insightful and helped build pan-African solidarity amongst the youth participants. 

As the youth began to adjust to the “new normal” of living in various stages of lockdown, we attempted to bring “regular programming” back to the online training curriculum – turning our focus to storytelling methodologies that would continue to build the participants’ creative capacities. In response to a call for more formal training on documentary storytelling, KYC.TV’s fourth online training session was the first in a series of short courses in small and larger groups focused on new and innovative approaches to this accessible and impactful style. The second session in the documentary masterclass series focussed on story structure and how to move events forward in a film in a coherent and structured way that tells a story, has an emotional impact, and serves as a catalyst for change. 

Considering creative and resilient response to the economic impacts of lockdown became critical over this time. In the next session, KYC.TV provided a platform for young entrepreneurs from Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria and other countries across Africa to talk shop and encourage their peers to start their own businesses or professionalise their service offering.

As the programme picked up momentum and new participants joined, we felt it important to provide a special session for everyone to re-introduce themselves, building unity and relationships amongst the participants. Simultaneous translation of English to French in each session also attempted to bridge any barriers between participants. In an effort to alleviate the burden of translation, the team decided to offer some sessions in French. But one of the lessons emerging from this first phase of online trainings is that effective simultaneous translation is key. Going forward, there are plans to ensure that this is done in a more formal, professionalised way – ensuring that all participants are able to contribute and participate equally. 

Our next session took place in the wake of the upheaval and indignation that swept across the world following George Floyd’s murder by US police. We took this opportunity to explore themes of morality, ethics and reporting, and discussed the influence and impact of citizen journalism on society at large and challenged the participants to consider how they can use their own storytelling to catalyse change. 

In our last four sessions, we brought in special guests to present on a variety of storytelling tools and skills relevant to the participating youth. Special guests ranged from fellow federation youth to professionals from the film/media industry. Sessions seemed to really come alive with a co-presenter that was from the federation, while special guests from the industry drew an audience and helped inspire the participants to professionalize themselves. First, we spoke to Richard Bockarie from Sierra Leone, who described how they designed a mobile app for data collection and offered tips to participants about how to make their own mobile apps. In the Shooting for the Edit masterclass, we built on the previous masterclass training, exploring the different types of shots that should be captured on a shoot and how to use these in the final edit. Our next masterclass focused on cinematography, featuring special guest Leo Purman, a young cinematographer making waves in Los Angeles and New York. He offered practical tips and tricks for developing skills as a cinematographer and how to approach production to get the best results. The last masterclass, “Getting to Grips with Lightroom,” was co-hosted by KYCTV participant Sam Okechukwu from Nigeria, a rising star in the Lagos photography scene who excels at mobile phone photography and Lightroom manipulation. 

 Photo credit: Zambia KYC TV team

Major takeaways from this first phase of online training include the insights into how effectively peer peer training is, and the impact of featuring special guests from the industry. Going forward we will identify different tutors from federation media teams to prepare and co-present the content and continue to invite special guests. However, special guests need to answer specific questions from the participants and the participants themselves should have some say in who is invited to the MOOC.

A number of participants requested certifications. While this is an important psychological reward, on investigation we found potential employers or investors are actually less impressed with a certificate of participation than with a well worded and insightful letter of recommendation. Certificates simply state that the participant was on a course, while a letter of recommendation is far more personal, providing insight into the character and capability of the participants. As reward and motivation, we will issue letters of recommendation to participants who show work with distinction.

Photo credit: Mukuru Youth Initiative

We all also realised that it is important to adhere to the principle of learning by doing as outlined in the SDI theory of change. Retention of knowledge is very low if it is not linked to action. The MOOC will be designed as a program of action and deliverables from each student will link directly back to their individual learning goal that impacts on their own built environment. The thrust of the MOOC will be co-creation, and this learning cannot be theory based: we are looking to learn as much from participants as we are to teach them.

It is encouraging to see how eager participants are to learn, and how easily they were able to pick up the skills taught and use them to create relevant media. In the next phase of our online training curriculum we are hoping to scale up and diversify the training. There is huge demand for practical, task orientated knowledge production around creating social impact on ground in informal settlements. As the pressures of climate emergency and increasing inequality bite these skills will be hard tested. Time is of the essence, we need to prepare and face resilience. 

Kenya Community Health Volunteers Reflect on Covid-19

VIDEO: Community Health Worker Reflects on Covid-19 in Mukuru, Kenya

In this KYC-TV Kenya production , Alice Wanini, a community health volunteer (CHV) in Mukuru Kwa Reuben and member of Muungano wa Wanavijiji, describes the challenges her team faces as they attempt to educate and screen residents for Covid-19.

Alice describes how difficult it is to encourage preventative measures such as social distancing and frequent hand washing in overcrowded slums such as Mukuru, where 10 sqm shacks house families of ten or more and long lines at hand washing stations leave people frustrated. Adding to this is the rampant misinformation about the virus and a lack of adequate personal protection equipment (PPE) for the health workers.

Across the slums where SDI works, federations are working with communities to build hand washing stations, supply food packages, educate residents about how to stay safe, and collect slum data in order to partner with government to provide effective solutions.

Follow KYC-TV on Facebook for regular media coverage of SDI federations’ responses to Covid-19 on the ground, and SDI’s Facebook page for updates from the federations.

Media Making an Impact: #ChangeOurPicture

Announcing #ChangeOurPicture Cell Phone Photography Competition

#ChangeOurPicture

This is a cellphone photography competition open to anyone who lives in an informal settlement in Africa. When you search for images of slums on social media what do you see? Dirt, despair, desperation? Informal settlements are alive with possibilities and places of great resilience and innovation. To enter and for more information click below!

Remembering Daniel Aya | #OtodoGbame #SaveOurWaterfronts

By Megan S. Chapman, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Justice & Empowerment Initiatives – Nigeria

The footage you see at the beginning of the promo clip for “The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos” showing thousands of people in wooden fishing boats on the Lagos Lagoon watching their homes being burned by the government was taken almost a year ago to the day by my husband. He was with the evictees while tear gas and live bullets were being shot in their general direction to keep them from returning to land.

The man in the second clip whose head was lolling back was Daniel Aya, a young man and Federation member who was hit by one of those bullets in the neck and whose community members were trying to pole him to another boat that could try to take him to get urgent treatment across the Lagoon. I met that boat when it landed 45 minutes later carrying his dead body. A few minutes later, another boat arrived with a young man shot in the chest whose life we were able to save.

The Otodo Gbame community including 30,000 people was violently and forcibly evicted so their land could be turned into a luxury real estate development. It was destroyed violently and ruthlessly despite peaceful protests by thousands of Federation members from the Lagos waterfronts. Despite a court injunction restraining the government from carrying out the eviction of Otodo Gbame and 39 other communities who remain at risk of eviction up to today despite a court judgement in their favour.

This project is born out of the need for alternative ways to get the message out and change these lived realities of the urban poor in Lagos, in Nigeria, and around the globe. There is urgency in the struggle. It is personal to me and to hundreds of thousands of Lagos urban poor who are leading the struggle for dramatic change.

We believe deeply in co-creative processes. These are the key to alternatives we are pushing for the government to take to pursue win-win solutions with the poor instead of violent land grab. But co-creation is messy, is labour intensive and takes time to be done well and be truly co-creative and pluralistic. I both recognize the “essentialness” of this approach and struggle to be patient for the end-product (or mid-stream) tools that will advance the struggle — and hopefully transform it into something that will change the conversation and lived realities of the people with whom my daily life is intertwined.