Exploring well-being narratives through participatory video in Lagos

Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Methodology: Participatory video
Partners: Justice and Empowerment Initiatives (JEI) and the Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU)

Exploring well-being narratives through participatory video in Lagos

In Lagos, Nigeria, an estimated two-thirds of the city’s 23 million inhabitants live in informal settlements (see stories on Evictions in Lagos in Otodo Gbame and Sogunro), where a lack of security of tenure means that residents live in constant fear of eviction. There has been a recent spate of mass evictions of the urban poor in the city resulting in a continued threat to all waterfront settlements.

Within this context DPU teamed up with Justice & Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), a Lagos-based NGO to realise a workshop that explored the impact of the threat of evictions on the wellbeing of residents. During the five day intensive workshop 25 participants joined from various communities across the city.

A series of diagnostic exercises aimed to unpack how ‘wellbeing’ is conceptualised by the participants and how the threat of evictions impacts upon it. Through the introduction of cameras and storyboarding exercises, the four groups were able to formulate the thematic issues and key messages that they intended to focus on, as well as developing the narrative of their videos. The groups then undertook the filming within the communities in which they focused before learning the skills required to edit their videos across the final days. The week culminated in a public screening of the four films.