The festival was a continuation of the work on promoting the Participatory Video technique among groups of local communities who made films by their own efforts.

There were also representatives of other funds and NGO’s that were invited by Taalim-Forum to participate in the festival. Out of 10 films of 10-15 minutes-length presented, 5 of them were made by efforts of local communities with the help of facilitators trained on PV seminars. Filmmakers from remote villages came to tell about the process of their work and answer the questions of the audience.

These films made with the help of Taalim-Forum facilitators:

The Spring of Needlework, From the life of Shabdan village, Balyk-Sai Bakery, The Sounding Voice, NES in Korgondu Bulak, Reflection about Central Asia.

There were 11 specialists from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan working in the area of bio-cultural diversity and other related areas of study. Among them, there were representatives of NGO’s such as Zan va Zamin, Cooperation for development and Eko-Agroo (Tajikistan), Fund of village’s development and Aigine (Kyrgyzstan); academic institutions such as Kyrgyz agrarian university, Horog state university, Bishkek Academy of Finance and Economy.

The program included such sessions:

        Modern problems of ethno-biology;

Ethical issues in work with local communities;

Methodological trainings;

Analysis of data with use of the computer program Antropak;

Field trips to local gardens and Grigor’ev gorge;

Ethno-botanical coffee breaks;

Preparation of herbaceous medicine with expert in medical plants Erin Smith;

Presentation of participants;

Round table with summation and discussion of future plans.

The seminar provided participants with skills which can be used in conducting ethno-biological and ethno-ecological research, also good knowledge of ethnical norms, protection of rights of local communities, preservation of traditional knowledge and bio-cultural diversity.

What have children achieved and learned?

Establishment of the united friendly team NES New Era of Schoolchildren that contributed to the development of respect of opinions, mutual help and support among children;

Development of the NES in Korgondu-Bulak film’s  concept based on the Participatory Video techniques;

Application of interviewing skills in communication with friends and local population in addition to writing essays which reflected their impressions and feelings.

As a result, the photographs, essays, films, slideshows created by children were presented on the following events:

Photo Exhibition in the museum of arts named after G. Aitiev, November 2008;

Participatory Video Festival “People on the Earth”, Dom Kino, December 2008;

Publication and presentation of children’s photo album The Earth is in focus: world in children’s eyes, which included pictures and extracts from schoolchildren’s essays.

The materials of various sorts prepared by the participants can be used in a wide range of school subjects for developing knowledge of local lore, increasing ecological consciousness, and fostering love for nature and native land