Development Cooperation Handbook/Stories

Development Stories
Playlist on Youtube

How we produced the videos linked to this handbook

We are narrating here development cooperation stories.
Some of these stories have been used for the the Vrinda project Documentary
The numbers (in brackets) refer to the relevant MDG.

Africa edit

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Community Tourism - Number2 River - (7) playlist
Emergency Surgical Hospital - Goderich - (4) playlist
Mothers Preparing Mothers - Susan and Cline Bays (1) (5) playlist
Unsustainable Growth - Kono Town (7) playlist
Women as Entrepreneurs - Petifu Chain (3) playlist

India edit

A contagious joy transmitting health to children - (4) - playlist
Millennium Village Project - Jharkhand (1) - playlist
Learning to Share Learning - The KFI Story (2), (6) - playlist
Corporate Social Responsibility - Bengaluru, (2) - playlist
Employment as a Right - Varanasi (1) - playlist
Green Hands - Coimbatore (7) - playlist
Living with Dignity - Kolkata (6) - playlist
Responsible Development - Varanasi (8) - playlist
Right to Learn - Sarnath (2) - playlist
Weaving Empowerment - Almora (3) - playlist

Lebanon edit

Diffusing Conflicts - South Lebanon (8) playlist
Heritage and Community - Baalbek (8) playlist
Peer to Peer Education Network on HIV/AIDS Prevention (6)

Syria edit

Valuing Water - Damascus (7) - playlist
Counselling Centres for Women - Damascus (5) - playlist
Village Business Incubator - Latakkia (3) - playlist
Improving Schools and Learning Environment - Damascus (2) - playlist
Youth & Heritage - Sweida (8) - playlist
Preservation and Development - MAM - Damascus (8) - playlist
Moving Hopes - Damascus (4) - playlist
Syrian Television - playlist
BESP - Business Environment Simplification Program (8) - playlist
SKILLS - Training Young Syrian Journalists (8) - playlist

Colombia edit

Los derechos de la hospitalidad para las personas sin hogar - Bogotà (1) - playlist
Participación y empoderamiento - Barrio Villas Del Sol - Territorio de Derechos (2) - playlist
Community at Work - Ciudad Bolivar - Jan Pablo II (1) - playlist
Muisca Indigenous Heritage - (8) - playlist
Desplazados - Santander (8) - playlist

Cuba edit

Lo sviluppo sostenibile: il caso Cubaplaylist


The documentary approach

Tools edit

 List of things to do in order to illustrate a project


What is development? So many hospitals built … so many teachers trained … so many villages electrified … and so on, so forth. Achieving objectives is, of course, important. But there is something else we need to say. It is the human story, the passion that drives cooperation workers, the joy - or frustration – they feel when they succeed - or fail - to bring more justice to the excluded.

We need to reveal the challenges. How are local communities utilizing infrastructures created for them? Do they agree with the information they receive? Was, what donors gave away, really what receivers wanted?

While collecting stories of the work in progress for the Millennium Goals, we learned that no-one can bring freedom to others. Empowerment cannot be "given". Like we cannot “deliver” education. Nor can we “buy” participation.

Each one has to lead one's potential out of oneself. But, in order to recognize and express our potential, we need a society that does not marginalize and exclude. We need a healthy communication climate, where differences are respected and valued. We need freedom from mistrust and indifference.

Only then, can we act in a reciprocally empowering process: because we acknowledge that, in order to fully realize ourselves, we need the self realization of the others.


The stories edited in the Documentary:

 playlist on YouTube - Episodes 1-4
 playlist on YouTube - Episodes 5-8
 The Vimeo On Demand platform where the documentary is distributed

 The Sustainable Development Goals