Call for Applications: “PARM Stories Challenge” in Africa

The challenge consists in producing a high-quality video story that portrays rural farmers’ self-resilience to agricultural risks and showcases how this could be strengthened in order to increase their productivity and sustainable agri-food systems, contributing to the achievement of sustainable development goals.

The video should explore the challenges they face, their innovative solutions, and the positive impacts on their productivity and the sustainability of agri-food in their community and/or beyond.

Particular attention should be paid on women, youth and other vulnerable communities.

Themes

• Building self-resilience
• Contributing to food security
• Environmental impact reduction
• Sustainable agri-food systems

Prize Information

• The jury will pre-select 10 finalists from which the 3 best video story producers will be selected at the end of the deliberations as the final winners of the competition. The final winners will be ranked from 1st to 3rd place.
• The 10 finalists will be rewarded as follows:
  • The first winning video producer will visit one or more PARM/IFAD operational countries to gain direct experience of the projects and activities of the United Nations in agricultural risk management, and will be able to produce an additional video with PARM/IFAD direct beneficiaries.
  • The next two winning video producers along with the first place winner will participate in an international conference to present their videos which will also be promoted across PARM, FARM-D and Africa 21 institutional platforms.
  • The last seven finalists will receive certificates of participation which recognize them as finalists of an international challenge and will have their names and profiles featured in the challenge communication materials.

Eligibility Criteria

• To enter the competition, you must fill the following criteria:
  • Be a journalist or a media professional (including freelance) specialized or generalist, interested in agricultural issues in the African continent;
  • Be proficient in English or French;
  • Be available to travel in any African country for a field mission or an international event.

Guidelines

• Video Format   
  • Create a documentary-style video that is informative, engaging, and visually appealing. The video should be maximum 7 minutes in duration and in full HD (1920×1080).
• Storytelling
  • Focus on the personal narratives of individual farmers or farming communities. Showcase how they have adapted to and mitigated risks such as climate risks, market fluctuations, pests, or limited resources. Highlight their strategies, such as crop diversification, soil conservation, water management, or the use of sustainable agricultural practices.
• Local Context
  • Showcase smallholder farmers and highlight specific challenges they face in their respective contexts, such as extreme weather events, access to markets, lack of infrastructure, or limited access to technology, etc.
• Solutions and Innovations
  • Explore how smallholder farmers are strengthening their self-resilience.
  • Showcase innovative approaches they have adopted, such as using advanced farming techniques, leveraging technology, forming cooperatives or farmer networks, or implementing sustainable farming models, etc.
• Impact
  • Illustrate the positive outcomes of their resilience efforts. Highlight how these approaches have increased their productivity, improved their livelihoods, enhanced food security, reduced environmental impact, and contributed to sustainable agri-food systems.
• Diversity and Inclusivity
  • Ensure the video represents the diversity of rural farmers, including gender, age, ethnicity, and social backgrounds. Highlight the role of women and young farmers in building resilience and promoting sustainability.
• Language
  • Videos can be submitted in French or English (Subtitles will be integrated by PARM team on the selected videos).
• Originality
  • Submit an original video copyrighted by you and never posted or broadcast before on any media outlet or online platform.
  • Plagiarized videos will be disqualified.
• Submission
  • Submit the link to your HD video (wetransfer/google drive) along with your name, picture, contact information, short bio, video title and a brief description of your video.

For more information, visit PARM.