A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
By: Amina Ferati, President, International Advisory, Products and Systems (i-APS)
The phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, has been used so often that it has become a cliche. So, imagine my surprise when I heard that quote being used by an implementing partner in Venezuela to describe our IDEAL-funded PhotoVoice project and the impact it had on them.
In 2022, International Advisory, Products and Systems (i-APS) adapted and designed the PhotoVoice methodology as a form of qualitative inquiry for food security activities funded by the United States Agency for International Development Bureau for Humanitarian Development (BHA). PhotoVoice is not a novel technique, far from it; PhotoVoice dates back to the 1980s but has not been used extensively in humanitarian or complex settings.
It is a participant-centered visual research methodology (in our case, woman-focused) that allows traditionally marginalized communities to highlight and communicate the most important themes and priorities in their lives. In this way, PhotoVoice is a type of participatory action research, insofar as it draws on reflection, collective action, and collaboration to understand and improve practices. The photographs serve as a prompt to stimulate discussion, develop critical thinking, and encourage listening to peers, while at the same time bridging the gap between community and decision-makers.
The i-APS team sought to use PhotoVoice to empower and give voice to the people most impacted by humanitarian assistance by equipping them with the means to amplify their stories through photos that share their lived experiences. Funded by the IDEAL Small Grants Program, i-APS worked with two partners in Syria and Venezuela to implement the approach. We sought to pilot PhotoVoice to engage the perspectives of participants of food security programming in complex settings as a form of routine monitoring, evaluation, and learning.
The goal was to apply the PhotoVoice methodology in USAID-funded humanitarian projects and determine the appropriateness of PhotoVoice as a monitoring tool and a form of qualitative participatory inquiry in non-permissive settings. What we learned from piloting PhotoVoice was clear: when we engage and embed participant knowledge, interest, and ownership at the start and across all phases we can contribute to the empowerment of participants and gain useful information on the program. Photovoice allowed beneficiaries to share their perspectives with decision-makers, providing valuable insight into what is working and not.
This photo, for example, taken by a Venezuelan PhotoVoice participant and titled “A day of abundance” shares reflection on her family receiving a humanitarian food basket. In traditional monitoring and evaluation work, photography may have focused on distribution and perhaps a beneficiary quote. Instead, the Photovoice team trained 30 women in the country, working in coordination with the implementing partner, to collect photos, use them to tell their stories in their own words and share them with the partner to be used as information to inform and adapt their program.
“The first time we received [the food basket] the whole family went to the meeting place, and we never imagined the amount of products we would receive. That day we had nothing to eat. When we got home, my children, with great excitement, ripped open the bag where the products came, just like when a child tears the paper of a gift to see what is inside. The best thing is the joy of my children at every opportunity they give the benefit. If I had to define in one word the significance of the program in my life and that of my family, it would be JOY.” — Venezuelan woman PhotoVoice participant.
The feedback and insights obtained via PhotoVoice helped the same implementing partner switch the brand of a food basket item, providing a concrete example of changes that were taken as direct result of soliciting beneficiary feedback.
Photographs articulate what is important to the photographer. The beauty and power of PhotoVoice is that the technique gives a participant permission to express their inner voice. By transferring power to the individual, enabling them to decide what was important, and what story to tell, we gained a direct perspective of reflection on the way this food basket impacted their life. In turn, the photo tells a powerful story of the critical role this implementer is playing in improving the lives of vulnerable Venezuelans.
In Syria, we learned that PhotoVoice can be equally powerful in highlighting gender roles and lifting the voices of women who are traditionally excluded. Similar to our approach in Venezuela, teams in Syria worked with local facilitators who trained 30 women across two locations, all of whom were recipients of humanitarian food assistance. The women were using their home vegetable growing kits to harvest and produce canned food for winter storage. The photos provide examples of the important role that women play in home feeding and agriculture.
The process of storing and preserving food is important, as women in the summer save and store vegetables to be a source of many winter meals. The picture above shows the role of rural women in managing the affairs of the house and her interest in providing food for her family in the winter season. Rural women are the most important pillar in the operations of the home economy. What we see in the picture will provide for many winter meals and was obtained by the woman from her home garden.
At the end of the pilot, participants were asked what they gained from participating in PhotoVoice, and their response was unanimous. Participants felt their daily lives changed as a result, with some commenting that by exercising critical thinking they now viewed activities or events from an expanded new perspective.
As shared by one Venezuelan woman participant “Photo Voz [PhotoVoice] is an experience that will stay with us for a lifetime.”
Some were inspired to continue providing feedback to the implementing partner and many expressed an interest in continuing to take photos and reflect on their experiences. One group even produced a cookbook, while others became more involved in other implementing partner projects as a direct result of their positive experience with PhotoVoice. In the words of one of the program’s facilitators: “Nobody could have imagined how important it was to learn how to express themselves via photos.”
Indeed, a picture is worth more than a thousand words.
This research was made possible by a grant from the Implementer-Led Design, Evidence, Analysis and Learning (IDEAL) Activity. The IDEAL Small Grants Program is made possible by the generous support and contribution of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Amina Ferati is the President of International Advisory, Products and Systems (i-APS), a U.S. woman and minority-owned small business. i-APS specializes in turning data into knowledge for humanitarian and development partners worldwide. i-APS is a certified 8(a) and EDWOSB. i-APS thanks IDEAL and the implementing partners involved in this activity. As participant-led inquiry, this report would not have been possible without the dedication and contributions made by the women participants in Venezuela (called PhotoVoz) and Syria.
