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Spanish TV report wins international Harambee Communicating Africa prize

December 2, 2008

Tags: Justice, Service, Solidarity, Communication, Harambee

“Women for a Better World”, a TV report directed by Mayte Pascual, produced by Spanish television channel TVE, and broadcast as part of the programme Weekly Update, has won the Audiovisual prize in the third Harambee International “Communicating Africa” contest, 2008.

The jury awarded second prize to a documentary entitled “The Promised Land” by Arturo Fuentes Calle, produced by DTA in collaboration with Calella Town Council.

The prizes were presented on November 26, at 7 p.m. at the Carlos de Amberes Foundation, Madrid. At the ceremony, the vice-rector of Strathmore University in Nairobi, Florence Oloo, gave a speech in which she called for African solutions for African problems. “We need outside help that respects our values, gives a greater role to women, and nurtures the hope that really exists in our societies,” she said.

Oloo also said that “we need help, not impositions, because money is not enough and not all Africa’s problems stem from it. We need leaders who will actually help all of us all together to combat the corruption and handicap represented by certain tribal mentalities.”

Juan Luis Rodriguez Fraile, President of Harambee Spain, explained that “Communicating can be the best way of contributing, bringing to an end the media silence that surrounds every area of Africa except wars and catastrophes.”

Linda Corbi, Harambee International coordinator, said that “the Harambee International Audiovisual contest has been held for the past six years to beat the partial, stereotyped view of Africa.”

The jury was made up of Professor Giovanni Mottini, President of Harambee International; His Excellency Mwakau K. Sio, Kenyan Ambassador to Spain; Javier Bonilla, film and TV producer and Director General of Bipentacom; and Santiago de la Cierva, Harambee Spain representative.

Communicating Africa: an ongoing task
This is the first time that the ten-thousand-Euro prize has gone to a Spanish production. The 2008 contest attracted entries in the form of documentaries from Spain, Congo, France, South Africa and Chile. The aim of the contest is to encourage audiovisual productions that offer a positive view of the social, economic and cultural dimensions of sub-Saharan Africa, focusing especially on education as an indispensable means towards progress and harmony.

Harambee (“All Together” in Swahili) is an NGO set up in 2002 around the canonization of St Josemaria Escriva, with the goal of “Helping Africans to help themselves”. The organization raises funds to support educational and health projects, especially those that train people to promote development in their own countries.

For further information: www.harambee-africa.org