Section 20. Implementing Photovoice in Your Community

 

Using creative tools such as Photovoice can help changemakers understand the lived experiences of communities experiencing systemic barriers and support people in sharing their own perspectives. This section describes the Photovoice process, the populations that it might benefit most, and how it can be used to help people make their perspectives heard and work to change their situations.

What is Photovoice?

Photovoice is a process in which people – often those whose perspectives have been underrepresented because of poverty, language barriers, race, class, ethnicity, gender, culture, or other circumstances – use photo images, and sometimes video, to capture aspects of their environment and experiences and share them with others. The pictures can then be used, usually with captions composed by the photographers, to bring the realities of the photographers’ lives to the public and policy makers and to encourage change.

The concept has existed for many years, but much of the theoretical background of current programs comes from the work of Caroline Wang. In 1992, Wang and Mary Ann Burris developed Photovoice based on a combination of Paulo Freire’s notion of “critical consciousness” (a deep understanding of the way the world works and how society, politics, and power relationships affect one’s own situation); feminist theory, which emphasizes the importance of voice; and documentary photography, which is often used to help bring about social change.

Wang and Burris gave cameras to a group of rural village women in Yunnan Province in China, who documented their lives and environment for an entire year. Groups of women gathered at regular intervals to view and discuss the pictures they took. At the end of the project, the group hosted an exhibition of their photographs, and used it to raise awareness among the general public and policy makers about their needs and experiences. The project provided the women with another way to express their perspectives and supported a greater sense of agency and control over their lives. Wang became one of the founders of the Photovoice approach.

Wang defines five key concepts for Photovoice in Photovoice: A Participatory Action Research Strategy Applied to Women’s Health, a 1999 article in the Journal of Women’s Health.

These five concepts include:

• Images teach
• Pictures can influence policy
• Community members ought to participate in creating and defining the images that shape healthful public policy
• The process requires that from the outset planners bring policy makers and other influential people to the table to serve as an audience
• Photovoice emphasizes individual and community action

The Photovoice technique has been used in many countries with people including youth in difficult circumstances, people with disabilities and particular medical conditions (e.g., tuberculosis, HIV), people experiencing poverty, groups affected by violence, and many others whose experiences are often unknown or overlooked by the broader community and by those in positions of power.

A well-known example of the use of Photovoice can be seen in the film “Born into Brothels,” which won an Academy Award for best documentary in 2005. Photographer Zana Briski, in the course of documenting the lives of sex workers and their children in the red light district of Calcutta, decided to give several of the children cameras and ask them to document their world. Their sensitive and often striking photos, and the film that resulted from them, gave rise to Kids With Cameras and Kids With Destiny which continues Briski’s work and has supported opportunities for many of the children involved.

Photovoice has three main goals:

• To help people whose perspectives are often unheard make those perspectives more visible, enabling them to record and reflect on their experiences and their communities’ conditions, both positive and negative.
• To encourage critical consciousness. Through choosing, discussing, and reflecting on the subjects of their photographs, the photographers can come to a clearer understanding of their circumstances and the economic, social, psychological, and political forces that shape them.
• To bring about change that will improve conditions and enhance lives by reaching and influencing policy makers.

The term “critical consciousness” comes from the work of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. Freire’s use of the term refers to the process of people experiencing oppression using critical thinking to examine their own situations. Analyzing the forces shaping their circumstances is a first step toward bringing about change.

In order to achieve these goals, it’s important to understand that Photovoice entails much more than just handing people cameras and sending them out to take pictures or video. The photographers start by learning the basics of camera use and discussing safe and ethical documentary practices. In most cases, they meet regularly in a facilitated group (often jointly led by a photographer and a counselor or other human service worker) to show and discuss the images they’ve taken, and to express opinions and feelings in a safe and supportive environment. Other possible elements of a Photovoice program are discussed in the how-to part of this section. A Photovoice project or program can be an inexpensive and powerful tool for personal and social change, but it needs to be planned and carried out with a good deal of thought.

Since Photovoice is essentially a type of participatory action research, it can also be used as a qualitative research method, as an assessment tool, as a way of gathering data, and as an evaluation tool. A Photovoice project can be freestanding, but is more often – and probably more effectively – run in collaboration with an existing group or coalition.

Why should you use Photovoice?

There are a number of reasons why Photovoice can be a particularly powerful way to approach empowerment and advocacy.

• The rewards of taking photographs can be immediate. Digital cameras and smartphones allow participants to see images almost instantly, which can encourage them to continue experimenting and documenting their experiences.
• Photography is fun and creative. Often, meeting immediate needs is the main focus of people living in difficult circumstances. The opportunity to create art can be a powerful and fulfilling experience, and can lead to viewing oneself in a different and more positive light. In addition, for many people, it opens the door to talent they didn’t know they had.
• Taking photographs or videos of familiar scenes and people can change participants’ perceptions about their social and physical environment. When they’re asked to think about how they want to picture the scenes they’re recording, participants themselves may start to see those scenes differently and to think about alternatives in new ways.
• Basic photography can be accessible to many people. Children, older adults, and people with a wide range of abilities can take pictures or participate in creating them. Adaptations or assistance can make participation possible for people who may have difficulty seeing, holding, or operating a camera independently. The pictures do not need to be technically or artistically perfect to communicate a story or perspective.
• “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Images can communicate conditions and experiences in ways that words alone may not. Effective advocacy conveys a need for change, and photos or videos can add a powerful visual dimension to that message.
• Images can communicate across language and cultural differences, although people may interpret the same image differently depending on their experiences and context.
• Images can make conditions more visible to policy makers and others. Photos or videos of actual conditions can make an issue harder to overlook and can help connect policy discussions to the experiences of people directly affected.

For instance, the article Photovoice in the Workplace: A Participatory Method to Give Voice to Workers to Identify Health and Safety Hazards and Promote Workplace Change, details how Photovoice was used in a workplace with extremely high injury and incidents rates. The project was used to promote improved conditions and reduced hazards for university custodians.

The custodians participated in a Photovoice project to identify, categorize, and prioritize occupational hazards and to discuss and propose solutions to these problems. Results were presented to management and to all custodians for further discussion. The effort was led by a worker-based union-sponsored participatory evaluation team in partnership with a university researcher.

Visual depiction of hazardous tasks and exposures focused primarily on improper or unsafe equipment, awkward postures, lifting hazards, and electrical hazards. The process of taking and presenting pictures created an ongoing discussion among workers and management regarding the need for improvements, and resulted in greater interest and activity regarding occupational health among the workers. In a follow-up evaluation 1-year later, a number of hazards identified through Photovoice had been corrected. Injury rates for custodians had decreased from 39% to 26%.

• Pictures can be used to hold policy makers and others accountable by creating a clear record of what exists at a particular point in time.
• Photography and video can provide another way for people to express their perspectives and advocate for change without requiring them to stand up and speak in public.

Who should use Photovoice?

A main goal of Photovoice is to support people whose needs and perspectives are often overlooked in documenting their own experiences and participating more fully in decisions that affect their lives. We’ll list some examples of both population groups and organizations that might be able to use Photovoice to their advantage. (Neither list is meant to be complete.)

People who may benefit from Photovoice:

• Children and youth in difficult circumstances. These might include children without stable caregivers and young people experiencing homelessness, children forced to work rather than go to school, children and youth living under the threat of violence because of war or crime, those who are being or have been abused, or simply those who see a problem – destruction of the natural environment, for example – that they want to help to solve.
• Adults and families experiencing homelessness.
• People with physical, intellectual, or developmental disabilities or people with mental health conditions or experiences.
• People with chronic diseases or medical conditions – tuberculosis, diabetes, heart disease.
• Members of underrepresented racial, ethnic, linguistic, religious, or cultural groups. Members of these groups may experience discrimination or exclusion, or they may simply want to share elements of their culture and lives with the broader community.
• People whose way of life is threatened. The Southern West Virginia Photovoice Project involves women documenting their communities, their way of life, and what’s happened to them as a result of mountaintop removal coal mining.
• People who experience discrimination because of class, caste, way of life (as in “Born Into Brothels”), or poverty.
• People experiencing poverty in rural communities, whose concerns and strengths may differ from those emphasized by the larger society, including in rapidly developing countries such as China and Brazil.

Types of organizations that could benefit from using Photovoice with participants:

• Schools and other organizations that work with children and youth.
• Residential care settings, group homes, homeless shelters, and other living situations for people who need support or care.
• Organizations that work with people whose needs and perspectives are commonly overlooked.
• Community health centers and similar health providers.
• Organizations that serve people with physical, intellectual, or developmental disabilities or people with mental health conditions or experiences.
• Advocacy organizations or health and human service organizations that include advocacy in their mission.
• International aid and refugee organizations.

When might you use Photovoice?

• When Photovoice can change people’s perspectives about themselves and their environment. Participants may or may not be able to influence policy makers, but they can begin to see themselves as people who can act on their circumstances rather than only being acted upon. When participants come from populations that have traditionally had limited influence in decision-making – rural villagers in some developing countries, people experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage – the Photovoice experience can change their perspectives and goals in ways that may help them take action with or without policy change.
  • Although Photovoice might be used at any time to help people form and express their opinions, better understand their situations, and develop confidence in their perspectives, it serves these ends especially well when it is meant to lead to action and change. Thus, useful times to conduct a Photovoice project are those when it has a realistic opportunity to influence the issues that participants highlight in their pictures or videos.
• When a group’s situation needs greater public attention. Groups here might range from people in refugee camps in war-torn regions to adults experiencing homelessness in a major city. Photovoice might be particularly relevant when the experiences of a population are largely unknown outside the local area.
• When a problem needs to be publicized. The pollution of a once-pristine river, trash littering a neighborhood because of erratic garbage collection, substandard housing – these are all problems that can be highlighted by photos taken by those who live with them.
• When change is necessary, and Photovoice can help inform policy makers. Pictures taken by children of deteriorating or inadequate school buildings (classes being held under a tent or in a field, with few learning materials) may communicate their circumstances to policy makers in a particularly direct way.
• When a community assessment is needed or in progress. Community members participating in a Photovoice project bring direct knowledge of their community and its needs and assets. Their photos or videos can document community conditions and play a major role in conducting an assessment that speaks to the local assets and needs of the population.
• When you need to document the process of or gather data for an evaluation of an intervention or program. Photovoice participants can picture results, record interviews, demonstrate their own opinions about the intervention, etc.
• When you need to hold policy makers or others accountable. A dated photograph showing the cracked and broken street that a politician promised to have fixed a year ago, substandard housing that a court ordered a landlord to bring up to code by a long-missed deadline, or an unsafe workplace that violates applicable standards can help document conditions and support efforts to hold responsible parties accountable.
• When you need to document a site, an event, or a way of life that is threatened or about to disappear.

Hutong to Highrise is a Photovoice project that documents the resistance of hutong dwellers in Beijing to the destruction of their neighborhoods. Hutongs are the narrow lanes bordered by courtyard houses which make up neighborhoods that are essentially villages within the city. Some families of hutong dwellers have lived in their houses for many generations. Being relocated to highrise apartment buildings where they know no other tenants leaves them without the social networks and supports that have enriched their lives. They have documented their way of life and their surroundings, as well as the demolition of the neighborhoods they cherished.

How do you use Photovoice?

A note about video:

We’ve mentioned several times that a Photovoice project might involve video. Because video can require different equipment, editing, consent decisions, and safety considerations than a photography-based project, we’ve chosen here to deal primarily with photography. Much of what’s in this section applies to photo as well as video, but there are exceptions. Video may be created individually or in teams and can require differences in training, discussion, and execution. Editing becomes much more important with video, and recording people or situations may also raise additional privacy and safety questions. In general, however, much of the how-to guide below can be adapted for a video as well as a photography project.

Photovoice projects can take many different forms and work with people from many different backgrounds and circumstances.

Some general guidelines can help make these projects a success.

• Photovoice should be a participatory, collaborative process from the beginning. That means that participants – the community photographers – should be part of the planning and implementation of the project, not simply the subjects of it.
• Participants and staff need training. Depending on the population from which they come, participants in some projects might have little experience with photography, while those in others might be quite comfortable with cameras or smartphones. In either case, they should be trained in the basic techniques of documentary photography and the use of the equipment selected for the project. They should also receive grounding in photographic ethics, consent, privacy, and keeping themselves safe while photographing. At the same time, the staff of the sponsoring organization needs training in the same areas as the participants, and in anticipating and handling situations that might arise from the process. Photographs can have an emotional as well as a documentary and aesthetic content, both for those who take them and for others in the group. In addition, photographers might face confrontation, legal concerns, or physical danger, or might encounter ethically difficult situations. Staff must be prepared to deal with these possibilities to protect participants and the integrity of the project.
• Participants need support. Participants must have the chance to show and discuss their photos. They need a safe and supportive environment in which they can learn a new skill and gain confidence in their ability to express opinions and ideas.
• The project should result in some action. Action can mean a number of things, from a show of photos within the organization, to the making of a theatrical film like “Born into Brothels,” to participants’ visits to policy makers, to the start of an initiative to deal with the conditions documented by the photos or videos from the project. Participants should have the chance to see their photos used in a positive and significant way.

Putting together a Photovoice project

So…how might you put together a Photovoice project? A typical project might develop along these lines:

Recruit participants, at least one mentor/facilitator, and staff/volunteers

If you’re starting with an existing group – a classroom, a youth group, a micro-loan borrowers’ support group, etc. – recruitment may simply be a matter of presenting the possibility and discussing it with the group. It is important that group members have the option of declining participation.

If there’s not a formal, existing group, recruitment may be one-by-one, and may depend on outreach or street workers, agency or NGO staff members, or on word of mouth by early recruits and/or a few influential individuals – clergy, teachers, health workers, or community activists. It might involve community meetings, gatherings in people’s homes, or visits to meetings of other existing groups.

It’s important at the time of participant recruitment to explain the purpose of the project and to make clear, if it’s true, that there will be an exhibition of photos at the end. (See “Exhibit,” below.) Participants should understand how their photographs may be displayed or otherwise used, whether they may remain anonymous, and what rights they retain over their work. Consent for public use of photographs should be clear and should continue to be discussed as the project develops, particularly if the intended uses of the images change.

While a mentor/facilitator is not a given (nor is the fact that the mentor and facilitator must be the same person), the presence of someone with both technical expertise and a desire to address the concerns of the population in question can be extremely helpful. In the case of a school program, this role might be taken by a classroom teacher with an interest in photography; in an NGO, it may be assumed by a staff member. In many cases, the mentor role might be filled by a volunteer professional (or serious amateur) photographer.

The mentor/facilitator’s role is to work with participants on technical issues, to help them learn how to express themselves through photography, and to facilitate groups where pictures are shown and discussed. This person may also provide emotional support, as well as information about photography in general and encouragement and further instruction for those who want it. In some projects, one or more staff members may assume this role, share it as co-facilitator with a professional photographer, or refer to a photographer as a consultant/advisor or occasional guest.

Staff members or volunteers of an organization, agency, or institution may act as facilitators, as resources, or may actually conduct most aspects of the project. It’s important that, regardless of whether these people are volunteers or professionals, they have the necessary skills – interpersonal, technical, administrative, etc. – as well as a belief in and desire to be involved with the Photovoice process.

Plan the project with the community or group you’re working with

A planning group should include at least some of the participants you’ve recruited. If the participant group is relatively small, and the number of staff or volunteers is as well, it might include everyone involved. If it’s large, and there are several staff members and/or volunteers involved, the planning group should include the mentor/facilitator (or both mentor and facilitator if they’re different people), representation from the participant group, staff and volunteers who’ll work on the project, and at least one person (perhaps already included among those mentioned) who has knowledge of the organization’s budget and real or potential resources for the project.

It is often difficult to say whether recruitment or planning comes first. A project can be planned with representatives of the group or community from which participants will come, with the understanding that some or all of these people may want to participate along with others recruited later. The same is true for staff and volunteers. Probably the one exception here is the mentor/facilitator, who should be involved from the very beginning.

The ideal is probably that recruitment should come first, so that the participatory planning process is just that. This isn’t always possible, however, and how it actually works out in a given situation will often depend on such factors as the availability of funding and the time schedule of a volunteer mentor. In any case, the planning process should be as participatory as possible so that it will be owned by the participants, staff, and volunteers who take part in the project.

Another consideration here is whether to involve community officials or policy makers in the project from the beginning, perhaps as sponsors or even in a more active role. In such a case, consider carefully whether the advantages outweigh potential disadvantages.

Train participants, staff, and/or volunteers

Training for participants:

• Technical training. This should include use of the camera equipment and the techniques of photography. Depending on the equipment selected, this may include operating a smartphone or camera, composition, focus and exposure, working with different lighting conditions, editing, photographing moving subjects, organizing and securely storing images, and other techniques. This training would probably be conducted by either the mentor/facilitator or another person with a good knowledge of photography.
• Training in ethical and safe photography in various situations. Shooting on the street or throughout a city or other area, as is the case with many projects, participants may find themselves in situations where they may be photographing people in private, embarrassing, sensitive, or illegal behavior. When is it ethical to take such photos? When should you ask permission before taking a photo? When is a release needed before an identifiable image is publicly displayed or shared? How do you react if the subject refuses? How will images containing personal or sensitive information be stored and used? Furthermore, how do you protect yourself in dangerous situations, where people may be engaged in illegal activity or may be aggressive? Just carrying or using a camera may sometimes put a participant in danger. Again, this training is best conducted by the mentor/facilitator or someone else experienced in the field.

A full discussion of ethics and safety is beyond the scope of this section. Some useful resources in this area are a chapter on Photovoice in a guidebook from the Innovation Center, which also includes an outline of a Photovoice project and forms for various elements of it, including a subject release form; and the Photovoice UK statement of ethical practice.

• Group-building and training in working in a group. If you’re working with children or youth or with others with little experience in meetings and groups, it will make the project go more smoothly if you offer support in that area. Setting ground rules, making clear why ground rules are necessary, emphasizing the collaborative nature of group activity, structuring the group as a mutually supportive team, teaching listening skills, and engaging in group-building exercises can all serve to make working in a group easier for those with little experience with it.

Training for staff and/or volunteers:

• A project involving 10 or 12 children in a classroom might be effectively run by one teacher with an interest in photography. A larger project may need a number of professional and/or volunteer staff, depending on project funding and the nature of the sponsoring organization or institution. Unless they’re already well versed in photography, group leadership, and providing appropriate participant support, they’ll need some basic training in all of those areas, as well as a version of the training in ethics and safety. If there’s a photographer involved, staff members may not need more technical skills than participants. Staff members should have the skills or support needed to respond appropriately to emotional reactions that arise for participants as a result of the photos and discussion of them, or as a result of incidents that occur in the course of the project.
• Perhaps most important, staff members, whether professional or volunteer, should understand the structure and the aims of the project. For a Photovoice project to be successful in helping participants express their own perspectives, participants have to do both the documentary and reflective work themselves. That means that staff members must be able to encourage and support participants throughout their involvement without doing things for them.

Get out and take pictures

The best way to learn photography is to practice it and get feedback. Once participants have the basic knowledge they need, the next step is for them to begin to take pictures of whatever seems to them to explain or reflect the chosen topic(s).

Two important considerations that should be worked out during planning are time and equipment. The photography phase of a Photovoice project can last as little as a week or two or as long as a year or more. (Caroline Wang’s original project with the farm women in Yunnan was a year long.) Deciding on a length of time may depend on resources, on the situation of the participants, on other needs of the organization, etc.

The equipment question is partially a financial and accessibility one. Smartphones may already be familiar and readily available to some participants, while dedicated digital, instant, or film cameras may be more appropriate in other projects. The best choice depends on cost, access, image quality, privacy and data-security considerations, whether participants have reliable access to charging or storage, and what equipment they are comfortable using.

Digital cameras and smartphones allow participants to review and retake images easily, while film or instant cameras may encourage participants to be especially thoughtful about a more limited number of shots. No one type of equipment is best for every Photovoice project.

If video is part of the project, smartphones and other digital cameras can often capture high-quality footage with equipment participants already know how to use. Video files require more storage and may create additional editing, consent, and privacy considerations, so these issues should be planned for in advance.

Discuss/reflect/choose

During the photography phase, participants should meet regularly with a facilitator in a small group. This group might be composed of all participants if the project is small (a dozen or fewer participants), or with a subset of the participants if the project is larger.

In these groups, participants show their photographs and explain why they took them. They might discuss such topics as whether the scene evoked particular feelings for them, and how they think the pictures might be viewed by others. They can receive feedback from others in the group about how the pictures strike them, whether they bring up ideas or feelings, and whether a photo seems to make its point well.

The groups help participants reflect on what they and others have done, on the aesthetic and intellectual decisions they’ve made, and reach a new understanding that then becomes their base for the next round of photography (or for their next experience, if the photography phase is over). Reflection is often one of the most important parts of both intellectual and personal development, and the opportunity for reflection is a critical part of the Photovoice process.

The group discussion is also an opportunity for each participant, with help from the group, to choose the pictures that can best be used to communicate with policy makers and the public. If the pictures from the project are meant to bring about change, they should communicate clearly and meaningfully to those who see them. The group and facilitator can supportively help each participant think about which of their pictures are most likely to do that and why. As the project progresses and participants gain self-confidence and skill, some previously chosen photos may be discarded in favor of ones that communicate the issues more effectively. The goal is to have, at the end of the photography phase, a group of photographs that can be used to make a strong statement about the chosen issues or conditions.

Part of this choosing process might be writing captions for the selected photos. The photographers, depending on their age and experience, might explain why they chose the subject, the context in which they shot it, the intent of the picture, how it made them feel, its connection to the issue, etc. The captions are important for the next phase of the project.

Exhibit

As mentioned briefly above, at the end of the project (or the end of the involvement of a particular group of participants, if the project is ongoing) there should be an opportunity to share the photographs with an intended audience. An exhibition is one common approach. The participants have produced a body of work: if it’s never seen by anyone else, they have only tapped one part of its potential. An exhibition can accomplish several purposes:

• It can demonstrate that their work is valued and worth sharing
• It can provide a window into conditions, lives, or issues for people who may be unfamiliar with them
• It can raise public awareness about the issue, and can contribute to change and improvement
• It can function as a celebration of the achievements, learning, reflection, and confidence of the participants

In order to acknowledge the work of all participants, the group should decide together how photographs will be selected and displayed. Equal numbers of photographs from each participant may be one approach, but participants may also choose another organizing principle, such as theme. Participants should have meaningful control over whether their work is publicly displayed and whether their names are attached to it, especially when identification could expose them to physical, social, legal, or other risks.

Whether or not they’ve been informed or involved before, it’s generally a good idea to engage officials, policy makers, and the press as well as the general public in the exhibition. You may want to stage a grand opening, announced by a press release, public service announcement (PSA), and/or press conference, to which you specifically invite officials and media outlets. The media may do a story on the exhibit or on the project and participants, so it’s a good idea to have participants who agree to be interviewed or profiled prepared for this beforehand.

You can also create your own media by using the Web to get the word out about the exhibit. Both the organization’s website and social media or other online communication channels can be used to attract people. In addition, with participants’ agreement and appropriate consent from identifiable subjects, photos or videos can be posted online on websites or sharing platforms such as Flickr and YouTube.

It may also make sense to have a pre-opening just for participants and their families and friends, so that they can celebrate their accomplishment with one another and those they care about.

Take action

As mentioned above, the exhibit may be just the beginning. Some possibilities for other forms of action:

• Creation of an action plan involving PhotoVoice participants and others who care in the community.
• Meetings with legislators, commissioners, ministers, agency officials, CEOs, or other policy makers about the issue in question.
• A letter-writing or message campaign, perhaps including copies of some or all of the photos.
• A media campaign, featuring some of the participants who choose to take part and their stories, as well as their photographs.
• The founding of an initiative to change the conditions that the project focused on.
• Participants might become active in other causes or in existing organizations that work for change.
• Some sort of direct action – a demonstration, a boycott, a picket line, etc.
• Some participants might be involved as mentors in the next round of the project.

Films – like “Born Into Brothels” – or touring exhibits can be very effective at introducing the issue and participants to a larger public, but they also require resources that are beyond the reach of most organizations. A more feasible option may be sharing selected photos or videos online through a project website, a Flickr page, or a YouTube video, when participants and identifiable subjects have agreed to that use. Online sharing can expand the audience for Photovoice projects well beyond the original community.

Follow up

Depending on its resources, the organization might continue to work with participants, helping them to build on the technical and personal skills they have developed and pursue goals that matter to them. That might mean anything from career counseling to ongoing involvement in photography to help obtaining a scholarship or loan to continue with schooling.

Additionally, following up with an action phase and carrying through plans developed after the Photovoice part of the initiative is critical to obtaining lasting change and improvement.

Evaluate

As with any project, it’s crucial to monitor and evaluate both the process and the results of the Photovoice experience. For that to be done properly, evaluation questions should be clearly identified. Some of the many possible evaluation questions might include:

• What is the most effective recruitment method for participants? For staff and volunteers?
• Did participants gain new skills?
• Was the training adequate and effective?
• Did the work of participants contribute to a better understanding of the issue for the organization and/or the community?
• Did the project lead to continued action on the chosen issue?
• Did the project lead to changes in conditions in the community?
• Were policy makers influenced to bring about change?
• Was the project sustained over time?

Participants should be part of the evaluation team, and should be encouraged to contribute to development of the evaluation questions, as well as to reflect upon the evaluation questions to guide their efforts throughout the project. The evaluation then becomes, as it should, part of the project itself. Evaluation results can be used to improve the way the organization uses Photovoice, as well as the way project results can be used to bring about change.

Do it again

If there is energy around the project and more work to be done, the group may consider whether it would be helpful to sustain the Photovoice project, involving new generations of participants.

In Summary

Photovoice is a technique by which photographs or videos created by participants – often people whose perspectives have been underrepresented or excluded – become a means of self-expression, reflection, learning, and participation. Participants essentially function as participatory action researchers, documenting community strengths, experiences, conditions, and problems in ways that can be used for community assessment and to inform policy makers and other decision-makers. When participants help shape the process, interpret their own images, decide how those images are shared, and take part in the action that follows, Photovoice can be a powerful tool for community understanding and change.