VIDEA was one of Canada’s original global education centres in order to promote greater intercultural understanding and awareness of global issues. Many thanks to founding members including – Howbart Sorensen, Phil Esmonde, David Stott, John Schwandt, Brycina Muuba, Roberto Dosil, Estella Dosil, and Rennie Warburton
18 speakers able to give talks on different countries and issues organized to deliver over 100 school presentations each year! VIDEA finds a home! For $50 a month, VIDEA managed to aquire a teeny, tiny space from the Victoria Community Action Group in an old building on Fisgard Street.
VIDEA’s performance of “The Cell” led to the formation of the group VSAAC – the Victoria South African Action Coalition – which met regularly to direct campaigns against apartheid.
The Summit Conference involves different groups of students who play the roles of different countries meeting at a conference table devoted to a specific international development issue. VIDEA organized one or two conferences a year and even put together a ‘Guide to the Model Summit Conference’ for other organizations to make use of.
Together with local social studies teachers, VIDEA was able to produce country kits on five countries; India, Nigeria, Egypt, Figi and Jamaica for use in grades 6-8. Further resources and curriculum developed over the coming years on a variety of subjects.
After a series of ‘mini’ moves over the previous few years, VIDEA finds a home able to house its extensive ‘Resource Centre’ collection on View street.
VIDEA approached by CIDA to organize two weeks worth of workshops for a nation-wide International Development Training Program – the Grindstone National Development Conference – (with only 4 months to plan it!).
8 week course held at the local YMCA designed to bring light to the dark complexities of global economics.
CIDA completely cut funding for all global education centres across Canada but an eclectic and dedicated group of volunteer activists kept VIDEA going.
“In a way, we were – and are – misfits; we refuse to be cloaked in the assumptions, presumptions and generalities of a world goneawry, and call for a new world, a different world, a world which recognizes the spark of life and hope and potential in all, and recognizes the spark of life and hope and potential in all, and recognizes that all are due equal access to resources and to justice and fairness and the maximum opportunity to grow.” (Phil Esmonde)
The Global Youth team explored global issues at a community and international level while supporting the talents, strengths and interests of individual participants to increase their confidence and help them to excel in their future careers.
VIDEA moves from the Fernwood location to View Street -STEP 1 resource completed -Successful Youthspeaks project completed
Harnessing the Wave project marked the start of VIDEA working with Women for Change in Zambia and creating relationships of friendship and solidarity between communities in BC and counterparts in rural areas of Zambia where WfC work. Community Action for Africa seeks to harness the generosity; heightened public awareness of international issues, as represented by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s).
VIDEA provides support for the YWCA’s gender-based violence work through support to the Children in Crisis Centre
VIDEA worked with partners across Canada to install 8,000 AIDS flags, all made by individual members of the Canadian public across Canada in time for the start of the International World AIDS Conference in Toronto. VIDEA also managed the installation of 8,000 flags right outside the conference in Toronto, drawn from communities across Canada and representative of over 64,000 Canadians who took part in this project.
International Youth Internship Project – 2 interns sent to Women for Change and YWCA in Lusaka, Zambia
Breakthrough for Africa project deepens relationships between BC communities and communities in Zambia; VIDEA’s Education Programme with WfC starts supporting vulnerable young women and men to gain educational opportunities; VIDEA`s Nelson (NAKA) and Kelowna (KaZ) chapters are born!
Youth Voices in Development is a complimentary programme that ran alongside internships. During their 6-month placements with VIDEA partner organizations in Zambia and South Africa from September 2007 to March 2008, interns monitored, analyzed, and recorded their own learning and perspectives on development through monthly written posts. This was followed by an intern-led policy analysis session at the conclusion which encouraged the interns to think critically about Canadian foreign aid policy based on their own experiences on the ground.
Voluntary Sector Fund project focused on supporting small business development in eastern Zambia starts and runs in partnership with WfC for 2 years.
First Global Solidarity Challenge raises over $25,000 to support VIDEA programmes and a Fantastic Job Creation Project brings Rohan and Ryan to VIDEA!
VIDEA`s 35th year begins! 2012 saw VIDEA celebrating 35 years and celebrating women – using our anniversary year to highlight the roles of women in development. In partnership with the Gender Studies Department at UVic VIDEA starts work on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded research project looking at the impacts on gender and human rights organisations in south and east Africa of policy and funding shifts globally.
VIDEA takes part in the pilot project of CIDA`s Aboriginal Internship Project and sends 10 Aboriginal young people for 4-month internships to Uganda and Zambia
2 year Walking With Wisdom project begins in the Pemberton Valley to build leadership opportunities for Aboriginal Girls 20 CIDA-funded Youth Interns take part in 6-month internships in Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia A partnership with the Geography Department at Camosun College see`s the first VIDEA field school take place in Uganda, 14 Camosun students take part in this 2-week programme
Partnership with Camosun College brings a whole business class to the Global Solidarity Challenge
Camosun College Business students have partnered with VIDEA to design and implement fundraising activities to support our overseas partner in Zambia, Women for Change since 2013. The funds raised enable rural youth in Zambia to attend the Rural Youth Exposure Conference. As a result of their hard work, 23 Zambian youth were able to attend the conference in 2015.
Youth-driven public engagement is a powerful and proven vehicle to engage Canadians on global issues and can reshape harmful narratives of the global south in impactful ways. VIDEA’s International Youth and Indigenous Youth Programme participants undertook an array of innovative public engagement activities, collectively engaging over 120,000 Canadians in 2016 alone!
The Shared Wisdom project is led by Indigenous youth in BC, the Yukon, and Alberta, who are working with young women and men in their own communities, helping them to better understand the root causes of Violence against Women, and to create and implement community-level, Indigenous youth-led, activities to address it.
In May 2017, VIDEA collaborated with Mpambo Multiversity, UNESCO Chair in Community Based Research, and Inclusion Press to organize the Confluence which brought together Indigenous leaders and knowledge keepers and allies from across the world to the sacred source of the Nile River for a week of reflection and celebration.
Working with Dr. Budd Hall of the University of Victoria’s Public Administration Department, VIDEA co-taught their Community and International Development through Activism and Community Development course in the Fall of 2017. Through their Engaged Learning project, students have helped to kick off VIDEA’s 40th Anniversary year by producing a resource focused on 40 years of community activism and protest.
