The WITNESS Video Advocacy Institute (VAI), the first of its kind, is an innovative intensive program that will train human rights defenders to successfully integrate video advocacy into their campaigns.

The 2007 VAI will be held in association with Concordia University's Communications Studies Program and Documentary Centre in Montreal, Canada from July 15 - 27, 2007.

This training will provide an immersive introduction to key skills in video advocacy for a group of 25-30 dedicated human rights advocates from across the globe working on some of the most challenging human rights issues facing our world today. In this highly participatory course participants will learn how to:

* Plan the strategic use of video as a targeted tool for change in a human rights campaign, and apply this learning to their own work
* Plan and shoot on Mini-DV video cameras, and learn the basics of editing
* Make appropriate decisions on safety, security and consent
* Craft effective advocacy narratives - ‘storytelling for action'
* Distribute their video to key audiences
* Use video as evidence
* Use online video for advocacy

During the VAI each participant will also have time to apply the learning from the sessions to planning for a project that they will be implementing in the follow-up to the Institute.

The approach will be intensive and practical, grounded in WITNESS' 15 years of experience supporting human rights organizations in over 70 countries to use video in their campaigns. The focus will be on experiential learning which will deepen the participant's ability to protect human rights by training them to use the power of video to create social change.