Magic Bag Videos

In all three case countries, videos were also developed to support the use of the magic bags.  This provided a supplementary guidance for caregivers, especially those with low literacy who might not benefit from the printed guides.  This section of the toolkit provides explanation, links to resources, case studies and sustainability recommendations for creating, distributing and monitoring the accompanying videos used to support the roll-out of the magic bags.

Links to the Story-Telling Videos produced in Nepal and Bangladesh can be found here, while the Bhutan Play Guides can be found here.

Development, Design & Implementation

Audio-visual material can be extremely useful for concisely and accurately demonstrating different play activities and instructions.  As many of the teams discovered, video can also be a great way to bring stories to life and encourage the use of books and reading material at home.

In Nepal, the team created six different videos focused around storytelling.  These videos used popular storybooks, including those provided in the magic bags, and used an at-home or community setting where a caregiver told the story to the child.  The actors demonstrated engaging story-telling techniques, like asking questions and talking about the images, and the children played an active role in the story-telling process.  Each video was 3-6 minutes in length and half were produced in Nepali, with the other half in Maithili.  The videos engaged popular and prominent artists from Nepal, which also resulted in wider appreciation and interest from communities and stakeholders.  The videos were disseminated through a local TV channel, Apan Janakpur.

In Bangladesh, the team created 30 different videos, 15 of which focused on story-telling and followed caregiver telling a different story for each video.  The remaining 15 videos provided demonstration and explanation on how to create toy materials at home.  The Bangladesh team conducted a pre-assessment to ascertain access to TV broadcast as well as the potential impact of the program; the assessment was conducted with 751 caregivers and 549 children aged 0-5 living in target communities prior to creation and roll-out of the videos.  The assessment found that 59% of households reporting having a TV in their home, although this variety from 77% in more urban areas (Dhaka) to 36% in more rural areas (Muladi, a sub-district of Barishal).  Of those who had a TV, 88% had a cable network connection. 38% of respondents reported having a smartphone, which was fairly consistent across rural and urban areas.  The team used this information to inform the roll-out of their videos, by broadcasting on local TV stations.  In the pre-production stage, team followed a rigorous process for selection of age-appropriate story books as well as toy making ideas suitable in Bangladesh country context and targeted children and parents. The team also took advantage of existing relevant projects and developed the story-telling videos based on previously-developed stories from Save the Children.

Videos from Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan included subtitles whenever possible, helping improve accessibility of the videos for caregivers with hearing impairments or who speak different languages (when subtitled in a different language).

The team shared the story books and toy making activities to the consultancy firm hired to draft the script for the videos. After a rigorous review and feedback process with guidance and supervision of the project team, all the scripts were finalized. During the production stage team members continuously monitored the assigned firm to ensure the quality of the videos. To ease the feedback process, the team asked firm to share two mock-up videos so that team could provide detailed feedback on those and based on the feedback the firm was clear on the type of shooting, editing and quality standards required for the project. This process saved a lot of time for both the project and the firm. The videos were produced in a studio, and showcases a caregiver interacting with a child.  In many cases, the videos feature slightly older child actors; in future videos, the team stated that they would use a more natural home-like setting for the videos and feature younger children to reinforce messages that story-telling and toy-making can happen at home and with even very young children or children with developmental delays or disabilities.

In Bhutan, 36 short videos were produced.  These videos focused on showcasing games and activities highlighted in the Magic Bag guide provided to caregivers; each short video explains one game, with footage from caregivers playing with their age-appropriate child to support the explanation given by the actor.  The game explanations were shot in a a home setting and the videos also featured caregivers and their children from intervention areas to capture their real experiences and show how the games can be played with different aged children.  The Magic Book and the Magic Videos work hand-in-hand as a way to support play behaviors at home through both text and video support.  While the games given are specific to the materials in the magic bag, they can also be played with other materials easily found around the house.

Recommendations & Sustainability

1. Producing playful, interactive, and appropriate video content is critical to the success and use of the videos.
   1. DO: Develop a video framework that specifies the language, length, content and format of each video to be developed. The Nepal team has shared an example framework that they used to develop the videos with a consultant. This can help to be clear on the objective of each video and how it should be portrayed.
   2. DO: When making story-telling videos, tell a positive story that is contextually appropriate. Chose stories that focus on recognizing our emotions and building positive attributes, like kindness, empathy, helping others, or being brave when we are scared.
   3. DON’T: Tell a scary story or one that might have a negative message- many folktales can actually be quite scary for children and may not emphasize the values that we want to encourage in young children. There are many wonderful folktales that young children love to hear and read, but it is critical to select your story carefully with these ideas in mind.
   4. DO: have clear objectives for the skills that each video is designed to build in caregivers. For example, one video’s main objective might be to show how a caregiver can use rich vocabulary when story-telling, or how caregivers can use questions to develop a child’s comprehension and vocabulary.  These objectives can be repeated at the beginning and end of the videos, and demonstrated throughout.
   5. DO: Depending on the audience and goal of your video, provide a similar and recognizable structure to each of your videos to establish a ‘routine’ that will be comforting and familiar for children and caregivers. For a storytelling video, this might be something simple like a.) an opening where the caregiver and the child meet and decide to tell a story, b.) a problem, where the main problem of the story is introduced, c.) a solution, where the problem of the story is resolved, and d.) a conclusion, where the caregiver and the child discuss the story and relate it to their lives.  In Bhutan, the videos were aimed at providing a visual guide to complement the Magic Bag Guide, and so the videos were shorter and more direct, while in Bangladesh and Nepal the videos were intended for use by both caregivers and children.
2. Certain elements in the video production and design produced higher quality videos.
   1. DO: Set up key points to provide feedback and inputs to firms or consultants hired for video production, so that the team has the opportunity to make the videos as child-friendly,engaging, and accessible as possible.
   2. DO: Use a natural setting for the videos. This could be a home, a marketplace, a farm, or any other setting that would be familiar and comfortable to the target audience- caregivers and children in particular communities. If possible, shoot the video in a real location rather than a studio or set, although many of our teams were unable to do this because of COVID-19 restrictions. A theatre setting- designed to look like a natural setting or home- could also be a good option if the emergency situation does not allow for going in the field
   3. DON’T: Use a studio setting, although this was necessary for many teams operating under COVID-19 restrictions
   4. DO: Feature appropriate-aged children according to the target of your magic bags.  Representation is important; children like to see people like them on the screen, this includes children with disabilities!  This is also important for caregivers, who might have preconceptions about playing or reading with younger children.  If filming with very young children- under 3- be ready to adapt to the baby’s level, readiness and routine. Adapt your script to be relevant to their age.  Be sure to plan for extra time when filming, as young children often go off script!
   5. DON’T: Feature older child actors because they are easier to direct or shoot; this might reinforce beliefs that younger children can’t read books or play certain games.
   6. DO:Engage child-friendly national celebrities and figures to participate in the videos.  This helps garner interest and results in a wider viewership- the Nepal and Bangladesh teams both used this approach with great success.
   7. DO: Provide opportunities for caregiver-child interactions in storytelling, toy-making, and play-activity videos to highlight positive ways for caregivers can engage their children during these different activities. Children should have a speaking role where they are interacting with their caregivers, and their caregivers engage them by asking questions, supporting their children to respond, and playing together.
3. Video dissemination is critical to caregiver consumption of the messages
   1. DO: Conduct an assessment on which stations caregivers watch and broadcast regularly; utilize learnings from other programs, if possible, to learn about caregiver media consumption habits
   2. DO:Use various platforms.  Television broadcast is one method, but other methods can also be very useful to consider and have wider audiences.  Some options include social media- including those that allow sharing through mobile phones – or sharing directly with caregivers through memory or SD cards.    Ensure that your videos are produced in formats that can be disseminated through all relevant platforms. Various platforms and sharing options can also increase accessibility of the videos, for example, YouTube can use speech recognition technology to automatically create captions for videos.
   3. DO: Start early! Video production and dissemination can be time-consuming and involve complicated procurement processes.
   4. DO: Find partners to help with dissemination.  The government could be a great partner as they may have existing platforms that could be leveraged for dissemination.  Other partners may also be able to support dissemination for their target populations, including NGOs, CBOs, and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs).  Actively seek out partnerships to ensure the videos reach a wider audience.