Pasifika On Air (POA) is a funding programme for Pacific broadcasters to create and tell their own stories. Working closely with New Zealand based production house Sunpix, broadcasters across the Pacific wrote, rewrote, shot, and edited a series of stories to share with the world.
Papua New Guinean broadcaster EMTV participated in the Pasifika On Air programme, making a documentary series titled Overcoming Change.
Created by the Special Projects division of EMTV, the series looks at the economic challenges Papua New Guinea faces, focusing on the role of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in strengthening the country’s future. It details the efforts of SMEs helping one another survive and, in one instance, creating a shared workspace where people collaborate and innovate.
Interview with Vani Nades, a mentor at the Emstret shared workspace
Patricia Popei, head of Special Projects, says they uncovered the real challenges faced by the people of Papua New Guinea including the loss of businesses and loved ones, showing “the warriors that went above and beyond to hold on to what they have and to also help other budding SMEs.”
Like other countries, travel and movement restrictions caused varying challenges in getting the series made. Additionally, Popei and her team contended with their editing facility crashing and last-minute interview cancellations.
Despite this, they managed to finish the series. “As a team we surprised ourselves,” says Popei, “our potential and capabilities shone through, and we persevered and completed the project.”
Popei says the process of creating this series was a great learning experience for her and the team, not just from a technical perspective but also from the stories they uncovered.
Filming a market stall
“There is a lesson to be learned from all this,” says Popei. “Knowing what has happened, the take-away from this is to use it as the key learning tool to better weather the next storm.”
Overcoming Change is now airing on PasifikaTV.
