Experientia’s mini-doc for the UN’s International Labour Organization

The first destination: The path to decent work in rural economies
Experientia’s short documentary for the UN’s International Labour Organization

It’s always a pleasure to work on a project that is out of the ordinary. Experientia’s short documentary for the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) was not only a rare opportunity for our communications team to take centre stage on a project, it was also a chance to collaborate with a non-profit organisation with a global mission to do good that we solidly support.

The ILO promotes rights at work, encourages decent employment opportunities, enhances social protection and strengthens dialogue on work-related issues. It does this all over the world, combatting forced labour, child labour and unfair conditions, and ensuring that people have the opportunities and skills to rise beyond poverty, through decent work.

Experientia has worked on numerous occasions with the International Training Centre arm of the ILO (the ITC-ILO). In late 2013, an internal ILO group that focuses particularly on building work skills and decent work in rural areas commissioned us to create a short video, showcasing the work the ILO was doing in rural Vietnam.

So in November 2013, two Experientia collaborators travelled to Vietnam, to visit rural villages in Quang Nam province where the local farmers had been developing the skills to run community-based tourism programs, and rattan and cloth weaving cooperatives. The programs put skills development and work creation into the hands of the local people, so that they can improve their income sustainably and autonomously. This desire to ensure people are actively engaged in ILO programs is captured perfectly by Huyen Thi Nguyen, the ILO In-land Tourism National Project Coordinator, at the end of the video: “We always say that people are the first destination in tourism.”

The video’s narrative was developed by Erin O’Loughlin, part of Experientia’s communications team. Yohan Erent and SeungJun Jeong, from Experientia’s design team, developed infographics and motion graphics, to illustrate some of the more theoretical concepts of the ILO’s work.

The video itself is beautifully shot in HD cinema-quality film by Experientia collaborators Marco Mion and Andry Verga, and features interviews with the local villagers against a backdrop of rice fields, temples, and farmland, the ever-present water a reminder of the hardships for subsistence farmers in this lush yet challenging landscape.

The full 8 minute version of the film is now on Experientia’s YouTube and Vimeo channels. A 5 minute version is planned for the near future.