Bringing community voices into decision-making processes

Our journey began in the Himalayan foothills of southwestern China, working on the Yunnan Great Rivers Project—a collaboration between the U.S.-based The Nature Conservancy and the Yunnan Provincial Government. Ann McBride Norton—renowned for championing citizens’ rights—led an initiative to provide cameras to villagers grounded in the photovoice method. She met Caroline Wang, who developed this method with Mary Ann Buris in 1992, to learn about the methodology. 

 

Ann started the project in 2003 to gather important information from the local community and involve them in shaping the future of Northwest Yunnan, a region with rich biodiversity that plays a crucial role in the world.

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Using manual cameras, 200 participants from four ethnic villages captured photos and stories that were exhibited throughout 2005. The exhibitions were held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Shanghai Museum and Performing Arts Center, the Hong Kong Exhibition Center, and several locations in China.  

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Following the success in Yunnan, Ann launched a similar program in Indonesia, now known as Photovoices International. The first site in Indonesia was Lamalera, East Nusa Tenggara, a village famous for its traditional whale hunting, in 2007. The program later expanded to various communities in West Java, Central Kalimantan, and another village in East Nusa Tenggara.

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After Ann returned to the United States, Photovoices International transitioned into Lensa Masyarakat Nusantara (LMN) under a new management structure led by S.A. Sri Saraswati. Based in Bali, LMN continued the mission of Photovoices International, promoting the photovoice method as an effective tool for expressing aspirations through photography and story-telling, completing projects in Amed, Tulamben and Desa Ban in Bali.

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In 2019, LMN restructured with a renewed focus on improving access, policies, services and protection of rights and revived its original brand, Photovoices International (PVI). Since then, PVI has worked closely with marginalized and underrepresented communities —especially women and children— completing projects in communities across Indonesia.​​​​​​​

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