The winners of the IFAD-Arts University
Bournemouth (AUB) Animation Prize are sisters, Olga and Irina Ertahanova
from Ulan-Ude in the Russian Federation.
The competition asked students on the undergraduate animation
course to capture the essence of IFAD’s
Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP).
ASAP was launched by IFAD in 2012 to make climate and environmental
finance work for smallholder farmers. A multi-year and multi-donor financing
window, ASAP provides adaptation finance to scale up and integrate climate
change adaptation across IFAD’s approximately US$1billion per year of new
investments.
‘We were very intrigued when
we first heard about ASAP,” said Olga and Irina. “We had many ideas about how
we could represent it in animation.”
“But we felt that the most important message was not that these
rural people were receiving help, but that they were being supported in order
to help themselves. We tried to convey this point in our animation, an
animation that we thoroughly enjoyed working on.”
The competition encouraged students to consider the impacts of
climate change on the rural poor and how adaptation on small farms can overcome
poverty and avoid crises.
As the United Nations lead agency on agricultural development for
smallholder farming, IFAD is actively looking to partner with learning and
research institutions with records of excellence.
The Arts University Bournemouth is a unique institution in the UK,
offering high quality education in art, design and media across the creative
industries. The University has been providing specialist education for over a
century and enjoys a strong reputation, both nationally and internationally.
The winning film was judged on the design content of the animation
and quality of the idea. The narrative focused on the increasing risks to
smallholders as ecosystems services become more volatile owing to climate
change. The animation demonstrated the usefulness of adaptation techniques in
managing these risks.
"The fresh take of younger people on environment and
sustainability issues bring invaluable insights, We have learnt a lot through
this competition, especially about the power of animation to really bring home
the problems faced by smallholders and solutions on offer to climate change
impacts. Working with the AUB has been an exciting opportunity to collaborate
with an establishment that is leading in its field,” says Elwyn Grainger-Jones,
Director of the Environment and Climate Division at IFAD.
Pete Symons, the University's Course Leader for BA (Hons) Animation
Production, believes this is an interesting way of involving young people with
the activities of IFAD.
"Animation has the ability to put across complex and occasionally
difficult messages that sometimes cannot be so effectively expressed in other
media. As a university we felt this
project brought a new dimension and challenge for our students and we feel that
it is important for them to be involved in these pressing environmental issues.
Being able to use animation, in a way that promotes IFAD’s extraordinary work
with the world’s rural people is a great opportunity and we are proud to be
involved."
Go to the AUB website here and see their press release
See the video here on YouTube