Two short weeks ago over 800 youth anti-genocide leaders from around the country came to Washington D.C. as part of Pledge2Protect, a conference designed to educate, empower and highlight the work of activists who are driving the movement to prevent and stop genocide and mass atrocities (see this blog post to learn more about the conference and the campaign).

Monday, November 11th was also the culmination of the first phase of Pledge on Camera, part of Pledge2Protect, and a partnership between WITNESS and STAND, the student-led division of Genocide Intervention Network.

Over 600 youth anti-genocide leaders lobbied their Senators as part of the largest genocide prevention lobby day in history – and they’re also ushering in a new way for citizens to lobby Congress.

Pledge On Camera was designed to remind Congress of the moral and political imperative to ensure that genocide will not occur on their watch or in the future – to make “never again” a reality once and for all.  The anti-genocide movement is calling for Congress to create the first comprehensive genocide  and mass atrocities prevention legislation.

In this first phase of the campaign, and in support of the lobby day, students have created over 500 video messages for their Senators.  Chapters in each state chose the best messages from their state and integrated and remixed them into the core video (and below) that STAND and WITNESS have produced (view full credits).

Click here to watch personalized video examples, ranging from fully remixed videos to fantastic video introductions and calls to action from student and community leaders in the Senators’ states.

As noted in another session proposal, video as an advocacy tool is increasingly accessible, with many more influentials taking notice and being galvanized to action as a result. The National Journal reported on the potential impact of video as an advocacy tool in a cover story earlier this fall (featuring the campaign noted above), and a major takeaway was that video advocacy has barely begin to scratch the surface of our collective efforts. Video can play a multitude of roles in our causes.

Now that we have empowered hundreds of STAND activists around the country with the skills, experience, and understanding of video as an advocacy tool, we are looking forward to building off of this foundation.  Knowing that many other organizations and causes are working to define the role that video and custom content play in their advocacy, we would like to discuss video advocacy from 30,000 feet.

Topics to consider for the session might include:

-lessons learned
-integration of video into preexisting advocacy campaigns
-value added of collaboratively edited content
-efficacy of high production value content
-useful methods of delivery for video