Digital platforms are changing how individuals around the world find and do work. What are the experiences of individual workers and sellers as their livelihoods change? And what are the opportunities for digital development?

Over the years, Habitus Insight has worked with many different partners focused on global development themes, technology, and culture. As a collective, we learn and grow with every project we do. We find new ways of working, better ways of collaborating, and strive to work in the most inclusive and imaginative way possible. This is most evident through our work and longstanding partnership with Caribou Digital.

Over the past four or so years, we've worked on a number of different briefs together. From those using social media platforms to support their livelihoods across Africa to communicating the need for diversity in design in the financial sector, we've always been pushed to find collaborative and creative ways to deliver our research and storytelling efforts.

Context & Casting: Our forte is turning complex and often hidden narratives into easy-to-understand, exciting deliverables (e.g., documentaries, participatory films, photo essays, and interactive qualitative reporting).

For our latest project with Caribou Digital, we have been one of the film partners for a project spanning Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Our challenge was to work with our Nigerian partners Olanrewaju Akintobi, Maryam Usman Omotizi & Kolade Olayinka Oladayo and Cathy Kamanu & Finn Richardson from Kilimo Source Ltd to produce a documentary about how social media platforms are shaping and reshaping agricultural value chains across the country.

Endless Zoom Calls…

In order to make sure the documentary complimented all written outputs from the project, we used the qualitative research phase as a casting opportunity. We used a typical agricultural value chain as our recruitment lens (graphic) and chose three very different products to follow from the farm to the fork. The products were chosen based on our hypothesis around how social media might intersect with each value chain.

The three products were Cassava (established), Snails (old but digitised), and Broccoli (new and digitised).

Value Chains: As the team made their way through over 30 in-depth interviews broadly complying with the above graphic, the team communicated which stories would be appropriate and interesting for the film, as well as where in the country each participant was located. We wanted to find 2 stories per role on the value chain.

The idea for the film was to follow the three different products as they passed through the value chain, using the value chain structure to hear from different actors along the way about the various ways they were using and experiencing working with social media to make a living.

How do you ensure you meet your clients' expectations when none of your core team can be on the ground for a shoot?

The answer is through trust and communication. Our local fixer and research partner in Nigeria, Mr. Lanre Akintobi, is one of those amazing people who not only oozes confidence but also helps you problem-solve in real-time. It was this relationship that made it all possible. Lanre is an Agripreneur with over 170K followers on Twitter. As a trusted and highly embedded individual, he was able to help us find all the participants for the research and produce our documentary, organising travel, accommodation, shoot times, and working with our contributors to capture the story in a clear and concise way.

The Filmmakers: We asked Lanre to provide us with a number of filmmakers capable of joining him on the road for 10 days. We were keen to champion a female filmmaker for this project, and one of the people Lanre put forward was Uren Makut. We were actively looking for a female filmmaker as women in film remain largely underrepresented compared to male filmmakers in Nigeria. Reasons for this are varied but usually down to access to training and related opportunities. We also wanted to make the team balanced.

Habitus prepared an extensive document giving the overall filmmaking vision as well as a breakdown for the shots and story we were looking for from each participant, including the stylistic interview setups and framing. We also sent Uren some kit (shoulder mount) to improve stability while filming action shots.

On the Road: The plan was to visit cities and states (Plateau, Osun, Ogun, Abuja, Oyo, Lagos). We had high confidence that we had empowered Uren to take control of all visual decision-making, thus leaving Lanre able to focus solely on getting the story points we had plotted out from the in-depth interviews.

The shoot took 10 days and wasn't without complication. The country was experiencing widespread unprecedented rainfall which made getting to the different farm locations and enterprises very challenging. Uren and Lanre often had to leave the car and go by motorcycle when the water got too deep or muddy. The amount of rain also impacted the shoots themselves, sometimes having to wait an entire day for a break in the rain to conduct interviews.

Just as the shoot commenced, the government announced that it would no longer be subsidising fuel across the country. This news had a big impact on the forecasted budget, from travel to accommodation, the financial impact rippled across the economy. In a country where half the population is younger than 18, spiraling prices are currently causing the worst economic hardship in Nigeria for decades.

We had to make a few adjustments to the travel plans and notify all partners of this unforeseen development. All in agreement to proceed and cover some of the unavoidable extra costs, we continued with the planned schedule, and Uren and Lanre completed 12 days on the road.

Over the course of the shoot, the team met with Tejiri, a Snail producer with over 100K followers on Facebook. They followed a Model-cum-home-kitchen-Chef leveraging Instagram and TikTok to sell takeout meals in Abuja, a Cassava processor and a woman in Jos, Plateau State making Broccoli powder and using her journey to and around the market as a strategy to build trust with her buyers. They also met with a woman called Ryakeng who is capitalising on her qualification as a pilot to use a local airline to deliver food to Lagos; she uses Instagram to fulfil her Broccoli orders and sends the goods by air - in the process overcoming big transportation and logistical challenges attributed to very poor infrastructure in parts of Nigeria.

In total, they captured 10 stories which are all presented in the documentary which has just been released via the Caribou Digital Youtube.

Caribou Digital pushed us all the way in the design of this project - fostering a teaching and learning ethos at every opportunity, we were able to create a great piece of work, one which all partners can be proud of.

To date, remote producing and directing a 15-minute documentary in Nigeria stands as one of our proudest achievements and just goes to show that with the right planning, trust, and communication, outfits like Habitus which are headquartered in the UK can work collaboratively with teams globally without having to travel to location - often at the expense of a Nigerian professional who could've won the work.

Social Agriculture team workshop (Ghana 2023)

In conclusion, the journey of creating this documentary not only shed light on the transformative power of digital platforms in reshaping agricultural value chains but also underscored the importance of collaboration, adaptability, and resilience in navigating challenges, both expected and unforeseen. Through the dedication and ingenuity of our team and partners, we were able to capture compelling stories that amplify the voices of those at the heart of these changes. This project serves as a testament to the potential of remote collaboration and the importance of equitable representation in the creative process. Moving forward, it is essential to continue fostering inclusive partnerships and leveraging digital technologies to drive positive change and empower communities worldwide.

If you'd like to learn more about this research and much more please head over to the platformlivelihoods project.

Project Partners: Kilimo Source Ltd , Caribou Digital , Mastercard Foundation , Habitus Insight