Project Chetana is sponsored by Department of Information Technology (MCIT, Govt. of India), Byrraju Foundation and Media Lab Asia. The Project is jointly implemented by Byrraju Foundation and Media Lab Asia.

Project Chetana is conceptualized with appreciation of the importance and innovative role that ICT can play in the development of communities. ICTs have the power to reach and impact a large number of people and could be used as an effective tool to create awareness, make knowledge accessible and stimulate the communities to make informed decisions. It is a fair hypothesis to state that ICT can be the fastest medium to bridge the knowledge, digital, opportunity, social and economic divides in rural communities. Setting up of Community TV Centers in 8 villages in two districts – West and East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh - where the community members, especially women who were erstwhile “consumers” of the TV programs become “producers”, developing multimedia videos on diverse community development themes spanning all facets of rural needs, and a community radio initiative are constituents of the Project.

The philosophy of Project Chetana Community Video lies in a belief that visuals and videos undoubtedly act as effective tools to not only to pass information and create awareness on women’s issues but also to facilitate a debate or discussion on the same.

But, who decides what movies are to be shown or in fact to produced by the Project. More importantly, questions such as – why are we producing these movies? Who should produce them? How are the ideas and concepts generated? What is the message to be conveyed, and to whom? Does the message address relevant and pressing issues? What are the issues to be focused? How are these issues relevant to the village, and especially women in the village? etc., are to be addressed at every stage of the Project.

And after bringing the videos to their target audience through various means like cable network, laptops, mobile multimedia van, Ashwini centers etc., it is crucial to asses their impact. This is currently done through documenting case studies of women who have reinforced that the movies have encouraged her/them to take a proactive decision towards making her/their life better. Short and long term studies have also been designed to track the impact of the project on the day to day lives of women. Likewise, the Project also focuses on Child Development.

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