Enhancing Nigeria’s Response to HIV and Aids (ENR) is the BBC World Service Trust’s new Pan-Nigerian, DFID-funded project which will focus on lowering the prevalence of HIV in the country.

An aspect of this is to help capacity building at national and state TV stations. This involves creating a TV training team which will then go out and provide training at local stations, including training on HIV reporting and co-producing with the station for several weeks.

Ambika Samarthya, an international trainer based in Abuja reports on the first stages of the three year project.

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After the feedback we received from the research and internal reviews of our two original TV pilots, I began training Devaan and Nasiru in the techniques and styles of documentary TV production.

Documentary TV is not necessarily news, but real-life stories told through people who are not actors: character-driven, real life narratives. It is not only the direction where our templates were headed, but what audiences globally have been leaning towards.

I explained to them the two necessities of this style of production: interesting stories and engaging characters. I then asked them both to choose a topic they were deeply invested in and to find a story and character with whom they would shoot an interview with.

Nasiru chose to focus on the housing market and the financial real estate crisis in Abuja. Here, real estate prices have hiked up so much that very few people can pay their rents. Ironically one of the victims of the housing market is Devaan, who bought her house several years ago but is suffering from loans and mortgage increases.

Nasiru knew Devaan’s story very well, but this was his first time shooting a documentary. He immediately wanted to shoot it at his house as opposed to Devaan’s because his house is closer and more in his comfort zone. I explained to him the importance of trying to get as close to the reality of the situation and location as possible. So they drove a distance to shoot the testimonial in Devaan’s house.

Watching Devaan tell her story as she washed dishes and gave a tour of her house was compelling, especially when she herself, a slick presenter, almost fell silent for a loss of words. You can’t script moments like that.

For her documentary, Devaan looked at sickle cell disorder – something she’s quite familiar with, as she herself suffers from it and for years has been an avid proponent of sickle cell research and education. She knew instinctively what she wanted to focus on and immediately decided to call up one of her fellow advocates, Eric Edoja, a man who is crippled with the disease and is now in the hospital without proper funds for care.

She shot his testimonial in the park, where he struggled to walk to a tree and finally to sit down. He began talking about how he lost two of his brothers to the disease and his role in advocacy.  But it was his face and voice which made for a moving interview. Nasiru suggested we use the video as a way for him to raise money for his hospital care.

I was moved with how compelling their exercises looked and am excited to see how they will produce the next two editions of the TV show.

At one point Nasiru told me, “Now I get it. For all these weeks we’ve been learning about all these techniques. But now I see how we can really use them.”

Along with human rights advocates around the world, this week we celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Overseen by the UN, the UDHR was the first international document recognizing human rights as the foundation of peace, justice and freedom in the world. But at 60, how healthy are international human rights looking? And what are the next steps towards true human rights for all?  

From even a cursory glance at the many blogs and reports marking the anniversary, it is clear that there is still a long way to go. On 10 December alone, New York-based Human Rights Watch released reports and updates on abuses in Zimbabwe, China, Angola, Zambia and the United States. Writing on the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) blog, Marta Foresti is “in no party mood”, and calls for practical action and a breaking down of barriers between disciplines in order to translate theoretical frameworks into concrete reality:

“The history of human rights shows that signing up to an international convention is easy enough, but it does not change reality. Turning fine words into the delivery of rights is another matter, and one that deserves more attention, including research and analysis to address the evidence gap. There are two factors that loom over attempts to turn rights into reality: economics and politics … After 60 years, the time for theoretical debates is long past. This is the moment for action. We should start by breaking down the barriers between the different disciplines – law, development, humanitarianism, economics, social development– and promote a dialogue to find solutions.”

Breaking down barriers and promoting dialogue is at the heart of our work, and this week we are featuring projects promoting transitional justice and women’s rights in a special focus on human rights:

From Afghanistan: Malalai works for the BBC World Service Trust’s Afghan Woman’s Hour programme in Afghanistan. On 12 November 2008, she was the only journalist allowed to speak to the schoolgirl victims of an acid attack by suspected militants in Kandahar. Read her report of her experiences that day 

From Sierra Leone: Despite the end of the civil war, the UNHCR estimates there are over 3,000 Sierra Leonean refugees still living in Liberia. View a photo gallery from the VOA camp outside Monrovia documenting daily life there

From the ICC in The Hague: We are supporting Sierra Leonean journalists to cover the historic trial of Charles Taylor. Listen to an interview with chief prosecutor Mr Stephen Rapp, the latest report from trainee Mariama Khai Fornah

To find out more, visit the BBC World Service Trust website.