UNDP SDGs explainer videos
Picture this. 2 multimedia designers in a race against time. Their mission? To create a series of seventeen (17) exciting, powerful, and moving videos within a short timeframe, that would shed light on a worthy humanitarian cause – the United Nations Development Programme’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These videos would not only enlighten young people but empower and encourage them to actively participate in achieving the United Nations SDGs. The challenge was to translate a corporate document into exciting content young people can connect with without diluting the message
But believe it or not, Kay Media Africa’s skilled and resourceful digital artists along with our audio production team rose to the challenge and succeeded. And this is how we did it.
Step 1: Mission Brief from the UNDP
The first step was receiving a commission from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The UNDP is an organisation that works in 170 different countries, pressing toward the goal of eradicating poverty and reducing inequality and exclusion worldwide. One of the chief ways in which they aim to achieve all the above is through their seventeen sustainable development goals.
These goals were adopted by member states of the UN in 2015 and were a call for action to protect the planet, bring an end to poverty and to strive to usher in a time of peace and prosperity for all people by 2030. It is these goals that the UNDP asked us to condense into seventeen explainer videos that would educate, inform, and excite the young people in Zimbabwe and the region about the UNDP’s vision. These videos needed to be simple but engaging, and inspiring especially to the youth; a task right up our alley as we at Kay Media Africa are geared towards making content that does just that.
Step 2: Ready, Set, Go
To achieve the UNDP’s goal, the multimedia team put their head together and got to work. They collected visuals and video content of various lengths then edited and condensed them into seventeen two-minute motion and infographics. Our audio production team also created explanatory and musical recordings to accompany the visuals, as well as to create a fun and engaging final product. But as all creative companies know, the final product is never really the final product, as revisions constantly need to be made to create a product that fully meets the client’s expectations.
This is exactly what took place during this project as videos had to be edited and audio recordings re-recorded when changes were made to the script, in an effort to stay true to the vision of exciting and youth-relevant videos. The team had its fair share of gritting teeth and knocking heads but did not let these challenges deter them from achieving the goal.
Step 3: Mission Accomplished
The final product (the real one, this time) was a simple, interesting and engaging collection of videos that not only met the UNDP’s expectations but that also enabled us as Kay Media Africa to once again produce quality work that reflects all that our brand stands for; simplicity, clarity and creativity. The project took all of three weeks to complete a real testament to the proficiency of our team considering multiple revisions and as well as the feedback loop. To get a look at the project visit the @YouthConnektZim Facebook page.
As a company, it was a privilege to work with the UNDP and to aid them in getting one step closer to achieving their goals for the world. This project also gave us the opportunity to play a part in changing the future.