Improving maternal health through film and stories: The Mothers of Sierra Leone

This informal round-table discussion focuses on the potential value of documentary film-making in the promotion of maternal health in one of the world's least developed countries - Sierra Leone.

Professor Michael Kramp (see bio below) will introduce the social impact film and research project - The Mothers of Sierra Leone - with which he has been involved with Dr Fathima Wakeel over a number of years. He will share some short examples and products and will reflect upon and open out for discussion issues related to film4development, the importance of narratives and storytelling in promoting health, the challenges of collaborative working that ensures that those with lived experience have agency and control, the potential for building broader partnerships, and more... He will introduce current efforts to transition the work so that women in Sierra Leone are more actively engaged in the production and distribution of the films.

Michael Kramp is a scholar of nineteenth-century British Literature, Critical Theory, and Masculinity Studies. Since 2019, he has also co-mentored along with Dr. Fathima Wakeel a cross-disciplinary social-impact film and research project on maternal health, The Mothers of Sierra Leone, which uses documentary storytelling to amplify women’s voices in Sierra Leone to improve maternal health outcomes. He also writes regularly for public venues on topics related to men, masculinity, and contemporary patriarchy.

This event is co-sponsored by HEARD@UNSW (Health, Rights and Development), the Institute for Global Development UNSW, the School of Social Sciences UNSW and the Aminata Maternal Foundation (AMF) which is an Australia-based NGO seeking to end maternal mortality in Sierra Leone. As AMF says "Motherhood should mark a beginning not an end".

Credit for image: Mothers of Sierra Leone website