Bamako Videos - ViewChange.org

For people living in the remote Malian town of Yebe, the village bank cooperative has opened up new opportunities. With a microfinance loan of only 30 euros, Mama Coulibaly was able to buy a sack of corn and turn a profit. Now, she runs a small shop and is the only person in her village with a television. Will microfinance prove to be the anchor that keeps young Africans at home, with a bright future?

A Seat's Journey

Part documentary and part African tale, this film tells the story of a brand new cinema seat arriving in the Bamako cinema, which has been closed for years like hundreds of other cinemas in Africa. Co-produced by the 'Cinemas for Africa' Association, this poetic and musical film aims to promote the renovation of African cinemas at a time when many countries only have one cinema in operation.

Bamako Chic: Threads of Power, Color and Culture

In the 1960s, a small group of Malian women cloth dyers reinvigorated the craft of hand-dyed cloth using a fabric called bazin. Now, thanks to microcredit programs introduced in the mid-1980s, bazin production has flourished into a lucrative enterprise dominated by women. Their artistic creativity has become a force for alleviating poverty and affirming identity in West Africa.

Peanuts

Film technician Jock Brandis is a man with a mission: to design and build a simple, hand-operated peanut sheller that will enable villagers around the world to more easily grow peanuts for food, which in turn will also help them cultivate cotton as a cash crop. Jock is a living example of the difference that one person, with good will and determination, can make in the lives of countless others.

White Gold: Tracing Cotton and Fashion in Africa

African fashion entrepreneurs are attempting to breath new life into Mali's declining cotton industry. Mali is one of the largest countries in Africa and also one of the poorest; the country is dependent on money from cotton to pay for food and basic social services like schools and housing. But could traditional cloth-making skills hold the key to a more prosperous future?

UNICEF: Hygiene Education in Remote Mali

UNICEF is piloting a new program called Community-Led Total Sanitation in the village of Fadieda, some 100 kilometers north of Bamako. It relies on community leaders, like Mr. Sho Traore, to teach people how to make major changes in their hygiene and sanitation habits.