Three New Awards Highlight Importance of CMM Communications Tools

Violence Against Children

“Very shocking statistics. We really need to do something.”

That comment came from Trish Banda in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital city, after seeing the Violence Against Children video on Youtube, a three-minute-and-40-second whiteboard animation Chocolate Moose Media (CMM) and PCI Media Impact did for UNICEF Malawi.

The powerful reaction effect was exactly what CMM founder Firdaus Kharas wanted when he made the spot in both English and Chichewa (Malawi’s first language).

“My work rests on a fundamental belief that communications can empower decision-makers and activists with information they need to understand an issue and create a plan of action. This video took a complex 285-page report called the Violence Against Children Survey and created an easily understood communications tool that both illuminated the depth of the problem and gave viewers a roadmap to possible solutions to stop the horrific levels of violence against children,” Kharas says.

Rashid: Living With Type 1 Diabetes

This was also recognized by the annual Telly Awards, which selected the video in two categories in 2016: the first was a bronze award in the Film/Video category and the second was a bronze in the People’s Award category. With more than 13,000 entries, a Telly Award is considered difficult to win.

CMM received a third Telly Award this season when Rashid: Living With Type 1 Diabetes was selected for a bronze in the Film/Video category. The 13-spot series was created for the Qatar Diabetes Association to help parents, teachers and students understand the rights and needs of children growing up with Type 1 diabetes.

Ebola: In Praise of Prevention

Kharas’ international-award count now stands at 82. including 10 Telly Awards. Last year he received a bronze Telly for Ebola: A Poem For The Living, the first in a series of three animated shorts that highlighted how to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus and re-incorporate survivors back into mainstream society. The video has been watched almost 100,000 times on Youtube in English alone, and the second in the series Ebola: In Praise of Prevention will be broadcast at the Global Impact Film Festival August 27 in Washington, D.C..

The video tells about a young girl who’s brother has died from the disease and how she prepares to talk about prevention in front of her church congregation. In the Huffington Post, Georgianne Nienaber called her a “new African Supergirl.” The soundtrack was sung by multiple Grammy-Award winner and activist Angelique Kidjo.