Giving Voices to Those Who Count WRITTEN BY EMILY HUSO PHOTOS BY EMILY TEAGUE
Local nonprofit One Mobile Projector per Trainer (OMPT) is a small-town organization with a global vision. “Our goal is to educate the poorest billion people on the planet with critical information they need to improve their quality of life,” says founder and executive director Matt York. Also the founder of Videomaker Inc., a leading publisher in the video production industry, York felt inspired to use his video expertise to help the impoverished people of the world to benefit from the digital revolution. In nearly a dozen years since York founded OMPT, the nonprofit has provided training and equipment to organizations throughout the developing world, allowing them to share life-transforming knowledge with their communities. 14
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OMPT’s projects are diverse, spanning over 24 countries and multiple disciplines including: health, agriculture, education, postconflict resolution, and civic engagement. Each project involves coordinating with local, non-government organizations to set up four-day training workshops. During these workshops, members of the OMPT team, along with hired local videographers, facilitate trainings to teach employees of these organizations to create pertinent videos aimed at local populations. The employees are guided through each step of the process, from conceptualization, scriptwriting, and storyboarding to shooting and editing the footage. At the end of the workshop, the final video is screened, using one of OMPT’s proprietary mobile projectors.
The mobile projectors are a foundational component of OMPT’s projects. These portable, battery-powered devices come with a recharging kit that allows the user to charge the device by connecting to a solar panel, a motor scooter, or car battery. The projector’s portable size and recharging capabilities make it possible for videos to be shared in remote, rural communities where there is no internet or electricity. To ensure local organizations can continue to create and share informational videos with their communities, OMPT provides workshop trainees with one to three of their cameras, recharging, and projector kits. As of today, OMPT has deployed 240 camera kits, 591 recharging kits, and 2681 projector kits.