Counterpart video wins honors in national contest

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An original video highlighting Counterpart International's integrated work on nutrition and education in Senegal was awarded honorable mention in a prestigious national competition. http://www.counterpart.org/news/publications-websites/senegal-FFE-USDA

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110818/DC54764LOGO )

The Platinum PR Awards honored Counterpart for its multimedia production in the competitive Video Program category. Winners of this year's national competition, which is organized by PR News, were announced September 14 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City, NY. The Platinum PR Awards acknowledge the year's most outstanding communications initiatives in the highly competitive field of public relations.

"I want to congratulate Counterpart and this team on a fantastic video that captures the work we're doing to combat food insecurity in Senegal," said Counterpart technical advisor Arlene Lear. "It's an honor to be a finalist among such impressive competition." www.counterpart.org

Counterpart's video, "Filling Stomachs, Feeding Minds," is a six-minute exploration shot on location in Northern Senegal. It reveals how the local community struggled to keep its undernourished and impoverished children in school, and Counterpart's work to address the underlying causes with a Food for Education program since 2006. http://www.counterpart.org/news/publications-websites/senegal-FFE-USDA

The accompanying multimedia package includes two additional videos, one on maternal and child health and nutrition, the other on helping children learn in Koranic schools. The package also offers a podcast examining the food and education challenges in Senegal, a feature-length story highlighting Counterpart's program in Senegal, and a photo slideshow. To see the rest of the package, please visit: www.counterpart.org/senegalreport.  

"We're humbled and delighted to receive an honorable mention in this very competitive category," says Joan Parker, President and CEO of the global nonprofit. "Our outstanding team in Senegal led by Josephine Trenchard should be recognized for running a program that is truly making a difference for thousands of people."

The Food for Education program highlighted in the winning video is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and is being implemented by Counterpart in three departments of Senegal as well as Cameroon, with a new project planned for Northern Cameroon. It aims to increase primary school enrollment and lower the dropout rate and absenteeism, with a secondary goal of increasing maternal and child health.

The program has provided hot lunches to more than 22,000 children in 105 schools in Matam, and trained nearly 2,500 people on how to maintain the program. Counterpart's Food for Education work has been directly credited with increasing attendance, admission, enrollment, and retention rates in all the targeted communities, and with lowering malnutrition rates. Senegal's Ministry of Education validated the effectiveness of Counterpart's school feeding program by creating a new department with a budget for carrying on the work.

Parker congratulated the Communications team for its effort: Michael J. Zamba, Senior Director of Communications, who produced the package; Maggie Farrand, Communications Associate, who coordinated the production, co-produced the package, and developed the website landing page; Chris Overbeck, videographer; Amy Overbeck, video editor; and David Snyder, photographer.

The Senegal package joins a suite of other multimedia productions featuring programs in Afghanistan, Yemen, and coastal communities. Among them is Counterpart's video on an innovative community-run tourism program in rural Guatemala, which won first prize at the Nonprofit PR Awards in March 2012. You can view all the packages online at www.Counterpart.org/multimedia.

About Counterpart International

Counterpart International is a global development organization that works in partnership to empower people, communities and institutions to drive and sustain their own development.

For nearly 50 years, Counterpart has been working in partnership with communities in need to address complex problems related to economic development, food security and nutrition, and building effective governance and institutions. Learn more at www.Counterpart.org.

For more information:
Maggie Farrand
Counterpart International
(703) 236-3436
[email protected]

SOURCE Counterpart International