THE PROBLEM

Catholic Relief Services is seeking to change efforts towards helping families affected by poverty. Rather than continuing to pour money into orphanages, they want to redirect resources towards keeping children with their families. They are calling this effort Changing the Way We Care, as it alleges that orphanages often do more harm than good for children.

 

THE HOPE

A proposal by CRS to shift orphanages into family support centers is a finalist in the MacArthur Foundation’s 100 & Change competition which will award a $100 million grant aimed at solving a critical problem of our time.

 

CRS approached Shine as a production partner to develop a video that would be a strategic part of their proposal. They wanted to tell the story of one child whose mother is forced to make the difficult decision to send her to an orphanage and show the harm this does to the family.

 

THE SOLUTION

We knew that we had to achieve maximum emotional impact to illustrate the gravity of this situation. Filming real orphanages and orphaned children were not possible, so we decided that a narrative drama, using actors, real locations and killer production design would best serve our story. Having so many personnel in the field in developing countries, CRS’s internal subject matter experts would be our harshest critics in terms of authenticity.

 

Extensive research, including a location scout in Haiti to visit operating orphanages provided a wealth of visual source material as well as experiencing first hand interaction with the resident staff and children. We also scouted multiple homes so we could replicate the precise level of poverty in which our family would live. It’s interesting to have conversations about what level of poverty would propel a mother to send her child away. There had to be enough for there to be love and happiness, but lacking in basic needs like food, clothing and education.