Picturing Hope uses a participative learning strategy called "KWL" (Know, Want to know, Learn) that involves cooperative learning in pairs and small groups. The learning process is facilitated with the following tools: sample pictures, world maps, magazines, camera diagrams, dry-erase boards, dry erase markers, Post It Notes, markers, crayons, poster board, glue/2-sided tape, scissors, a camera for modelling, cameras for each child, and notebooks/journals for each child.

Learning takes place in face-to-face training programmes held in each project site. Participants in the India project, for example, took part in a 5-day training programme at Vasavya Mahila Mandali (Vijayawada, India) from April 27 2004 to May 2 2004. Fourteen children between the ages 10 and 18 years, including orphans and vulnerable children (children affected by AIDS and street children), attended the workshop. Participants were taught how to use a camera to take pictures and capture emotions.

Children maintained journals expressing their profiles and their own feelings and problems. Based on the guidance they had received in handling disposable cameras (e.g., how to load film), the children developed photo stories of various issues like child labour, poverty, and their income-generating activities (e.g., rag picking and fishing). After the workshop, the children created posters and developed captions for the photos. These photos and the journals were displayed at the International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok in July 2004.

Children, HIV/AIDS

The director of the Picturing Hope project is Craig Bender, a freelance photographer from Paris. His goal is to develop at least 1000 children photographers to capture the emotions and situations of vulnerable children.