This initiative uses the medium of film to explore the status and condition of women in communities around the world - through images and stories that TVE describes as "joyful, sad, funny, shocking." To read synopses, and access websites related to, each film, visit the Snapshots of Change page on the TVE website and click on "Tape 1" (focus on Africa and the Middle East, and Europe), "Tape 2" (focus on the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Central and East Asia, and South Asia), and/or "Tape 3" (focus on Caribbean and Latin America, and South East Asia and the Pacific).

Several of the films explore basic human rights, such as the right to education, through the stories of girls and women who have been denied those rights. For instance, Sierra Leone's "The Sky is the Limit" introduces the viewer to Fatima Kainesse, who was captured by rebels during the civil war and used for sex. She escaped to Freetown and returned to school as an adult student. (Before the war in Sierra Leone, only one in four girls attended school: today, it's one in two). If more people had been educated, Fatima comments, the conflict wouldn't have happened. "My Baby Brings Me Bucks" from Indonesia reveals how economically poor migrant women are driven to borrow babies to beg on the streets of Jakarta to survive.

Other stories are meant to inspire the viewer by showing examples of women who have fought the odds to protect their own rights, sometimes challenging stereotypes or deep-seated traditions in the process. In "Women in Power", Ivana of the Czech Republic leads an all-women's party to contest traditionally male dominated seats in the local town election. Despite early ridicule, the women won. Now, as Deputy Mayor, Ivana channels funds in new directions, and increases opportunities for women and their families. "The Lady Mechanics Initiative", from Nigeria, profiles young women - some of whom are former prostitutes and drug addicts - training as motor mechanics, a role celebrated in song by Nigeria's rap artists. In "Gender Bender", Indian producer Poojita Chowdhury films women working in non-traditional careers - from high-rise window cleaners and barbers to the first female toddy tapper.

Several of the films explore gender issues from men's, as well as women's, perspectives. For instance, "The Power and the Fury", from Spain, looks at domestic violence through the eyes of perpetrators, police and psychologists treating men convicted of violent crimes against women. "Billu's Struggle" in Bangladesh shows a man cheering on his entrepreneur wife in her new restaurant business, and "www.whynot.lv" profiles Latvian father Ainars, who has swapped roles with his wife to take care of their baby daughter.

Women's Rights, Gender Equality.

TVE - an independent, non-profit organisation based in the UK which promotes global awareness of the environment, development, human rights and health issues through broadcast television and other audio-visual media - serves as the secretariat for the Network, ensuring that all participants receive appropriate copies of the entire Snapshots of Change series. The series is available on VHS and DVD compilations from TVE for non-broadcast use.