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Documentary · UNDP Accelerator Labs

Accelerator Labs

Client

UNDP

Type

Multi-Country Campaign

Countries

Philippines · South Africa · Zimbabwe

Partner

Accelerator Labs, Japan Innovation Challenge

About

For the United Nations Development Programme's Accelerator Labs Japan Innovation Challenge, we produced a multi-country storytelling package spotlighting bottom-up innovation across the Global South — filmed in Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and South Africa, with a 4-minute overview documentary and three profile films on local changemakers.

Over six months, in close partnership with UNDP's communications team, we delivered multilingual versions including Japanese subtitles, social cutdowns, B-roll selects, and assets designed for global distribution. The films demonstrate how locally driven, environmentally grounded solutions can scale across cultures and accelerate progress toward the SDGs.

The films

Three profile films from Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and South Africa, each spotlighting a local changemaker turning bottom-up innovation into action.

A view looking up through a dense underwater kelp forest toward the sunlit surface.
An aerial view of a rocky South African coastline with waves breaking near a small coastal settlement.
A title graphic highlighting South Africa on a map of the continent, overlaid on footage of the coastline.
A diver in a wetsuit swims through a kelp forest underwater.
A worker in a hairnet and lab coat holds a wire basket of harvested seaweed at a processing facility.
A close-up of golden-brown kelp fronds swaying underwater.
A title graphic highlighting the Philippines on a map, overlaid on underwater footage of a diver.
Plastic bottles float in the open ocean, shot from just above the waterline.
A Philippine National Police Maritime patrol boat with officers aboard, with a plastic bottle floating in the foreground.
An aerial view of a traditional outrigger boat on clear turquoise water, with a person on a paddleboard nearby.
A diver gives two thumbs up underwater near giant clams on a reef.
A split above/below water shot of a person in a 'Community' T-shirt holding up a strand of seaweed.

Crew

Creative Producer & Scriptwriter
Philippa Young
Producer
Riham Ezzaldeen
DoP & Camera
Nessim Stevenson
DoP & Camera
Joseph Akwasi
A night-vision shot of a person standing outdoors after dark, looking upward while holding a tool.
A man walks away through cropland at dusk, red soil visible between the rows.
An aerial view of dry cropland with tire tracks running through the rows under a wide blue sky.
Zebras graze on a grassy plain as a massive flock of birds swarms overhead.
A group of women laugh together while working in a field, wearing sun hats.
A drone operator in a high-visibility vest flies a drone near a parked van in a field.
Two silhouetted figures carry full sacks on their shoulders across a field at dusk.
A wide view of farmland at dusk, with rows of harvested crops in the foreground.
A title graphic highlighting South Africa on a map of the continent, overlaid on footage of the coastline.
An aerial view of a rocky South African coastline with waves breaking near a small coastal settlement.
A view looking up through a dense underwater kelp forest toward the sunlit surface.
Plastic bottles float in the open ocean, shot from just above the waterline.
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