Swansea Community Farm The Farm’s Child and Youth Project - ‘The Farm RAP’ Film

Swansea Community Farm - the only community led city farm in Wales - offers unique opportunities for people to learn about the environment, healthy living and sustainability while taking an active role in their local community.

Swansea Community Farm has a purpose designed site where educational activities take place. The 3.5 acre site is fully accessible and community based.

The Farm has been developed with care for the environment; it has sustainable buildings and uses resource conservation measures. They have adopted nature conservation techniques and help safeguard the area’s biodiversity.

In the spring and summer of 2009, the film project was instigated and completed by members of the Youth Forum, a peer elected group of young people who oversee (with guidance from the Child & Youth Officer) the young people’s programme at the Farm.

The film aimed to show people the various activities which are done at the Farm, with a focus on its sustainability work and especially recycling. It was entitled ‘The Farm RAP’ (Recycling, Animals and Produce).

Through this project, all the users of the Farm became more aware of the need for recycling, and gained a greater understanding of some of the various ways they can incorporate this into their everyday lives.

The creation of the film was an inclusive process, involving the young people’s group, the adult volunteer group, Farm staff, committee members and the Ystrad TV Company/group who facilitated the filming process. Approximately 30-35 individuals were involved altogether.

The film raised awareness of the various ways of and reasons for recycling. Participants also learnt more about the Bokashi system of composting.

The DVD is currently used to promote the Farm and advertise some of the things done there. It also acted as a tool to empower the young people at the Farm to have a voice.

Through the process, those involved learned about script writing, camera use, interviewing techniques, microphone use, and how much time and effort is needed to make even a short film. It led to the development of team working skills, listening skills, creativity and use of the imagination.

Swansea Community Farm is confident that this activity could very easily be replicated by other groups of any age or ability. They commented:

‘On reflection we could perhaps have involved the views of the very young age group that participate in the Farm activities via some of their art work and pictures. We would also have liked to participate more in the making of the background music but unfortunately time was against us.’