Dr Samuel A. Nai, Rector of NAFTI, exchanging pleasantries with Anita Erskine
Anita Erskine and the National Film Television Institute (NAFTI) have announced a 10-year partnership deal to help train young African women who have the desire in Africa’s film and TV industries.
The partnership forms part of a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to provide quality education, gender equality, innovation, infrastructure, among others.
The deal will see the release of a series of scholarships, tuition bursaries, internship opportunities and short film project funding. It will have recipients and beneficiaries who have demonstrated brilliance and an eagerness to pursue film directing and television production but who are clearly socio– economically disadvantaged.
Funds will be released by Anita Erskine Media each year and will enable the beneficiaries to access education at NAFTI at no or subsidized cost to them.
The internship opportunities for the students will be provided and brokered by Anita Erskine Media and its partner TV networks and film studios around the world.
“NAFTI is a trusted Ghanaian institution and has, indeed, produced some of the most powerful film directors and television producers, whose works are meeting global critical acclaim every day. The partnership approach is three – pronged. There is an urgent need for our true, authentic, original indigenous stories to be told,” Anita Erskine said.
She continued, “Meanwhile, there is also an entirely new army of women rising. They want guidance, need support and crave every help they can get. Sadly many lack the funds required to facilitate their dreams and ambition. On another hand, the SDGs are a clear challenge to each of us to empower and change our communities for the better. I am deeply passionate about education for women so I am confident that this collaboration with NAFTI will make an immense contribution to very fabric of our nation on so many levels.
Our beneficiaries are between the ages of 17 and 23 and come from across the continent. Africa’s emergence depends on this kind of collaboration. And I thank God that it is lifting off today,” she added.
Anita Erskine’s focus on girl education began as a personal effort which was initially inspired by her work with Discovery Learning Alliance – the non-profit wing of global communications giant, Discovery Communications.
Now, as an intercontinental advocate for girls’ education, Anita Erskine’s resilience in this particular effort is to elevate women around the world to allow girls of all ethnicities to access education. The potential recipients will come via recommendation from schools and communities and will be screened by the Anita Erskine Media board in tandem with NAFTI’s senior management. The first batch of recipients will be announced in June 2018.