About PSP

PSP is a registered Canadian charity (#837999820RR0001) with US fiscal sponsorship from Documentary Educational Resources.  PSP inspires meaningful global connection through documentary films that share best practices, the wisdom of unheard communities, and sustainable solutions from around the world.


PSP documents the solutions to some of the world’s toughest social and environmental justice issues to connect you to global grassroots social change through documentary education projects.  We use this new media to create global networks and share how each and every one of us can make a difference.  We aim to effect a change in how we see and support the amazing shift happing in our world, encouraging and empowering each individual to engage as an active global citizen.


We feature the work of grassroots initiatives to share their best practices and give them a global audience to support their work.  We offer these non-profits free training in how to use film and photography to reach out for support, and provide them with the documentary we create to help them share their work with the world.  With each of our films, we also create a free educator’s toolkit with activities for teachers to use with classrooms from first grade right through university levels.


Join us & be part of the shift.

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Why we need a paradigm shift

When we asked a whole school of kids, “How many people feel they can change the world?” just four students raised their hands.  With numbers like these, no wonder we feel overwhelmed at the idea of changing how the world works.  But are we prepared to live with the social & environmental problems of our world?  At some level, we know we need to address these issues, but most often we feel unable to tackle them ourselves.


We need a paradigm shift to know that we can make a difference, that it isn’t hopeless, and that a better world is not only possible, it’s already happening.  We need to know that shift happens.


We need to redefine how we engage in our world, and how we support social change.  In our experience, getting involved in and supporting grassroots initiatives is one of the best ways to stir shift up.  Instead of focusing on the problems, we need to look at the solutions, and to share these far and wide.


Our paradigm shift abandons fear, hopelessness, and apathy, and leaps into active, connected and conscientious global citizenship.  This creates a model where our world works because we work as a vibrant and diverse ecosystem, always interconnected.

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How we came up with the idea

The Paradigm Shift Project’s Executive Director Rebecca Sweetman was working with a local environmental NGO in Indonesia when the December 26th, 2004 tsunami hit the west coast of Sumatra.  She became a relief worker overnight and realized how local organizations are amazingly adept at responding immediately to local needs.


Communities in North Sumatra and Aceh experienced firsthand how needs assessments failed them without their direct input.  From international organizations they received largely irrelevant and even damaging aid goods (such as powdered baby formula when there was no clean water to mix with it), and didn’t receive what the community needed most: prayer mats, sustainable reconstruction techniques, and midwives.


Local organizations have a great capacity to ascertain what is really needed by their communities, but often do not receive the funding required to implement their projects, as the global north is hesitant to invest directly in organizations of the global south for fear of corruption and accountability.  These fears are largely misguided. 


The global north needs to rethink how it contributes to development, and how their donations can be most effective.  By investing directly in the communities that need the funds, a much higher percentage of the donation goes directly to the organization’s programs.  Larger international organizations simply have larger overhead costs.  This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t support international organizations; this is to say that it’s important that we support local organizations as well.


The Paradigm Shift Project plays a role here to link donors from the global north with organizations from the global south, while also giving local non-profits an educational and fundraising tool to use to reach new donors.

How documentaries can create change

People know what their communities need most, but often there is a prevailing assumption that a community in poverty isn’t capable of making the right decisions to create a sustainable future.  In fact, these communities simply need resources to implement strategies for sustainability; resources which may include training, tools, funds, and/or capacity building.  Local non-profit organizations realize this, but often lack resources to implement their programs. 


The Paradigm Shift Project believes that showing the world the needs of the global south in their own voices will mobilize the global north to make a direct contribution to improving lives around the world.  These documentaries act as needs assessments that connect the global north to the global south- emotionally, intellectually, and philanthropically.

The issues we focus on

Each year, PSP chooses 2-3 issues to tackle to teach our youth about current world issues like poverty, ecology, health, and human rights.  These issues can be pressing environmental issues or social justice themes.  All focus on sustainable development solutions that are addressing the rights, needs and concerns of grassroots communities.


To date, we’ve worked on issues like urban agriculture and food security, the impacts of palm oil plantations, the rights of street, stateless and refugee children, natural disasters and relief aid, heritage rice cultivation, access to water, sex trafficking, and slum settlements.

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