Not surprisingly, I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about UNICEF NZ's support for YouTube travel vlogger Indigo Traveller to visit Afghanistan (thread)
The good news: It's a better effort than when ICRC invited Nas Daily to Papua New Guinea, "the most undiscovered country" (1/n) aidnography.blogspot.com/2018/12/icrc-w…
Although he acknowledges his UN-facilitated special access, I'm a bit surprised he's not mentioning it right from the start, but it's mentioned in video info: "This video is part of a United Nations & UNICEF fundraising project. UN-supported campaign". Ok 
There's UN branding throughout the video, possibly a bit confusing for audience to distinguish between different orgs & labels; generally follows established travel video choreography of him/people/things "on the move" (3/n)
But he also spends last 2-3 minutes of 12 minute video sharing reflections with no music in background & admitting that he learned a lot; he seems genuinely thoughtful (4/n)
He mentions that he's close to his 100K dollar fundraising goal, so presumably good value for money for UNICEF to support his travel (5/n)
The comments (about 1K within a few days) seem generally caring, supportive, curious & focussing on resilience or global humanity (6/n)
In conclusion: Even though the "extreme tourism" label is attached, I think this is 1 of the better efforts to link UN(ICEF) work to travel influencer culture & engage an audience outside mainstream #globaldev information (7/n)
I really liked that there were no drone shenanigans or sad music & that he stayed with ppl "on the ground" & focused on everyday aspects that often get ignored in traditional media coverage; plus he included personal reflections (/end)
P.S: Food for thought for @CocoResearch & @JFCrisp + those with an interest in #globaldev & #Humanitarian comms.
