We believe in creating a better world together
Our mission
Produce public and social values
We work to amplify local voices in the public sphere, and encourage public engagement with community-based civic and commercial initiatives.
Foster democratic culture in society
A healthy democracy is not built at the ballot box, but in everyday life: at home, at our workplace, and across our social life. Our cooperative shall work to foster this culture wherever we work.
Reliable partnership for social changes
Our agency strives to deliver affordable media services so that our partners can focus on doing what they do best: producing products and services that contribute to positive social change.
At Pavé Media, each member is a co-owner of the enterprise. All of our operations operate under a democratic mandate, meaning that all of our decisions are made through consensus of all members, and everyone has an equal say in what we do. We have meetings frequently to discuss our individual works and the direction of our cooperative.
Our democratic principles are set up to ensure our commitment toward community and public values, social justice, as well as sustainable development. Our objective is to work with clients on projects that have a positive public impact, with no outside shareholders demanding profits.
Because we are a democratically-owned cooperative, our living depends on what we can achieve together with our clients: your success is also ours. We place emphasis on dialogue, transparency, and respect to ensure both our values and our clients’ are reflected in the final product. With us, you’re collaborating with a like-minded partner to deliver meaningful changes to our society and to create messages that are meaningful for your audience.
Having studied and worked with cultural industries, we understand the unique challenges to working in this sector such as long hours, low pay, or insecure contracts. By working together as a cooperative, there are benefits for us that we cannot attain by working alone as freelancers:
Our principles
The foundation of our cooperative is the International Cooperative Alliance’s seven cooperative principles, which are adopted by all cooperative enterprises around the world. In addition, we also follow the following principles:
Transparency
There shall be a high-degree of trust in our cooperative. All information about our operation shall be open and easily accessible for members and the public.
Accountable autonomy
There shall be a high-degree of trust in our cooperative. All information about our operation shall be open and easily accessible for members and the public.
Community well-being
There shall be a high-degree of trust in our cooperative. All information about our operation shall be open and easily accessible for members and the public.
Bottom-up perspective
There shall be a high-degree of trust in our cooperative. All information about our operation shall be open and easily accessible for members and the public.
Create and protect commons
There shall be a high-degree of trust in our cooperative. All information about our operation shall be open and easily accessible for members and the public.
Sustainability
There shall be a high-degree of trust in our cooperative. All information about our operation shall be open and easily accessible for members and the public.
How we produce social values
At Pavé Media, we work together to produce benefits to society while cultivating and strengthening our local community. Below are how we turn this goal into practice.
Two value streams
We perform two types of productive work at Pavé Media: paid work (for paying clients) and pro-bono work (free volunteer work). Every month, we divert a portion of our net liquidity to pay our members for the pro-bono work they have performed. This way, not only are our members rewarded for the work that brings in revenue, but are also encouraged and rewarded for doing the work that contributes to our community. The same applies to our clients: for every penny you pay us for our services, you are also paying it forward to other community members with lower economic capabilities.
Redistributive rates
We want to ensure clients who need our services the most can still afford to do so while clients with financial means who are aligned with our principles can help fund our social mission. For this, we setup our rates according to a sliding scale so that everyone can qualify for a fair rate. Note that at any stage, our ability to offer services at a discounted rates also depend on the number of active projects we are currently taking and our cash flow.
Redistribution Rate: for established clients with strong financial capability.
Standard Rate: the base rate that we offer to all clients.
Discounted Rate: a small discount (10-25%) for small to medium organisations.
Solidarity Rate: heavily discounted rate (at least 50%) for activists or volunteer collectives.
Open knowledge
As a cooperative, it is our mission to contribute to the cooperative movement around the world. We continuously experiment, document, and publicize our organisational process and our achievements for the public. The aim is to create a common repository of knowledge and inspire others to join the cooperative movement. We also prioritise open-source tools and advocate for Creative Common and Open Access in our operation.
The team
Klara Biderholt
Klara has bachelor in Development studies and is working on a bachelor in Media and Communication. She have always been passionate about social issues and community building where all voices can be heard. ‘Social development and communications go hand in hand, which is why it's exciting being part of creating this community together,’ said Klara.
Volkan Muyan
As Co-Founder and Creative Director of Pavé Media, Volkan passionately leads many media projects that aim for significant social change and promote common human rights awareness. With almost eight years of experience, impactful multimedia content is created by him, and multiple change-oriented campaigns are driven effectively. Volkan holds a master’s degree in Media and Communication and feels great passion for developing original strategies and communication centered on the community. He draws inspiration from the aroma of morning coffee, the chirping of sparrows at dawn, and transformative solidarity networks.
Long Nguyen
Long has a master degree in Media and Communication at Lund University, Sweden. He has worked in various media projects for social organisations and academia. His skills includes graphic design, photography, and he is a trained copy-editor.
At Pavé Media, all members have a final say in how we respond to a prospective client. We are open to work with all enterprises or organisations, big or small, such as charities, NGOs, civic organisations, educational institutions, or public sector organisations. We also work with commercial enterprises whose missions, values, and conducts align with ours. In summary, we consult the following criteria when deciding on which partner to work with:
Value Alignment – Does the prospective partner engage in any practices that fundamentally contradict our core missions and values?
Our Skills and Expertise – Have we been able to fully grasp the scope of the project after deliberating with our client? Do we possess the right skills and experiences to tackle this scope of work? Do we have sufficient capacity to complete the work within the designated time frame?
Social Commitments and Equity – Is the partner engaged in external social commitment (for example, charity work)? If not, does the partner strive to include marginalized or disenfranchised groups in their operations? What is the partner’s plan to ensure equity and social benefits both internally and externally?
We currently offer three forms of billing agreements depending on projects:
Do you have a questions?
We are happy to discuss to find out what works best for you. Feel free to contact us!