Building citizen capacity to lead discussions and take actions on issues affecting their lives and their community through the effective use of blogs, online forums/groups and the social media. Phase 1: Experience sharing offline forums; tell us your story. Phase 2: Who should know and what to use; introducing citizen media modes. Phase 3: How to use it; training and workshops on digital photography, blogging and use of social media in reporting.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Bamenda
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
Focus is on young women in the Bafut, Mankon and Bali villages of the North West Region of Cameroon. They represent the most vulnerable in these communities; often sent into early marriages, not schooled, overworked and subjected to violence in and outside their homes. Unfortunately, no one is telling their stories because they lack the knowledge of what instruments to use and and how to use them. They feel the pain, they can make a better call.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The content will comprise of reports on human rights violation issues and actions taken to promote equal rights, interviews with victims, short stories on the adverse effect of poor traditional practices, educative talks for women and young girls. The output will be blogs, digital photographs, short digital storytelling videos and radio talks.
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established that will contribute to the success of the project.
I am working with women in these areas at three different levels; follow-up of Local Governance Centers under the Democracy and Empowerment of Women project, training women on political campaigning for the upcoming elections and training young girls on leadership and participation in community life. Internet services, training materials and facilitation will be provided for by NN Technology and my Organisation Cameroon Women’s Leadership Network.
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
30 participants will be trained to train 30, one way of ensuring project sustainability. Selection will be done through the Local Governance Centers which will serve as focal points for follow-up and monitoring of the trainees at village level. Monthly experience sharing forums will be organised with practical sessions to upgrade skills and help trainees build their network and get connected to influential persons who will serve as mentors.
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
We will greatly appreciate the advisory and mentoring services of Rising Voices in carrying out this project.
Contact name
Bih Pascaline
Organization
Cameroon Women's Leadership Network