Brasilândia, a slum in São Paulo, is known for it's extreme poverty and scarcity of resources. We want to develop an oral history and affective map of the neighborhood. A youth group will use the community's Radio station and invite residents to talk about their lives. This will all be recorded on a blog and podcast and compiled into a digital book and shared with the community.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
São Paulo
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
Brasilândia has 300.000 inhabitants in 21 km².The first emigrants came in the 60s.They built their homes without any formal state urban planning.Through great struggle, residents gained claims to the land, had sewers build, roads paved and public lighting installed.Still, there is a major lack of public facilities, like sparse garbage collection.Furthermore, there are a great amount of social and cultural initiatives, but they do not interact with and have not reached their full potential for action.This project will allow for redemption of all this rich history, one which is broader, more integrated and representative of residents and stakeholders, so that the narratives can be appropriated and reframed.Access to computers and internet is up but it is still a superficial use of it
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
Using the Community Radio station to the base project, the youth group leaders and locals will be trained formed in oral history and will conduct the activitiy in their neighborhood from a weekly radio program, inviting residents from different generations to talk how they came to the neighborhood, one’ trajectory, how the place has changed, life events, experiences, lessons learned and achievements. The group will also develop a map for the region, mobilizing people to reflect on and express their relationship with the territory. All information will be published periodically in a blog, podcasts and digital book. Other technologies, such as text, drawing, videos and photos can also be used as study material and registration
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.
The Células de Transformação project has strengthened many partnerships in the region through determinations and perseverance. Initial contact with the Radio, was made through a friend and resident of Brasilândia. Immediately we began a process of knowledge exchange with other neighborhood members, until we developed a rapport of trust and our presence was considered natural. At the end of 2011, we started participating in radio programs, courses and starting dreaming projects together. The Radio has been around for over 10 years and reaches all of Brasilândia. We will have access to the space and technical equipment and technicians who work there. We have an effective bond many organizations which can help us mobilize people and develop the project, as Guardiões Griô, Sambaqui, CCA, etc.
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
Three Células de Transformação educators and three Radio broadcasters and technicians (from Brasilândia) will train a group of 15 to 18 young people, all residents of Brasilândia. It is estimated that 12 people will be indirectly reached by each trained person: the two nuclear families (the person’s own family and a second one), all composed of 6 people each. Therefore, indirectly, an average of 216 people will be reached. These estimates are based on the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) statistics and also government analyzes on the conditions of the Brazilian urban peripheries’ families. It is important to note that during the oral history project, we will provide a stipend to the young people to ensure that their travel .and food costs are covered
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
Células de Transformação educators will conduct workshops in social theater, participatory action research, oral history and mapping for the young people and Radio technicians from Brasilândia. Our aim is to develop a sense of stewardship amongst the residents, and develop respect and value for their own story and history. The following workshops and lectures will also be given: citizen journalism, podcast for web, blog, networks, and digital books. The aim is to help the Brasilândia Radio staff and most importantly, the youth participants appropriate the technologies so that they can create further projects of their choice, and at the same time enable the residents to continue to broadcast their own stories, extending life of the oral history beyond the project.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshop will be held in the “Association and Radio Cantareira”, located on Rua Jorge Ramalho, 71. The radio is housed in a two floor building (formally a house), with two administrative offices, a kitchen, bathroom, small library, meeting room, two studios (with two computers and a music table in each, a computer room (open to the public), with approximately 20 computers, with audio, editting, video and office softwares. There is also an ample sized room where the project's major events will happen. There is an internet connection.
What is your current relationship with the community with whom you plan to work? What makes you the most appropriate individual or organization to implement this project?
Since the arrival of CdT in Brasilândia, the process of getting to know the community members has enabled us to discover many collective dreams, the oral history dream was the most significant one.The oral history radio program will be responsable to the communicators meet a diverse array of residents at the Radio facilities and then we hope to conduct an empathetic exchange and as such, lead residents through and empowering process.Our differential, therefore, is that we want to build the Brasilândia history through a participatory manner, adding social value to the process. Transformation for us is to move together in which the pluralities converge toward personal and collective wellness surpass, surpassing the barriers that prevent us from co-creating new possibilities.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Technical difficulties will be a great learning obstacle for us.We will use community planning and co-creative space to resolve such problems.In this way,members from Celulas de Transformação as well as members from Brasilandia will be able to teach and learn with themselves about technical issues, and together we hope to overcome the challenges.In fact,all the obstacles are considered as learning situations,all of them represent a step for us to achieve a new understanding level together.Another challenge is about mobilizing people in the neighborhood. We plan to address this issue by forming new partnerships and motivating people in creative and ludic ways, as Celulas de Transformação often does. Giving a stipend for food expenses will also encourage more people to get into the project.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
Indicators: Interpersonal relationships are strengthened; greater empathy amongst all project participants and community; greater self-esteem; experiences and needs are expressed with confidence; the feeling to dream again is awakened; participants apply methodologies with residents; greater information about the economic, historical, social and technical context of the region; participants start to talk about their territory with dignity; participants develop an observer's eye, emotional bonds are created with the community; participants have greater clarity on areas for development and action. Methods of data collection: attendance lists, weekly reports, material analysis and registration (interviews, maps, multimedia etc.); participatory community assessment (participant focus).
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2013?
1.Community planning sessions with partner organizations to devise a mobilization and selection of a diverse youth group; implementation of the project. 1º-2ºmonth
2.Capacity training workshops for the youth group. 3º-8ºmonth
3.Mapping and mobilizing a diverse group of potencial interview candidates; prepare interview script. 4º-5ºmonth
4.Interviews on the radio program.5º-8ºmonth
5.Participatory monitoring and evaluation activity with all the people involved to reflect on the project process, make necessary changes and celebrate individual, project and community learning. 1 day,in the 5ºmonth
6.Transcription of all interview material, cross checking information. 5º-8ºmonth
7.Systematization of information, gathering extra materials-photos, videos, texts, poems etc-and final production.5º-8ºmonth
8.Final participatory evaluation about the entire process, lessons learned, best practises and results. 2days,9ºmonth
9.Exhibition and Celebration (preparation, dissemination).9ºmonth
Detail a specific budget of up to $4,000 USD for operating costs.
WORKSHOPS
1 social theater workshop (2 days) (US$ 200.00)
1 participatory action research workshop (2 days) (US $200.00)
2 oral history workshops (4 days) (US$ 400.00)
1 community mapping workshop (2 days) (US$ 200.00)
1 Podcast workshop (1 day) (US $100.00)
1 Workshop on Blogging (1 day) (US $100.00)
1 E-book workshop (US $100.00)
1 Audio and graphic editing workshop (1 day) (US $100.00)
2 Participatory monitoring and evaluation workshops (4 days) (US $400.00)
Total for facilitation and workshop material: US$ 1800.00
2. Coordinator Expenses
Coordinator: US$ 230.00 per month.
Total for Coordinator Expenses: US$ 1800.00
3. Food Expenses
Food for participants during the workshops and planning sessions: U$ 360.00
Total:
US$ 4000.00
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
Rising Voices may contribute with technical training and making interviews with the radio team. Also, exchanging experiences and learning, and by connecting us with other projects and networks. More modern equipment would be wonderful too, as it could be shared with other groups in the region.
Contact name
Aline Roldan