To train the youth on animation & produce animated short traditional igbo language moonlight folktales. This project B2B is meant to revive the dieing Igbo language & culture It's been predicted by UNESCO Advisory Committee on Language Pluralism & Multi-language Education that Igbo language & culture will go into extinct by year 2025. if nothing is done. Hence, we intend making it attractive to youth by making use of youth friendly medium of communication. I intend working with young people from already established skill learning set up so as to have an organized and systematic forum.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Orlu
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
Having known that our cultural values which happen to be the fabric that hold the people together is fast eroding. This programme will renew and reinvigorate their interest as well as instill more confidence in the language. First the programme will begin with the young natives who will be trained on animation programme. This is the reason I chose young people as my target population. This programme will provide an opportunity for the target population who are not familiar with the usefulness of computer to learn how to make other good use of the computer, this trained group will be involved in using this acquired knowledge to produce animated igbo folktales. It is expected that the output will have a wide reach among the young ones because it is one of a kind project in the region
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The good thing about the igbo folktales is that it impacts good morals and sense of civic responsibility on the young ones which are virtually lacking in our school curriculum today. These short stories comprising of both human and animal characters are cultural stories that has been told by our grand parents usually at moonlight which are not known by most young generation. It is expected that lessons in the stories will serve as a reference point in daily conversation. The project output will also be shared via social networking among natives, non natives & even those in diaspora. The sole aim is to make people to be proud of their culture and language. Hence there is urgent need to make young people realize that Igbo language and culture is our pride and we need to cherish & preserve it
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.
We have planned on how the project will be executed, we already have existing basic training facilities. writers and university igbo language experts. Already we have made arrangement with a highly competent animation expert. Also the folktales already exist though in prose form which will be changed to drama format. Our organization already has an established good working relationship with the education authority of our target population
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
Start with 15 participants who will be trained to produce these stories. The project area is lacks basic technological knowledge, being involved will open their mind to possibilities. The participants will be selected from already skill acquisition center. With MOU, it is expected that they will in turn train others thereby empowering a deprived and less privileged population. Active Peer education club will be formed for sustainability. Social networking will be utilized to share and promote these stories
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
We already have technical manpower in the area of computer engineer both in operation, maintenance and an animation (3D) expert. The folktales are already existing. We have local language expert. We also have display board for the training and other training facilities. We also have seasoned facilitators.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
We intend using a training hall with five computers though we plan to acquire more as soon as work starts, What is available now is etisalat USB 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?
The igbos are one of the largest ethnic group in the West African Sub region.In most schools in this region speaking Igbo language is forbidden infact, students are punished and mocked for doing so. Even the media practitioners are not helping the matter. In families, the younger ones are fast losing their culture to the extent that children no longer find the language and culture interesting and it is causing societal alienation. My relationship with my community is on formal basis, a cordial relationship has been established with the community's authority. My long term plan with the community is that the trained participants will on agreement within a specified period continue to step down the training to others thereby sustaining the programme, In the long run they will form a network.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
The challenges we may face is majorly lack of steady power supply as my country does not provide steady electricity but this can be over through the use of an efficient generating set to augment the unsteady electricity supply.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
I will measure and evaluate success of my project through the human (trained animation experts)and material(Animation folktales) output. I will also measure it through the level of awareness among young people on Igbo culture
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2013?
ACTIVITY 1
Mobilization and Selection of Target group and Writers
TIME FRAME
May 5th -8th 2013
ACTIVITY 2
Training of Participants on Animation and writing of short folktales into drama
TIME FRAME
1st June – 25th Nov 2013
ACTIVITY 3
Production of animated Short folktales
TIME FRAME
3rd Aug – 22th Dec 2013
Detail a specific budget of up to $4,000 USD for operating costs.
Hardware 1000
internet access 500
workshop costs 1300
translation 150
travel 100
coordinator expenses 700
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
Presently, igbo language lack the software that provides intonation marks. Therefore, we wish to work with a programmer who can design a software that can provide these features in igbo language writing for better understanding of the language just like it is in the other two major Nigerian language, yoruba and Hausa
Contact name
Onyealisi Ogechi
Organization
Local Initiative for Community Empowerment (LICEM)