Acholi subregion has been ravaged by a Civilwar led Joseph Kony. Defined by massive killings,abduction & other forms of human rights violation. With the withdraw of Kony ,Surviving victims of his heinous hostilities are now returning to their homes hauling a multitude of untold moving stories; Stories of shattered dreams and uncertain future. Community Reporters’ Hub & Clinic is where returnees wil gather & get free professional hands‐on training on how to use small digital video&Photo cameras, Audio‐ recorders, the internet, basics of news writing, editing, bloging, storytelling
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Gulu Town
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
This war torn apart the region's social fabric making it extremely difficult to access almost all social amenities including the Internet. This project creates the opportunity for the returnees to meet every after say a month,work on their stories, screen and blog them to the global community. Efforts to rehabilitate the region are in progress. Schools have been reconstructed from youths access basic computer training so there is a considerable level of computer literacy among these people.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
Trainees will be able to relay these heartrending stories and share experiences, new ideas and best practices both within their societies and from the global community on how to fully recover from this traumatic situation. This will be done through audio recordings,Videos & short films, news articles, still photographs and Blogs to be screened in open-air & shared online.
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.
Being already involved in Electronic Media training & production (see www.emede.org), we are partnering with among others, a local CBO in GULU called Youth Photography Outreach‐ Uganda that offers training in Still photography and computer applications to these youths.This will avail us with training space and some training equipment. We are also establishing partnerships with NUSAF, a government initiative spearheading transition in this region and Northern Uganda Transition Initiative‐ NUTI
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
We expect to begin with 50 participants.Our Partner YPO‐Uganda together with local authorities will be engaged to identify and mobilize participants. Refreshments and modest transport allowances will be provided to the participants.This will coupled by a scholarship for the best 2 participants to study a Diploma in General Television and Radio production from Electronic Media for Development training center‐Kampala.
Trainees will participate in group discussions and critiques to evaluate and explain the effectiveness of media productions created by themselves.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
As project organizer, what technical skills and expertise do you or your partners bring to the project?(max 800 characters)
With our vast experience in Media training & production, the participants will be introduced to the basic aesthetic and technical elements of media production and
communication, with an emphasis on video production& photography. They will gain practical skills in the effective operation of basic video/audio production & photography equipment, the theory and technique of effective story and message structure, and will apply these concepts in a series of production projects reflecting the traditional narrative structures , creating blogs & social media, translate content and story ideas into effective media scripts. This will be done using small basic Video & still phot
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshop will be held at Youth Photography Outreach‐Uganda training center. This is supplied with 23 Pentium 4 computers with LAN, internet connection (Broadband), 5 USB Modems, 1 digital Photographic printer, Desks, a standby generator and ample compound space for out‐door training.
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?
Our partnership with YPO‐Uganda that has been working closely with these communities provides us with sufficient social, academic and geographical information about the people we are going to work with. We are planning to sustain and spread this project to other parts of the region since we are constructing a Hub where the participants will be meeting after a given time, work on their stories, blog and screen them.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
The challenge of insufficient facilitators and equipment. But this will be addressed by organizing the participants into groups. We shall contact the Police officer in charge for security requirements of the workshop. Identifying and mobilizing the participants is also anticipated to pose a challenge but this will be addressed by workshop adverts on local radio stations and publishing of posters and flyers.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
The success of the project will be determined by the output of the participants since each will be required to come up with their own projects at the end of the workshop. This will be in form of short video and audio stories, news reports, blogs, Photography stories, e.t.c. Also the feed back from the global community about blogged stories will be paramount in measuring the success of the project.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2013?
The workshop is expected to run for one and a half weeks
1st May 2013‐Sensitization about the workshop.
2nd May 2013‐ Facilitators arrive from Kampala, meet with those in GULU (YPO‐Uganda 3rd May 2013‐Selection and registration of participants
4th May 2013 ‐Workshop begins
10th May 2013‐Participants present their projects, screen and blog them
11th May 2013‐ Workshop ends.
Detail a specific budget of up to $4,000 USD for operating costs.
Travel expenses $ 500
Equipment hire $ 2,000
Coordinator expenses $ 400
Fuel (Generator $100
Internet access $ 500
Promotion $ 50
Contingencies $ 100
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
We would very much appreciate if Rising voices could help us with intellectual resource to enable us successfully run and sustain the project.
Contact name
Fahd Ssebagala
Organization
Electronic Media for Development
