Services such as health and education are not adequately provided with the aspect to cater for people with disabilities, considering their physical and or mental state.They are underrepresented and left on the fringes of the society.Lekeni Nsose(Let me speak out), will train the disabled and those serving them in citizen journalism and give them a platform to speak out to the wider community and create an impact on issues that affect them
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Kitwe
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
The disabled of our community have limited mobility,lack of equal consideration in society and other related social and economic constraints.They have no skills and access to technologies that would enable them to have online presence.They are equal citizens who need equal representation,their voices are needed online so as to have their views heard and let them participate in online conversations on issues that affect them. The majority of the people with disabilities are not computer literate and the majority are not familiar with the internet. For a few that are familiar its for education purposes or sending and receiving email.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
Day to day life, challenges and opportunities which they face in accessing essential services and their civic participation,as well as other social and economic issues which affect them will drive content production.This will include individual short stories and participatory content in form of text and video.A group blog besides an aggregated Video blog will be created and published online, and maintained. Audio content will also be continuously collected, aggregated through an interactive voice response system which enables participants to contribute content just by calling a specified mobile phone number, and will be published 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.
We have identified and partnered with other organisations and groups that work with disabled people that will help us access and mobilise beneficiaries ,and youth resource centres with computer labs to help us provide access to computers and internet as well as meeting space for camps.We also plan to create linkages with the association of people with disabilities,the social welfare department, and the bloggers’ network in Zambia .
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
30 staff from organisations that directly or indirectly work with the disabled such as CBOs/NGOs that serve people with disabilities,women and youth organisations that serve the disabled, will be be trained as trainers,will further train other 60 focal persons among the disabled themselves.A bi-monthly boot camp will be organised to provide further mentor-ship,monitor progress and plan for further development.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
I have experience with hands on information and knowledge management, Web 2.0 tools, website as well as individual and group blogging platform configuration and management, crowd sourcing text and audio media content using ordinary mobile phones, human rights advocacy, training in Citizen Journalism. Besides I am a practical blogger using text, audio and video. Besides me the organiser are a group of trained Citizen Journalists trained through a different project.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshops will have the sitting capacity of not less than 30, with ventilation and enough power supply. There will be 15 computers with internet access through a USB modem.
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?
We have been working in this community for 6 years, training people in income generating skills, advocacy and general community mobilisation. Through our activities the local tough has increased such that undertaking mobilization and implementation of any activities will not be a problem. Our expertise in citizen journalism and the know how on various technologies which would enable people to participate in the online conversations. For instance we undertook a digital story telling project in 2011, in which 5 citizen journalists were trained.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Challenges may include; mobility for the disabled as some of them may find it difficult to move to locations where training will be provided from; participants may not have access to tools; Low literacy levels among people with disabilities therefore posing a negative impact on the use of technologies and participation.
To address these challenges, the training team will have mobile setup and various training points are organised so as to get so close to the people around the target community; identify focal points and focal persons with the necessary knowledge, skills and technologies such as entertainment booths which are available in the community with at least a Computer, mobile phone, and operators have knowledge on audio and video editing , these focal persons will too help the part
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
Feedback from participants, stakeholders and the general community will be obtained through out the project through surveys and public evaluation meetings; feedback and recommendation will also be sought from the global community through various channels such discussion forums based on the content to sort the global community’s view, and the local media and relevant organisations will be sort to review the project activities and impact.
90 people trained in citizen journalism to raise voices for people with disabilities, and produce relevant media content on disabilities;
Media content generation platforms and tools acquired and setup, and content created ,and used by relevant stakeholders- their voice becomes represented online;
The project becomes relevant to overcoming injustices a
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2013?
June 2013
– Preparation for training;
– Mobilisation of participants
– Set up of platforms and technologies
– Community and stakeholders awareness
– E-newsletter publication
– Viral project marketing
July 2013
– First Phase Training – Staff from organisations managed by people with disabilities and others that support disabled people, essential service providers such as health workers, education providers, social welfare department
– Community and stakeholders awareness
– Media content creation
– E-newsletter publication
– Viral project and content marketing
August 2013
– Second Phase Training- for individuals with disabilities from the community and other focal persons from the community
– Community and stakeholders awareness
– Media content creation
– E-newsletter publication
– Viral project and content marketing
September – November 2013
– Media content creation
– Viral project and content marketing
– Continuous Community and stakeholder support
Detail a specific budget of up to $4,000 USD for operating costs.
Training
– Transport assistance for various disabled on bus fair rate = 377
– Lunch and refreshments = 396
– Stationery = 90
– Hire of venue=189
2. Tools and Technologies (hardware)
– Interactive Voice Response System set up
(i) Server computer =378
(ii)Mobigater GSM Gateway= 189
(iii)Digital camera= 283
(iv)mp3 recorder = 189
3. Communication (internet access and talk time) = 189
4. Coordinator’s expenses
(i) local travel =366
Subtotal 2,646
Contingency @ 10% = 265
Total amount = 2,911
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
Recommendation of the project to other relevant institutions for collaboration. Domain name registration and hosting for content.Online marketing for the project and it's citizen media content to the relevant audience, a wider community and relevant stakeholders.
Contact name
Simon Wandila
Organization
Youth Skills for Development
