VOZZ is a citizen journalism election training project – it was implemented during Guatemala’s election in 2011 and El Salvador’s municipal election in 2012. Vozz will be launched in Honduras during its national elections in November 2013. The project’s goal is to teach electoral processes, reporting skills, the use of digital reporting tools, and self-publication on the Vozz HN website. We seek funding for two Training of Trainers “bootcamps”.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
We will be working with urban youth people aged 16 – 30. During the 2009 election the Honduran authorities held a fraudulent election — there was state violence against young dissidents, ballot irregularities, and manufactured turnout numbers. Youth in Honduras feel misinformed, misrepresented and silenced. The national election is an opportunity for youth to get informed, get involved and to hold their future leaders accountable.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
We will cover elections in a three-phased process: pre-election, election coverage and post-election. During the pre-election we will cover candidates’ position statements, profiles on candidates, make public information available and survey voters about issues that are important to them. We will cover the election and the 90 days after. Stories will be presented in the form of photo-essays, recorded videos and some graphics showing mapped data
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Other tools
We will use a custom-built localized CMS that is integrated with mobile and Youtube Direct.
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established that will contribute to the success of the project.
We will be working closely with Jovenes Contra La Violencia (JCV) Honduras and USAID. JCV is a Central America group of youth volunteers doing civic work to reduce violence and its impact on youth. In February we conducted one day-long journalism bootcamp with the JCV Honduras chapter which is has a nonprofit status. This group has network of some 1,500 young people in the country. JCV would help us facilitate, secure the venue and recruit youth.
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
There will be two 3-day bootcamps (one in Tegucigalpa and one in San Pedro Sula which will include La Ceiba youth). Each workshop will train 40 young people from a diverse group of municipalities where Jovenes Contra La Violencia (JCV) has an established network of young volunteers. JCV has a network of some 1,500 young volunteers nationally that we invite to apply for each bootcamp. We're expecting to train 80-90 core trainers.
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
Rising Voices can help us the following:
(1) Connect us to a network of election experts who can provide context and analysis during the election.
(2) Additional curriculum for the Training of Trainers.
(3) Sources for additional funding for developing our election toolkit to give to trained trainers.
Contact name
Kara Andrade
Organization
HablaCentro Not for Profit and Jovenes Contra La Violencia Honduras