Despite extremely low Internet penetration rate, more Myanmar people are starting to use social networks and become “netizens”. However, limited knowledge on privacy and access to network, especially in smaller towns, becomes a barrier for them to tell their stories to the whole country or to the world. We aim to have more ethical citizen journalists in the country who could share their stories to a broader network on a timely manner.
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Yangon (clone training event would be across the country)
Describe the specific community with whom you will be working.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
There will be a collaborative space for them to share the stories. We will emphasise on 1) breaking news in other states and towns rather than cities which mainstream media will take more time to come up with 2) different opinion pieces regarding to local matters to share at national level 3) other location based issues such as ethnic conflicts etc. to share to the world.
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 connections with local citizen journalists, mainstream journalists and photojournalists who could give us helpful hands during training sessions. In addition, we could partner with youth volunteer groups who have sub-groups in small towns and states.
How many participants do you think will be involved in your project?
With current plan, we will directly train 25~30 participants per training session with 3~4 sessions per year. We will select trainees from various states and towns and equip them with necessary knowledge and access to tools. After they are back to their home towns, they will organise similar sessions locally with our financial support to multiply the impact. All direct and indirect trainees will be able to contribute to our collaborative space.
Besides the microgrant funding, what other resources and support are you seeking for your project to ensure its success?
We would love to hear how similar sessions were organised successfully in other countries with limited access to Internet, how to minimise the cost and how to encourage participants.
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4 comments
A very worthy goal…telling stories can be healing for individuals, and there is much need for healing here in this region.
Thanks Laura. Perhaps people there need to heal themselves. 🙂
Great! It might be helpful to hear more unbiased voices from unexplored corners of Myanmar especially regarding ethnic issues.
Yes, friend. That’s what we’d like to aim, too. You know? Like two different opinion from two locals from same area 😉