This is radio campaign in order to promote the rights of the children. This program consists of creating stories in order to promote children’s rights, training radio hosts, and finally how to speak about child rights and abuses of those rights in the presence of children in a sensitive manner. The stories will be broadcasting through different radio stations. Topics will include school attendance (especially for girls), right to freedom of expression, against female genital mutilation. I hope to achieve awareness to the greater population of the plight of children to exercise their rights.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Ouagadougou and Tchériba
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
The population this campaign is targeting are youth and adolescent boys and girls 8-18, teachers, and parents in Burkina Faso,WA. The target group gave the topic (child rights) for this proposal. Child Rights are neglected, even though it is emphasized by authorities in theory; there is no real enforcement. The population that is being targeted is underrepresented online in Burkina Faso because they have minimal or no access to the internet. Most lack the knowledge of mass media and how it is used to bring awareness. Most programming in Burkina Faso overlooks the plight of youth. They lack an outlet to have their voices heard. The target population is quick to learn as they are also very creative. Their level of internet familiarity is progressive.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Warren Sare- Director of the Center of Photography Ouagadougou
website: http://www.burkinacultures.net/en/fiche.actualite.ouagadougou-workshop-international.13285.html
Louis Oulon: Former Director of RTB-Radio/ Television Burkina Faso
website: http://www.jhu.edu/design/oliver/humphrey/stories/29-Ouezen_Oulon.html
https://www.facebook.com/ouezen.oulon?fref=ts
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
I envision some twenty stories in the form of sketches/dramas performed largely by youth 8-18 years. Each of the educational and entertaining dramas/sketches is about topics related to children’s rights such as: Health, Access to education, Housing, Gender equality, Freedom of expression, Right to a family, Forced marriage, Female genital mutilation. The sketches will be created, produced, and directed by the Burkinabé children themselves, with the assistance and mentoring of semi-professional actors. The performances will be broadcasted live on the Jean Kisito Radio Show at the national radio station and streamed online. A creation of a Twitter account in local languages (Mooré/ Jula).
What technologies and digital tools do you plan to use in the trainings?
Describe the connections that you or your organization have already established or plan to establish that will contribute to the success of the project.
The connections I have made to help ensure the success with this project is with the National Radio Station RTB in Burkina Faso.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
A total of 50 boys and girls, 8 teachers, and 30 parents will be trained directly. We will tour villages surrounding the capital Ouagadougou and give campaign awareness of child rights to 619 boys and girls ages 8-18, 50 teachers, and 300 parents. To sustain the participants participation we have negotiated with local schools to include our training as an after-school elective activity. There will be focus groups and questionnaires throughout the life of the project to ensure constant participation of the participants.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
The main technologies that we will focus on are audio podcasts and blogging. These two technologies are the most appropriate because Burkina Faso is a developing country and is relatively new in the domain of media. With the disruption of connectivity on a regular basis, these two technologies are easier to maintain and launch even in remote areas of the country. As the project organizer, I bring experience in blogging as I have my own blog and have created the website for another local organization (Springboard for Higher Education). Additionally, I have a Masters in Business and Technology. My two partners, Louis and Warren are veterans in digital video, photography, broadcasting/ producing. Louis is the former Director of the National Radio and Warren is Director of Photography.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshops will mostly be held at the Center of Photography of Ouagadougou where participants can practice drawing the sketches and acting out the themes. Additionally, in the project plan participants will use computers and internet of a cyber café called the Cyber Boutique. The cyber cafe has 25 computers and uses Airtel USB modems.
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 community that this project will be launched is in the village of Tchériba. My relationship with this community dates back to my time as a Peace Corps volunteer (2010-2012). I was assigned to work with this community and since then have maintained a healthy relationship, and with many others in Burkina Faso. The participants of the project all come from communities that I have volunteered during and after my Peace Corps experience. I am the most appropriate person to implement this project because I have several years of experience working with youth and community development. I am a member of the Burkinabe Association which organizes various community service activities mostly involving youth. Long term plans for this community is for continuous community participation.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
One of the main challenges is the disruption of electricity, and intermittent internet connection. However, we can overcome this obstacle by obtaining an individual size generator. Another obstacle I expect is maintaining the community buy-in. Unfortunately one of the side effects of having NGO funded projects is if funding finishes before the end of the project the community is left waiting. Additionally, if the community is on board prior to funding approval and/or if funding is canceled at the last minute; it can be harder for the community to buy-into another project. To overcome this obstacle, this project will be majority community led. Whereby the success lies on total community involvement.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
Evaluation is a comprehensive analysis process of the action and of its results. It aims at determining in the most systematic and objective possible way, the relevance, efficiency, effect and impact of the activities, in the light of their objectives. A quantitative approach will be used through questionnaires intended for the target public (children, parents, teachers). Pre/Post tests will be given to gage the knowledge of participants regarding child rights. Focus groups and interviews will be conducted to assess progress and attitudes of the theme. The success of the project will be measured by the continued discussion of child rights, creation of a small school computer lab, and continued online presence in the form of blogging regarding the youth themes.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
Project timeline will start in June and run through the school summer vacation (June-September 2014). June 5-8 students are given skits and asked to create skits dealing with the theme. June 10-12 will be auditions so that the most dynamic students are selected for acting out the theme. June 14 final decisions are casted for the list of student actors. June 16-21 students are trained on child rights. At this time the first pre-test is administered to the students. June 27-July 3 students are trained on internet tools especially audio podcasting, navigating the internet, and blogging. July will be ongoing theatre practice and sketch writing for the campaign. Students will meet with Warren and Louis the partners in this project. They will tour the radio station and give mock theatre trials for parents. August scripts will be finalized, students start blogging on their own, mid-evaluations, and creation of focus groups. September 6,13,20,27 students perform on air live.
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Internet access at the cyber cafe- 350 USD unlimited use for 3 months;
Transportation 1 mini-bus for students from community to the radio station (r/t) 572 USD;
Creation of 50 child rights manual- 66 USD;
15 USB modems 16 GB -135 USD
Photo printing- 178 USD
Translation services French/ English/ Mooré/ Jula (2 local languages of Burkina Faso)- 485 USD
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
One thing I would like assistance on is how to better link students (digitally) in remote areas to other students in different countries? This is a question that students I work with always demand, and it is a challenge to link one classroom to another from a different country especially when the languages are different.
Contact name
Unkonda Rasheda Sawyer