Drug abuse is prevalent in Malindi. Finding strategies for drug abuse prevention and rehabilitation of users are some of the things that the society is trying to do. My proposal is to use digital media to highlight the issues surrounding drug abuse. This includes adverse effects of drug abuse like HIV prevalence, violence against women, the struggles of drug addicts and why it is so easy for drugs to find their way into the society. Our proposal is to train young people on how they can use the digital platform to blog and share their stories on these issues in an effort to eradicate drug abuse
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Malindi
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
The youth had a participatory role in the development of this proposal. being the most affected by drug abuse, they are the best people to share their stories. They are the drug peddlers, abusers, victims of the violence and generally the lifeblood of this vicious cycle. Malindi is a tourist destination. The issues highlighted in this tropical town largely cover tourism forgetting this issue. Most people living in Malindi are ignorant of the power of digital media and have not realized the potential of using this channel to fight this vice. Most of these young people have basic computer skills and can access the internet through their phones.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
1. Walter Akolo
http://freelancerkenya.com/
2. Felista Wangari
http://www.felepiphany.blogspot.com/
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The content that we are striving to get include personal stories of the drug users, drug traffickers and victims of drug abuse. We plan to incorporate videos that highlight drug abuse in Malindi, photographs, ideas concerning the rehabilitation process, information from different stakeholders that can assist with prevention and the rehabilitation process, interviews with relevant stakeholders on policies, activities and strategies on prevention and rehabilitation process and statistics from relevant authorities on prevalence of drug use and abuse in targeted areas.
Participants will be responsible for the collection, presentation and distribution of the content on citizen media. They will receive training from experts in media and online writing.
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.
We work with the Youth Empowerment center in Malindi. The centre has a wide network of youth groups that are involved in different projects in the community.
We are also connected to the office of the ward representative of Malindi who is always available and willing to offer support and assistance for important projects in the community.
We have experts in the media and internet communication who are willing to share their expertise for the success of the project
The plan to establish the following partnerships; Ministry of Devolution and planning, ministry of health and the Police force in Malindi.
We plan to establish the following partner
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
Our target is to train twenty youth group leaders. The participants will be group leaders in different youth groups. Our aim is to encourage them to sustain this project through their ongoing group activities citing the fact that they belong to this society and it is their responsibility to fight the vice through their group activities. These group leaders have a wide network of young people who they can also train and pass the knowledge and information and keep the conversation and activities going after the training.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
The skills we bring are communication skills, mobilization and networking skills, knowledge and management of projects addressing social issues.
Our experts work in media and digital communication platforms.
Our main technology is microblogging, which can be used in social media like Facebook and Twitter, which are popular in Kenya and already have an audience. We also plan to use tools such as workshops, mobile phones and digital photography.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
We plan on using the Youth Empowerment resource centre in Malindi. The resource has 20 computers and 5 laptops. The internet connection is reliable and uses ADSL technology of internet speed 2Mbps. Our internet connection is therefore reliable and fast.
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 are residents and members of the community and work in the development of different community projects especially those that affect young people in Malindi.
We are also young people with a passion to ensure that our town lives up to its full potential of being not just a tourist town but also a society that has responsible and hardworking youths who are committed to the development of the town and achieving individual goals.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
The challenges that we will face is fighting the belief that people using drugs or trafficking them cannot change and be drug free – To deal with this challenge, we plan to work with recovering addicts who will be able to share their stories and encourage those who are fighting the vice.
Our security can be a concern when it comes to exposing drug traffickers- We will work with the Malindi police and other relevant authorities to deal with security concerns.
There is also the stigma that follows the victims after they come out in public because of the idea that it is their fault – We will create awareness about the rehabilitation process and fight the stigma associated with coming out as a drug user. In sensitive cases, we will make the victims anonymous
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
We will go back to the community and find out the number of microblogs, videos, facebook shares and information that have been created. We will go back to the ground and interview the youth involved and the victims of drug abuse so as to find out the impact of the project. There will be follow up meetings with the participants at the Town hall and find out the challenges that they are facing as they carry out the project and come up with solutions.
We will measure success of the project is to encourage the government through the Malindi ward representative to come up with policies that will prevent the use and peddling of illegal drugs. The success of the project will also be realized when drug traffickers and offenders are prosecuted and victims of drug abuse taken for rehabilitation.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
Our vision is to carry out the project for a year. However, when implementation is done in the individual groups, the project will continue for a long time. This is our projected timeline of activities:
Mobilization and sensitization of the youth leaders about the projects: 2 months, June and July 2014
Workshop planning: 1 month, August 2014
Workshop: 3 days, September 2014
Implementation in groups: 4 months, From September 2014 to December 2014
Monitoring and Evaluation: 2 months, January and February 2015
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Workshop costs $1000
Internet costs $200
Training tools $250
Translation costs (for persons with disabilities) $ 250
Travel expenses $500
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Connecting us with other bloggers and interested individuals that are tackling the same issues in their society including their success stories.
Distribution of information that will be created by the citizens.
Critiquing the information that we will create and assist in best practices and methods of handling the project.
Contact name
Sophie Otiende
Organization
Malindi Youth Empowerment Centre
