The project is a campaign that kicks off with a two day workshop training 30 young women about women’s rights and how they can promote and create awareness about these rights to fellow young women. Today, internet is very powerful and Social media is an influential tool to advocate and reach out to young women and has multiple effects. During training, they will create a common online platform Blog, Facebook and Twitter page to share different women’s rights related information, issues and help young women to be aware about those rights and also seek solutions,, collaborate and take action.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Kathmandu
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
The idea came from various informal gatherings with young women themselves. In comparison to men, young women do not have access to internet and those who do, don’t have much idea about how to effectively use social media. They wanted to learn about different features and techniques about social media and use it for something good than just post personal stuff. I want to work with them because today social media is powerful than mainstream media, given proper training, young women can use these platform to make their voices heard and to advocate rights and solve many women related issues. The use of social media particularly Facebook and Twitter is gaining momentum but they need to learn how to effectively use these online resources.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Ms. Shikha Prasai has about 17 years’ experience in working in diverse sectors. She is the founding director of Interface Nepal, a media house that advocates and works for human rights. She has been actively engaged in bringing out stories of the people using different media tools. https://www.facebook.com/shikha.prasai?fref=ts
Ms. Malvika Subba is a media personality, a business woman, entrepreneur, social activist, goodwill ambassador and former Miss Nepal. She has been very active in different social causes particularly women empowerment. https://www.facebook.com/malvikasubba
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
Blog: A blog will be created either on WordPress or BlogSpot that will feature different stories of Nepali women unsung heroes, photo voice and videos. This blog will be created, maintained by the trained participants.
Facebook: A facebook page will be created that will be an online forum for young girls to share information on women's rights, experiences and discuss issues. Each month, important issues will be picked and the participants will seek for solution in collaboration with other individuals and organizations.
Twitter: A twitter handle will be created that will encourage and facilitate discussion on various women’s rights related issues in Nepal. One common hashtag will be used to follow the discussion.
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 have already established connections with following Inidividual/Group/Organization:
Pushpa Basnet, CNN Hero 2012
Interface Nepal
Alumni of Post Graduate Diploma in Women Studies
We plan to make connections with following organizations:
Media Advocacy Group
Women for Human Rights
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
30 young women will be directly trained who would reach out to approximately 5,000 young women through blog, facebook and twitter. One of the components of the project is that these young women are trained to advocate women’s rights by effectively using social networking as well as organizing similar training for other young women at the end of the project. We will of course provide them technical assistance as and when required. In addition, the participants will be divided into team of 2, and given specific responsibilities to handle blog, facebook , twitter plus any other medium required to reach out to young girls. We will make clear Plan of Action and Monitoring and Evaluation framework. Each month, there will be a online meeting and a fortnightly physical meeting.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
I have been using blog, facebook and twitter for long time now and it has been the most effective tools to make our voices heard and to reach out to fellow young women. I can train these young girls on how to use these tools for the purpose of social good than just personal use. We will be using social media like Blogs, Facebook and Twitter because it is easy to sign up and most importantly it is free. Young women can easily learn and use these tools whether they are beginners or have only heard about it. Plus, these are the most popular tools in our community,widely used and are easy to get familiar with. The trend is that many organizations now do their businesses and program announcement through these tools than email so, it is rightly appropriate.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshop will be organized in a public hall.There will be 15 computers,one for team of two. The Internet connection would be USB modem with 512 kbps.
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?
I belong to this community. I have been working with young people for almost a decade now. Before developing this proposal, I have conducted round of informal gatherings with young women and based on their feedback, I have developed the workshop idea. My work and commitment towards empowering this generation particularly young women has built in trust among youth. I have strong connections with individuals and organizations who could provide guidance and assistance to implement this project. At the end of the training, they will form a network that will continue their good work and invite other fellow young women as well and we will provide organizational support such as hosting as secretariat,connection and collaboration with other educational institutions and/or non-profits.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Load shedding would be one of the challenges because at the moment we are facing 12hours of power cut daily that too in the day and evening time which would ultimately affect the use of electronic devices and internet. Besides, out of 30 participants some may not be that active post training but we will make sure that we select the participants carefully and orient them about the importance of project and their participation. Plus, some participants might not have internet facility either at their office or home, we will provide our office space so that they can have internet access. Other than that, we don't have much of challenges with the project.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
Output/Outcome
-30 young women are trained to effectively use social media and advocate for women's rights.
-3 online platforms will be created via Facebook, Twitter and Blogs
-Approximately 5000, young women will be reached throughout the project period.
-100 “HER” stories will be posted on the Blogs linking it to Twitter and Facebook page to celebrate the courage and determination of young women and to inspire them.
-Another 30 young women will be trained with the initiation of workshop graduates and support from Sambhawana and other like-minded organizations.
Impact:
-Young women will use social media for insights-inspiration-action rather than personal posts only.
-Young women are aware about their rights and ready to take action.
-Young women’s voiced will be heard
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:
June 2014: Project planning, workshop planning, call for announcement, selection of participants, content finalization, trainer confirmation.
July 2014 : Conduction of 2 day workshop , creation of blog, Facebook page, Twitter page.
July-September, 2014: Information sharing, discussion and action plan on women's rights issues.Stories on blog, facebook, twitter.
October, 2014: Conduction of similar training to another batch of 30 young women by the trained women, formation of network.
November 2014: Celebration of good work, sharing of project outcomes and impacts, end of project but the activities will be continued with the support of Sambhawana and other like-minded organizations.
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Budget Plan:
Computer hardware: USD 800
Internet @ 6month: USD 250
2 day workshop costs (30pax+ 1coordinator+2office staff+ 2trainers *2 times @USD 12) :USD 840
Coordinator expenses @ 6month: USD 400
Total: USD 2290
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
We would be interested to learn different online tools and teachniques other than social networking. Also, sharing of technical expertise and linkages and network building in raising Nepali young women's voices globally would be helpful.
Contact name
Anita Thapa
Organization
Sambhawana
5 comments
This project looks like a good initiative to promote women’s rights and to take action. I want to join this initiative as I belong to the targeted community. All the best.
I can help you connect with some of the potential participants.It will be an interesting project for young girls. You may also include someof the young men so that they can help you in reaching more target beneficiaries.
“Empowering young women through Technology and Social Media”..this sounds great..
Social media tools now expose many aspects of Nepali young girl’s daily life, and thus
affect the way they interact with the government, do business, and engage in
civil society movements. i think this project will help and encourage our young women to realize women’s rights to shape, define, participate, use and share knowledge and information. And finally they can address the women’s human rights, especially VAW.
best wishes to you and your team for this great initiation.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this proposition. If it is implemented, I am sure young women will benefit a lot in terms of learning digital tools, story telling and connecting in a network. I wish all the best and would like to follow this project on social networking.
This is a different and very good initiative. I believe this can create a very powerful impact.
Best wishes 🙂