The history of the !Xun and Khwe community over the past 60 years speaks of a traumatised and displaced people: From hunter-gatherer to sought after soldier of high acclaim, to willing seasonal farm laborer to impoverished landowner confined in military camps at Platfontein near Kimberley – South Africa). The FirstNation project I'm proposing is to train !Xun and Khwe community citizen journalists in blogging, YouTube and social media tools. We aim to empower the !Xun and Khwe community with digital storytelling skills so that they can tell the world about their remarkable journey
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Kimberley
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
We will be working with !Xun and Khwe community 18 to 29 year old youths in Platfontein near Kimberley, South Africa. The story of the !Xun and Khwe community has always been told from other perspectives instead of their own. In my interactions with this community they have always yearn to tell their lives story extraordinary in its circumstances but universal in its message incorporating the culture, landscapes and lifestyles of their !Xun and Khwe community. The FirstNation Media Project endeavours to empower this community with digital story telling skills to create and produce video content, write blogs, discussion columns, upload pictures and much more about their remarkable journey as a people PAST – PRESENT and FUTURE
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
I (Motheo Seleke) will be the primary organiser of the initiative and will be working closely with a team of community media activists initiative (www.mynortherncape.tv) in the Northern Cape province of South Africa – herewith the links as requested
https://www.facebook.com/motheo.seleke
https://www.facebook.com/nmthukwane?ref=ts&fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/thebemanne.thebe?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/mynortherncapetv/306647576016084?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/myncapetv
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The FirstNation Digital Media Project endeavours to create and produce video content, write blogs, discussion columns, upload pictures about the advancement of the !Xun and Khwe community that resides in Platfontein near Kimberley in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. My goal of the content the participants will produce include: oral history of their parents in their trials and tribulations as a displaced people, how to report through social networking and blogging pictures and posting videos of their communities’ issues such as poverty, displacement, culture and heritage. We also aim to create content about what the future hold for the !Xun and Khwe community and told from their perspective
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.
As a community development activist in the Northern Cape province of South Africa – I have always had a great relationship with the !Xun and Khwe community and I have conducted several youth development training workshops for young people in the area. These workshops included computer literacy, employment readiness and career guidance. Upon the conclusion of our most recent workshop – I was approached by an active youth group in the area where they expressed interest in wanting to produce online content about their community as they feel they have long been marginalised and misrepresented in media. I have since been in regular contact with them which is why I proposing the FirstNation Project to Rising Voices
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
I currently have regular contact with a youth group in the !Xun and Khwe community, my intention is to train the 30 youths who are active in this group – they will then in turn train other youths and people within the !Xun and Khwe community (training of the trainers). The youth group will select 30 youths they deem active socially and make sure that the participants will be involved and then teach on what they know to their peers and people of the !Xun and Khwe community
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
I (Motheo Seleke) am a trained filmmaker with extensive knowledge of digital video and social media – I have also founded the Aluta Film Festival of which an important aspect of it is to be a repository for the stories of people of African ancestry worldwide as well as stories from the developing world. Douglas Mthukwane is a partner of the initiative and he is a freelance journalist, writer and poet with extensive experience in story telling and reporting
Our training will incorporate: blogging, digital video production, social media, storytelling, news gathering, video uploading, citizen journalism and reporting
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshop will be conducted at the youth group's place of operation within the !Xun and Khwe community. The place has a training centre with at least 40 computers with a good WiFi internet connection. To conduct the workshop, we will also use 2 laptops with photo and video editing software. We will also prepare a FirstNation Digital Media Project Guideline for the participants
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?
As a community development activist in the in the area I have developed long lasting relationships with diverse stakeholders in the !Xun and Khwe community. I have conducted several workshops with this community and I have always been impressed by their enthusiasm to want to learn new things. After the youth group approached me and expressed interest in digital media – I realised that this may a great platform where the !Xun and Khwe community leaders of the present and tomorrow can come together to work and learn from and support one another, and build long-lasting relationships that advances broad community media development in the !Xun and Khwe community
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
There aren't much challenges related to this as I already have a relationship with the participants. The specific challenges that I will face will be just about the schedule between me and the participants, accelerating the digital media knowledge level of the participants as most of them have limited internet background. At the core of our project is to empower the !Xun and Khwe community with citizen media production and storytelling techniques ensuring a productive digital storytelling community is encouraged. Which is why we will regularly engage with stakeholders in the community so that their stories give insight to their community and are told from a uniquely !Xun and Khwe community perspective.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
Through the training of the first 30 participants – the FirstNation Digital Media Project will have created and provided a platform for the !Xun and Khwe community to tell their stories so that their way of life is not lost but more importantly to unsure an ongoing platform where the leaders of the present and tomorrow come together to work and learn from and support one another, and build long-lasting relationships that advances the development of a vibrant digital !Xun and Khwe community
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
The best time to implement the FirstNation Digital Media Project is the beginning of June 2014 as it will coincide with 20 Years of South Africa's Democracy and will be a great moment to create awareness about the plight of the !Xun and Khwe community in Platfontein near Kimberley in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.
The workshops will be conducted on half days of 2 Saturdays and 2 Sundays in June 2014
Thereafter we will produce 10 online videos featuring the !Xun and Khwe community to be uploaded on a FirstNation Digital Media Project YouTuBe channel to be created. The online videos will be produced and uploaded over a three month period from June, July and August 2014
Create FirstNation Digital Media Project FaceBook Fan Page, Twitter account as well as a WordPress Blog regularly updated by the participants of the FirstNation Digital Media Project. This will be done by month end June 2014
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Hardware (discounted lending of cameras, memory cards, laptops for editing, software) $500 USD
Internet Access (broadband) $300 USD
Workshops Costs (materials, venue, refreshments, participants starter kits) $750 USD
Travel Costs (for workshops, capturing stories, project work) $150 USD
Other Costs (project preparations, stationery,etc) $130 USD
Coordinator Expenses $570
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Consultation and Advice
Contact name
Motheo Seleke
