The project I'm proposing is simple. I would like to train up to 20 youth women citizen journalists under the facilitation of journalist, expert on social media. I would like to train them 3 important things (1) blogging, Wikipedia, social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter & Youtube (2) how to utilize them in a way that is relevant to their lives (3) how they can train their peers how to use them as well. End of the workshop participants are able to gain knowledge & skills on social media and they will be motivated to work for their community.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Dhaka
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
They are youth women from different religious minority from 18 years to 25 years old who live in different provinces/districts of Bangladesh. I have networks with youths from all over Bangladesh, and I have been trying hard to establish regional citizen journalism networks, but I am not successful in doing so. I would like to work with young people because I believe that they are hungry to learn new knowledge and are in favour of social justice and change in their communities and society.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
1. Tareq Mahamud, Freelance Journalist & Development Worker, https://www.facebook.com/tareq.mahamud.56
(I’ve come a long way since my studies in Journalism, Media & Communications, and established first community radio named Lokobetar 99.2 FM. Also received ToT from RNTC on media.)
2. Firoz Zaman Choudhury, Sr. Sub Editor, The Daily Prothom Alo, widely circulated bangla daily newspaper, https://www.facebook.com/swapno.niedesk?fref=ts
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
My vision of the content the active youths will produce are: how to report through social networking and blogging pictures/videos of their communities’ issues such as poverty, climate change, gender discrimination, minority harassment and other problems, and last but not least, their goals in life as Bangladeshi youths, what do they hope for? I would like to help them produce texts, pictures and videos.
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.
I've conducted few training workshop for youths on journalism throughout the country with the financial help of UNICE, and have been in contact with the organization way before that. My impression of their hunger for knowledge has stayed with me till now. I cannot forget how they want to learn more and share it with their peers. Recent year violence directed against members of minority religious groups continued to result in the loss of lives and property in Bangladesh and the most common type of abuse was rape, arson and looting of religious sites and homes.
The organization has shown strong support for me to get this funding in order to conduct this very much needed citizen journalism project. I have connections to various communities in Bangladesh: tech and social
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
20 active youths women who will then be taught how to train other youths in their communities (training of the trainers). I will be able to provide 20 youths they deem active socially and make sure that the youth participants will be involved and then teach on what they know to their peers.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
I've been giving training on blogging for few years. What I and my partner in training would like to bring to the project is: blog training knowledge & skills, Wikipedia and social media expertise. Blog will touch on somewhereblog.net (the largest bangla blog). Wikipedia will be about editing and submitting entries in Bangla and English. Social media will be about Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, how to upload video on Youtube.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshops will be conducted at The Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP, www.cirdap.org) or National Institute of Local Government (NILG, www.nilg.gov.bd) Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh. At least 20 computer with high speed internet connection will be used. To conduct the workshop, we need good Internet connection (wifi) together with USB modems to provide to the participants. As I trained some members there before, I've observed that the organization's wifi cannot accommodate up to 20 laptops/computers.
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 freelance journalist and development worker I am engage with youths in different activities. I have trained a lot of youths before, and I can definitely say that youths from their organization are curious to learn and passionate to share.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
There won't be any security concerns related to this. The specific challenges that I will face will be just about the schedule between me and the trainees, the concern with facilities like computers & internet speed. What's more is the knowledge level of the participants because not every one of them comes from the same knowledge background.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
I want to reach out to them and train them so that they will be able to train other members of their organization or their peers in the city/provinces. So more or less, this sort of training is also called “training of the trainers”.
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 this in June 2014, because it is the summer vacation in Bangladesh. People will take a break from work and study.
The 2 days long workshops will be conducted from Friday to Sunday as residential manner.
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Internet Access: $250 (increased speed)
Travel of at least 20 participants from provinces/districts: $850
Workshop costs/facilities (refreshment, preparation etc): $800
Coordinators’ expenses: $550
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Consultation and advice
Contact name
Tareq Mahamud
Organization
NA
