In Nigeria, various communities and minority ethnic, linguistic and religious groups are faced with political and religious discrimination. Poverty is sustained by lack of access to resources and opportunities. Insecurity retards development for rural dwellers. The project will work in Jema’a, Kaura and Zangon Kataf LGAs of Kaduna State that have faced years of religious conflicts and discrimination. It will focus on building capacities of community actors to create voice and mobilize support for issues. Digital Storytelling which combines technology and media will be utilized for trainings.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Samaru Kataf, Kaduna State
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
The project shall work with women, youth and men in Jema’a, Kaura and Zangon Kataf LGAs of Kaduna State, Nigeria. A total of 20 people will be trained. Majority of the people do not have access to the internet as they cannot afford to buy computers or subscribe for internet. There are no public internet cafés. GCPI operates in this community and observes that while the people complain a lot among themselves they do not take steps to ask governments to act to change the situation. One identified need was getting their issues heard by authorities at all levels leading to actions by governments and individuals to improve the community. This project will impart skills and build voice. This proposal is written in collaboration with GCPI with whom GCPI approved project shall be implemented.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Other team members are
a. Gloria Kude-Chunu: facebook.com/gkchunu
b. Solomon Ado Yanni: facebook.com/SAYslips
c. Martha Kude: facebook.com/martha.kude
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The content that will be created in this project will relate to the status of insecurity that is common to all the LGAs due to the violent attacks by unidentified Fulani herdsmen. These attacks have claimed over 1,000 lives across the three areas and are a major source of concern being violations of human right to life and property. Other issues prevalent in the communities include poor amenities, agriculture, good governance, gender considerations, marginalization, education, technology and information sources. It is hoped the trainees will seek to address issues that are priority to them after the training. The overall objective is to bring these issues to the surface and seek solutions that will address the issues and create better communities and livelihoods for the people.
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 organization I work for has presence in its area of operation and is well known by community based organizations, government and opinion leaders. GCPI is affiliated to the Kaduna State Gender Working Group and National council of Affirmative Action. I have been trained by Minority Rights Group International on addressing marginalization against minority groups and I have active networks that have members in many many communities. I have worked with Government on some projects and I’m familiar with the linkages between the legislature, media and civil society. I manage two pages on Facebook and Twitter. MRG is one partner that will contribute to this project by featuring our project on its site and we hope to get support from them whenever they decide to work with community groups.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
The project will seek to train 20 persons in one year. The trainees will include men women and youth with strong gender considerations from Jema’a, Kaura and Zangon Kataf Local Government Areas across Kaduna State. To sustain participation they will work alone or in groups to produce at least one project a month on issues in their communities they would like to address. The projects will be tracked as they are presented over various kinds of media like radio, television, internet and Instant Messaging which can all be used to raise community consciousness as a lot of young people with mobile phones are into social media and instant messaging and these services are very cheap. Participants will also track and engage key stakeholders on issues that may arise from giving voice to communities.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
The project shall employ the use of phones, digital cameras, camcorders, headphones, audio recorder, computers, internet and video projector. This will provide participants a wide set of skills. Technical skills that we shall bring to the project include story writing skills, photographic skills, video recording, narration, audiovisual editing, computer skills, community mobilization, networking and internet skills. These technologies are most appropriate because mobile phone usage is common and many phones can take good resolution pictures and videos and link to the internet. Participants can use their phones to take pictures and videos. The internet is a good medium as it is a strategic channel of stories leaving the locality and connectivity is available in rural communities.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The training workshops will be held at the GCPI offices which are located in the confluence town of Samaru Kataf providing easy accessibility from many directions as it is on the A235 Trunk A Road. GCPI has a 30 persons capacity training room with 5 computers and two laptops with space for adequate expansion where needed. Internet connectivity is through the use of modems on 3.75G networks which is the standard speed of the operating telecom companies in Nigeria.
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?
GCPI maintains a cordial relationship with the community as the organization has been operating in the community for 9 years and it is well known to stakeholders including government, traditional leadership and the general community. GCPI has worked with the community in various projects and has been training children aged 8 – 12 in computer usage since 2005. This is a cardinal activity since the inception of GCPI and the community appreciates its impact among its youth. GCPI has trained youth in computer skills since 2005 and possess a network across the entire Kaduna State. Recently we actively participated in a Women’s Leadership Programme Training covering 9 Local Governments. We also partner with government in addressing current issues as we hope to do in the 2015 general elections.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Challenges we might face in implementing the project include inadequate equipment, participants might not cooperate as expected, inadequate funding for transport, feeding of participants and logistics, undue expectation of monetary compensation by participants, electrical power failure from the national grid. We shall explain to all participants what the project offers and what it will not offer in terms of feeding, transport to training venue and stipend as necessary. Should equipment be inadequate we shall hire additional equipment. GCPI has an 8hp standby generator as back up. One possible security concern may manifest in the event government wants to muzzle the open expression of community concerns and thus exerting undue pressure on participants and communities.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
The project shall measure and evaluate the participants that successfully complete the training and the skill sets acquired, the number of individual or group projects initiated and completed as agreed by the participants in their home communities, the number of completed projects that are uploaded on to the internet, keeping track of the extent of promoted projects, the number of completed projects that are used to engage government to address specific community concerns and the number of community concerns that are actually addressed and resolved through the use of the completed projects and the work of the participants. Participants shall produce 4 projects per month over a duration of 6 months thus making a total of 24 projects.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
If selected as a Rising Voices grantee, the general timeline of project activities in 2014 will be as follows:
1. Identification, selection and engagement of trainees from June 2 – 13, 2014;
2. Training of participants in 4 batches from June 25 – August – 16, 2014;
3. Commencement of individual or group projects as from August 25 – October 17, 2014;
4. Uploading of completed project on to the internet and engagement of key stakeholders on various community concerns as from October 20 to November 30, 2014.
5. Monitoring and Evaluation of projects, production, uploading and reach June – December 2014
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
1. Identification, selection of participants, contact and distribution of invitations for training = $70.63
2. Trainings (4) = $737.06
3. Equipment –projector and digital cameras = $350.10
3. Internet subscription for 6months = $153.55
4. Translation = $98.27
5. Travel = $130.21
6. Coordinator’s fees = $500.28
Total = $2040.10
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Rising voices can help to further promote the project on its platforms and also foster links with other organizations with similar objectives. Further capacity building for the Project Coordinator , GCPI staff and some of the project participants.
Contact name
Abdiel Kude
Organization
Global Community Prime Initiative (GCPI)
