Malagasy Youth Voice is a project aiming at giving an opportunity for the voice of Malagasy youth about the future they want to be heard beyond boarders. In Madagascar, young people are underestimated due to our culture and our top down where only the voice of the elders is meant to be heard and due to system that makes that decisions are made without consultation with young people. Time is up now to offer opportunity for them to make their voice. The activities encompass training of trainers about advocacy, media advocacy, use of social media for advocacy, about photography and voice image.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Antananarivo/ Ambositra
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
The main targets of the project are 10 youth led organizations from the center and the rural area.
The selection is based on the fact that these young people (15-24)have access to the internet in their area. They are not from an economic class that can afford internet but there are some youth friendly corners equipped with IT facilities set in some region in Madagascar where they can access freely the internet. The targets of this project have already participated during a study that I launched in 2012. After my participation at the conference Rio+20, I gather the voice of thousands of the young people around Madagascar about the ‘Future they want’ where they expressed their will to be heard as young people, their desire to be engaged as active citizen to bring Sustainable Development.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
The team will be composed of the leaders of the movement Malagasy Youth for Sustainable Development: Jakoba Rakotondrainitsimba facebook:PickFi : A photograph and a sexual and reproductive rights advocate who will ensure the training about photography and advocacy under this theme. Facebook: Myriam Rivo and Facebook: Fetra Mamimbahoaka: they are Journalists that will be in charge of the training about communication. They are also young Human Rights activists. Facebook: Miora Rajaonary and Facebook: Dera Valiso Rabarijaona are Leaders of a regional network of young people. They are also based in rural area where a part of the project will be implemented. Facebook: Lanto Ratsida, a young leader of the regional youth council. Tsiaro Raharison http://tsiarously.webs.com/ : the leader.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The facebook page Malagasy Youth VOICE (MY VOICE) will be a platform to express thought, idea and opinion from young people. Young people can share their daily life, their ambitions, what needs to be changed through image with caption on facebook. They can create an e-catalogue under a theme as: Malagasy Youth vs pollution, Malagasy Youth for the water for all …With some extent, as they have already received training in advocacy they can share any other link they found on the web, create their personal blog…
The others who are influenced can do so, we are not limited to the participants during the trainings. They are the source of inspiration of the others.
This project will be long-lasting as once the page is created it remains to visitor to maintain it.
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 fact that I am the initiator of the movement Malagasy Youth for Sustainable Development will give a success to the MY VOICE project. This movement gathers many Malagasy young people around the island who can be inspired by the project.
In term of existing partnership: the Malagasy Youth for Sustainable Development has many partnerships with youth led organizations that I can use as partners also we are recognized by many International Organizations working on environment and development in Madagascar.
For the future we plan to formalize our partnership with theses INGOs and look for other NGOs working for youth for this project and also include the private sector as the local provider of internet, provider of ITC equipments …
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
20 young people (as 2 per organizations for 10 organizations) will participate to the training of trainers in order to ensure the quality of the training. They will be in their turn train the other members ( around 50) of their organization. They are also the first responsible of the animation on fb. Their trainings will be assisted by the leadership team of the MY VOICE. So an estimated number of 10 x 50 which equals 500 will benefit from these trainings. The distribution of one camera per organization is a symbol for their material support. Each organization ensures the management of the use of this camera. Their participation will be maintained according to the quality of the online animation. Also a one day workshop for exchange is planned every three months to share frustration, succ
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
When training the participants we will be focused on the use of social media especially facebook, the art of photography.
My partners and I are young people having years of experiences in working in NGOs for Human Rights, advocacy and young people. This project is an opportunity to share our area of expertise. Managing youth project are not new for us. Indeed based in our skills described above we have the privilege of complementarities.
This technology is the most appropriate for this community because it is very practical, we are not limited by boarders and it is exciting.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshop will be conducted in a local cybercafe that will be hold at two different pace:
First time:
-“lecture” session, at this step we don’t need any internet connexion for the whole group: the session will be about advocacy, sharing some inspiration from the others.
-the art of photography, image voice, the use of photography in advocacy.
-Field day: going to a strategic (suggested by the participants according to their interest and their area of work) to take picture
Materials: 5 digital camera
Second time:
-practice where we are using internet:
Session on how to treat image, how to include texts, how to use software: use of the picture taken the previous day. Then , session on how to post on facebook page, how to attract viewers
Materials:10 PC with picture software
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 am leading the local movement : MY SD so I have good connection with the young people. I think also that I have the best person to lead this project as I have the capacity to do so as I have been trained for leadership in Canada . I have been in the core of the advocacy since 15 so I think I have a lot to share . I can also be a resource person for this training. Also I have also the passion of doing this.
This is a pilot project so we can think about a possibility to upscale this project.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
The major challenge I am afraid to encounter is during the implementation or running of the project as management of the cameras inside the group. Some may use it for personal concern not for the project. Some may hold it longer than the others. As it is expensive some may lose it or hold it for himself. We will consult the group to know how they would like to manage the camera. Sometimes groups are bounded by rules so we leave to them to choose what is better for them in term of management. The management may be specific for each group.
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 impact will be measured by the number of contribution of the participant in the facebook page. It can be measured by the number of new people joining the causes on the facebook pages. We can also see the progress by the number of shares and comments under the post.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
In 2014 : The first 3 months will be dedicated for the contact of the youth led organizations, the trainings: one for the urban area and the other for the rural area and developing partnerships
3 next months will be dedicated to the main activities of expressing the MY VOICE through a new created page on facebook. Just at the end of the 3rd month , we will be having a workshop for Monitoring and Evaluation to see what works good what doesn’t . Should we bring some changes or adjustment.
The next 3 months will be adapting some adjustment to make the project very effective and also begin the training of trainers within the youth led organizations. Another workshop for Monitoring and Evaluation will take place but this time within each organization
The 3 last months of the fiscal year will be to continue to expand the network. At the end of the fiscal year, the original leaders will going to meet again for the final evaluation of the project.
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Trainings: location of the room (including the last day of the training where we will hire a cybercafé) $400 each so a total of $800 for the two places
Food during the training: $200 each so $400 in total
Cameras one for each group so 10 for $100 each equals to $1,000
The management of the project will cost $300
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
We are grateful if Raising Voice could gave us technical support on advocacy and also provide us contact with the others alumni or current grantees working on the same cause. Another technical support we need from raising voice as you have many ressources useful for our project.
Contact name
Tsiaro Raharison
