The project is a practical workshop that will train 15 worker-reporters, particularly those who are part of labor unions, on how to effectively use social media platforms to promote their advocacy for safe and humane working conditions. This will enrich the basic training on citizen journalism and social media they have completed the past year. The project will also give them sustained guidance, continuous practice and increased capacity to establish their organization’s own social media projects for advancing their specific causes in the future.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Manila, NCR
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
We will be working with workers, both men (40%) and women (60%), from different sectors: manufacturing, service and transport, who are members of labor unions/organizations. We have received feed backs from workers regarding the challenges they encounter in reporting company violations on occupational health and safety (OHS) standards. They find it difficult to report the hazards inside the workplace for fear of being reprimanded by the company or losing their jobs
We have started our citizen journalism training among workers last year and observed the enthusiasm and potential of a number of workers who can be further trained to increase workers’ voice in social media. Participants are familiar with the internet but trainings, access and tools are limited.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Our organization, Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Development (www.IOHSAD.org) will be the one to implement the project.
As the organization’s advocacy officer (Nadia De Leon : https://www.facebook.com/nadia.deleon.9), I will be directly in charge of the project’s implementation and ensure that its outputs and objectives are reached.
Mr. Noel Colina, our current Executive Director will also directly monitor the project’s implementation.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
PROJECT WISH Blog’s mission is to document the efforts of workers’ union and organizations to promote safety in the workplace.
This blog’s purpose is to highlight both the local and national OHS situations and push concerned agencies to look into the workers’ conditions and act on immediate concerns.
Blog's features include:
Photos submitted by workers showing the OHS situation in the workplace.
Stories about health and safety practices in the workplace written by workers themselves.
Short video interviews (2-3 minutes) with non-unionized, contractual workers to probe on the health and safety issues they face.
Short testimonials from PROJECT WISH Correspondents
WISHTXT : This space will be for the text messages sent by workers who have no or limited internet access.
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 am currently the advocacy officer of a worker’s institution with occupational health and safety [www.IOHSAD.org] as its main thrust. We have built strong ties and established lasting partnerships with Filipino workers through local labor unions and national federations.
We have launched citizen journalism trainings among workers through our project, WORKINGCAST [www.workingcast.org]. Almost 100 worker-reporters have successfully completed the training. PROJECT WISH will serve as a venue for the most active and eager worker-reporters to practice their new skills on social media and citizen journalism.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
We plan to train 15 workers to be certified PROJECT WISH correspondents. We will select the most willing and enthusiastic workers who have completed the basic citizen journalism training we launched last year to participate in the practical workshops and hands-on training.
Besides the centralized training that we will organize for PROJECT WISH, we will provide hands-on training by groups or batches throughout the duration of the project. Working with batches and regular consultations will be done to closely monitor the accomplishments of our correspondents and allow us to immediately respond and resolve problems that may arise in the process of implementation.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
Our training will focus on how workers can use the different platforms available in social media to promote health and safety in the workplace. The project will give them basic training on the most important features of social media that they can maximize to promote their causes and eventually draw support from the public to advance their advocacy. Furthermore, the messages sent by the workers through mobile phones will be posted and seen by the public in the PROJECT WISH blog.
Workers who have been victims of work-related accidents remain nameless and their stories unknown to the public. PROJECT WISH blog aims to chronicle the health and safety situation of the workers through the photos and stories submitted by its pool of correspondents.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
We will be renting a conference room for our workshop on Blogging for Advocacy 101. We will be using a laptop computer and an LCD projector during the lecture. For the practical workshops and monthly blog coaching sessions, we will also be using laptop computers,digital point and shoot cameras, mobile and smart phones of the participants and a pocket wifi that can connect at least 10 devices.
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?
IOHSAD, being in the field of occupational health and safety for more than two decades, will share its experience in documenting work-related hazards, accidents and other OHS issues. The trainings we organized on citizen journalism among workers in the past year will help us facilitate the practical and hands-on workshops we plan to hold for the participants.
Our organization has maintained strong links with a number of labor unions and federations in the country through our core programs for education and training, medical services, public awareness and advocacy on health and safety related issues. We are grateful for the support and cooperation of the workers we have worked with in the past years as we put into action our advocacy in the field of social media.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Strict company rules and threats of disciplinary action from the management usually discourage the workers to document and report health and safety issues and violations. In this case, the project must include an information awareness campaign on freedom of expression and the right to report information for the interest and welfare of the general public. The project will also seek legal advice and help from labor lawyers to ensure the rights and limitations of our PROJECT WISH correspondents.
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’s impact can be evaluated through the increased capacity of all the participants to document with photos, write blog posts on health and safety issues in their workplaces. The project’s success can also be measured by the relevant contributions of all the participants that will be posted in the PROJECT WISH Blog. Increased awareness on health and safety issues among workers in general can be seen through the number of views, visits, likes, shares and comments they post on the PROJECT WISH Blog and its corresponding Facebook page.
The project’s success can also mean a number of workers or individuals, besides the 15 PROJECT WISH correspondents, who are willing to share their stories and views on health and safety issues.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
June – July 2014: Selection of PROJECT WISH Blog Correspondents & Sharing of Project Objectives and Timetable
August – September : Workshop on Blogging for Advocacy 101; 1st PROJECT WISH Editorial Team Meeting
October – November : PROJECT WISH Correspondents Legwork; Start of Monthly Blog Coaching Sessions by Batches
December : PROJECT WISH Blog Launch ( Bloggers’ Night) formal presentation of project & blog to fellow workers, bloggers and mainstream media organizations
January 2015 :PROJECT WISH Editorial Team Meeting: Assessment and Planning for the Blog’s Content and Management for 2015
February – May 2015 PROJECT WISH Blog's Monthly Themes
FEB : Government's Program on Workers’ Health & Safety
MARCH: OHS situation of Filipino Women Workers
APRIL : Labor Unions and their OHS Campaigns in the Workplace
MAY : International Labor Day Setting up of a PROJECT WISH Booth on the Labor Day Activity (booth will showcase the photos and stories the project has collected)
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Laptop Computer : $556
Internet Access ( Pocket Wifi w/ monthly load) : 178
Blogging for Advocacy 101 Training : $500
Monthly Blog Coaching Sessions (from Oct-May)/Legwork/ Travel and Coordination: $267
PROJECT WISH Launch ( Bloggers’ Night) $556
Digital Point and Shoot Camera : $111
Mobile Phone : $89
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Rising Voices and its rich experience in making the voices of marginalized sectors around the world be heard through social media will greatly inspire our future PROJECT WISH correspondents in all our activities. Constant communication and guidance from the Rising Voices Team on how to further improve our project’s social media visibility and advocacy campaign will surely help us in implementing the project.
Contact name
Nadia De Leon
Organization
Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Development
