The project will work with children placed in closed institutions in Bulgaria (social care institutions, reformatory facilities).
Although reform in them is underway, much remains to be done in terms of functioning/quality of provided services. As important stakeholders they need to be involved in the reforms that will affect them.
We will conduct a training in citizen journalism and storytelling to encourage child participants to find their voices and personal stories and socialize them as informed and active citizens in the reform process.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Sofia
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
The project will work with children aged 16-18 placed in closed social care institutions. Children as a community are highly underrepresented and despite reforms in the child protection and juvenile delinquency system, child participation is not considered central.
Through the institutional monitoring work of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), the leading and most viable domestic human rights organization, we believe that children are highly aware of their surroundings and deserve a platform to voice their opinions and experiences and a change to take part in the dialogue on the reform of the child protection system. Although many children are familiar with using a computer and Internet, they have little digital literacy and knowledge of communications technologies skills.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee has several programs, including a Campaigns and Communications team that deals with campaign and advocacy work. It supports the work of the other programs, including research reports and strategic litigation, but also contributes to a strong presence on social media (Facebook and Twitter) and media and NGO outreach. We work on making problems visible and bringing personal stories to the fore in society in order to promote acceptable and incite reform. Our team is: Svetla Baeva, Campaigns and Communications Manager, Nia Kiriakova, Communications expert, Yana Buhrer Tavanier, Consultant. In addition, we plan to invite other renowned local experts on storytelling and blogging to share their experience with the children.
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
The goal of the training is first to carry out an introduction to digital literacy, a necessary step to empowering children in institutions by giving them a platform to share their stories and aiding them in their future social integration. The second step is to acquaint participants with various digital tools, including blogs and social media, and how to use them. The production of news and stories will be used by the children to explore topics in their own lives – family, school, outside activities, relationships, aspirations and the future. The content will enable them to share their point of view, which is very often omitted from discussions or represented through adults. The content will be published on their newly created blogs, our website and blog “Obektiv” and online media.
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.
BHC’s Monitoring and Research Program works extensively on institutional monitoring, including of children’s institutions. It monitors placement methods, access to legal aid and judicial review/complaints procedures, possibility to file an appeal, living conditions, access and quality to medical care and education, practices of social integration, etc. By monitoring institutions, we established the practice of conducting interviews with the children, trying to gather approximately 20% of those institutionalized. Thus, we have access to all institutions mentioned (through institutional memoranda of cooperation with ministries), as well as established contacts with institution directors and children.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
We aim to organize and implement one pilot training with 14-16 children. The training will bring together children from two social care institutions in Sofia through a selection process and will be conducted on a neutral terrain, with access to computers and Internet. We will conduct several visits to the institutions to discuss the training with both the director and children. In addition, we will make sure children will have access to computers and Internet during and following the training by consulting with the attended schools or a city library. The training will consist of four half-day sessions during the weekend.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
We will focus on developing the children’s digital literacy skills: how to navigate through Internet, useful websites; an introduction to blogging; an introduction to social media and how to use them. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee’s communications team has expertise and experience in using social media, blogging, digital photography and video in our everyday and campaign work. These skills are essential to the functioning of today’s society and we would like to share our experience with the participants. We believe that the use of technology will help them give a voice to their aspirations and concerns as well as an opportunity to better navigate today’s society.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The training will take place in a specifically rented hall (Betahaus/Soho) in Sofia that will be equipped with tables, computers and Internet (wi-fi) for the purpose of conducting the training. As for the access to computers and Internet outside the training, the organization will endeavor to secure access for the child participants in a nearby library or at their schools. The children will be provided with the opportunity to use a digital camera to take pictures illustrating their personal stories (each of the two schools will be given a camera; it will be kept by a member of school administration and used by the children upon request; the cameras will be donated to the schools after the conclusion of the project).
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 part of the core work of the organization, our Monitoring and Research Program conducts monitoring visits in social care and juvenile justice institutions for children, including homes for babies aged 0-3, homes for children deprived of parental care, homes for children with mental disabilities, socio-pedagogical and correctional boarding schools, correctional detention facilities. Children in such institutions hardly consider themselves a community and even less so think of themselves as having guaranteed rights that need to be defended. We conduct interviews with children in these institutions regarding the living conditions and treatment. The project will give them knowledge and a permanent channel through which they can voice their opinion and experiences.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
We anticipate possible resistance on part of the administration of institutions but this can be overcome on a ministerial level. It is also possible that the children lack access to Internet and computers at their institution. Thus, we will set up an additional neutral area where children will have access to both computers and Internet such as at their school or nearest library.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
We hope first to make a lasting connection with the children in social care institutions, especially those leaving them. Since there is no data or statistics regarding children leaving such institutions, we can only guess about the various problems that arise. Through the sharing of their personal stories, they can stimulate more acceptance and understanding of their specific problems among society, and bring about faster reforms in the sphere of child protection. BHC can give them an additional tribune for their stories and posts through our developed social media, our online blog “Obektiv” and website and our NGO contacts. We will set up a small financial fund for contributed stories by the training participants.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
The project will be implemented in the fall of 2014, following September 15, the official start of the school year 2014-15.
Between Sep 15-Oct 15 we will launch the project, identify the two social care institutions we will be working with; select the participants through a non-discriminatory selection process.
The training will be carried out between Oct 30-Nov 30. It will include 4 sessions during which participants will acquaint themselves with information materials and prepare assignments during the week following each session. The half-day sessions (4 hours duration) will be conducted by BHC communications staff, with the special participation of a local expert, at least one person per session (bloggers/journalists/photographer).
After completion of the course, the participants will be invited to submit their personal stories for publication in the “Obektiv” blog; the electronic format allows for great flexibility and quantity in publishing these – well into 2015.
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
1. Local transportation for 16 participants (65 USD/per session x 4 training sessions) – 260 USD
2. Rent of hall with internet access (60 USD/session x 4 half-day sessions) – 240 USD
3. Refreshments/sandwiches for participants, 19 people (16 participants, 2 BHC, 1 expert trainer) (110 USD/session x 4 training sessions) – 440 USD
4. Expert fees for speaking about blogging/citizen journalism/photography (3 experts x 90 USD) – 270 USD
5. Fund for writing for “Obektiv” blog/our children’s rights website, 16 authors of children’s personal stories (60 USD/article x 16 contributors from course participants) – 960 USD
6. Two digital cameras, rechargeable batteries (130 USD/camera x 2 – one for each school) – 260 USD
TOTAL PROJECT: 2,430 USD
BHC matching funds contribution: project coordination, ongoing expert support to children by experienced communications staff, 1 journalist expert for 1 session, all activities connected with project implementation, reporting, logistics, etc.
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Rising Voices can support the project by providing technical assistance such as logos as well as tips and expertise on how previous projects were implemented.
Contact name
Svetla Baeva (Ms)
Organization
Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
