Statistics in Kenya show that there is an increase in the occurrence of cerebral palsy in new born and infants as a result of brain damage. The main cause is lack of prenatal care and hospital's inability to handle emergency cases during delivery. Most of the victims are young mothers. Our project is to create awareness through digital media on prevention and management of cerebral palsy. We plan to hold a three day seminar to teach young people and mothers with children with CP how to blog and create awareness on the prevention and management of this disease.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Nairobi
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
Young mothers with children with cerebral palsy played an advisory role in the development of this project. It is their stories that inspired the development of the project. Cerebral palsy is usually handled under various disabilities because its one of the causes of disability. It is not handled specifically as a disability. Additionally, young mothers who have children with cerebral palsy tend to hide them for fear of discrimination. People discriminate what they do not understand and associate this condition with mental retardation. The aim of this proposal is to demystify cerebral palsy in the society. We would like to offer opportunities for people to learn more about this condition, its prevention and management. Their computer literacy and familiarity ranges from basic to advanced.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Peter Mutiso – freelance writer and internet marketer
https://www.facebook.com/peter.mutiso1?fref=ts
Peter Otiende – Community Health Worker and mobilizer- Jipange Youth Groups
https://www.facebook.com/groups/jipangeyouths/?fref=ts
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
1. Our vision is to demystify cerebral palsy as a condition. Most of the cerebral palsy cases are preventable. Our goal is to ensure that more children do not suffer from this condition because it is preventable. We will encourage young people to seek prenatal care when pregnant. We will also focus on the importance of early intervention and monitoring child growth to avoid cerebral palsy.
2. Tell stories of mothers who have children with cerebral palsy including their successes and challenges.
3. Promotion of government policies that favor provision of health care and other needs for victims of cerebral palsy.
4. Raising awareness on the importance of visiting health facilities that are equipped to prevent and manage cerebral palsy in the community.
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.
As a qualified pediatrics physiotherapist, I have been working with young mothers in Embakasi and have a network of young mothers who have children with cerebral palsy for more than four years. I also work with different youth groups in Embakasi and encourage them on the importance of prenatal care and making use of available health resources in the community.
I also plan to partner with Cerebral Palsy Society of Kenya that already handles parents with children with cerebral palsy for assistance with resources and the network of these parents.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
Our target is to work with fifteen youths and five young mothers with children with cerebral palsy.
These people are already in youth groups and have access to a network of young people who need this information.
To sustain their participation, we will encourage them to include it as one of their projects. We will also offer assistance when needed for sustainability of this project. This is through telephone calls, skype meetings and
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
As a qualified health worker, my expertise will ensure that the right information is created in the content that we develop. I have a team that is qualified in mobilization of young people and the development of digital media.
These are the technologies and tools that we plan to use:
1. Social Media through mobile phones.
2. Creation of videos that people will use to tell their stories and experiences with the condition.
3. Microblogging will also assist with factual information concerning the condition.
Social networking is the most frequent activity that the youth engage in on a daily basis. It opens the conversation, allows you to share videos, information, blogs and photographs with the online community. This network also provides documentation for future reference.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
The workshop will be held in two venues, The Kayole Social Hall and the Jipange Youth Groups resource center. The Social hall is available for social functions for free upon reservation. We will use this hall during the health talks.
The resource centre has eight computers and three laptops. We will use these facilities to train the youths on best practices of social networking and microblogging. The center has access to the internet through WI-Fi with speed of 8mbps.
I have digital video camera that will be used for the digital stories.
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 a health worker in Embakasi Community that we plan to implement this project. I also actively participate in community development projects that involve the youth and persons with disability. I have a degree in Physiotherapy from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
My commitment in this project is long term because I am already involved in different health projects in the community and believe that this project will complement the other health projects in the community.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Challenge: Fighting Discrimination
Solution: Spreading the right information concerning the condition and showing that everyone in the community is affected.
Challenge: Unpredictable circumstances that children living with cerebral palsy face. This necessitates the need for the mother to deal with the circumstance. Such cases include illness, time and financial constraints respectively.
Solution: We will work closely with the mothers and make the trainings flexible enough to suit their time.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
We will keep in touch with these young people and ensure that they spread their information in the various accounts on Facebook and other social media platforms. Impact will be seen when the information is shared and when they look for more information concerning the condition.
We will conduct interviews, home visits and follow up meetings for young mothers.Prenatal and postnatal care is part of community health care. Our goal is to see young people educated on its availability and importance cerebral palsy awareness.
When we see that the young mothers, mothers to be and the youth in general share this information on social media and take steps to ensure that their unborn and new born children receive the care that they need, the project will definitely be a success.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
May 2014: Mobilization
June: Training
July: Follow up and Mentorship
November 2014: Monitoring and Evaluation
January 2015: Sending of the Evaluation report
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
1. Communication and Internet costs: USD 700
This will cover payment of the internet, communication through mobile phones to mobilize the participants. After this, they will need to access the internet. This money will also be used for this purpose and followup meetings.
2. Trainer’s fee: USD 300
This covers the trainer's transport and social media learning.
3. Workshop costs: USD 900
This covers booking of the resource centre, cerebral palsy resources, refreshments, stationary and communication equipment.
4. Project coordination fee: USD 500
This covers transport to Cerebral Palsy Society of Kenya for resources, follow up visits and research with other experts in the field.
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
1. Expert advice on more ways that we can use the media platform to raise awareness of cerebral palsy.
2. Network with other people interested with a similar project
3. Mentorship especially for participants to ensure sustainability of the project. These are people who can also encourage the youth especially the young mothers who have children dealing with the condition.
Contact name
Sarah Karongo
