The project will provide a platform where people in the community will freely express their views on key issues affecting them among which include political and public infrastructure. Our project will be a link between the community and their leaders through blogging to enhance development in the area. I will work with volunteers from the community who will be trained on how to gather information which will be posted on the blog.
Topical focus:
Country:
What locality or neighborhood will your project focus on?
Seeta, Mukono
Describe the specific population with whom you will be working.
I will be working with those people who can't read and write and would love to give their views but have been left out because of their predicament since their knowledge level in computer is low. Working with them will grant them access to the various channels of technology available to express their opinions and a chance to be heard.
Who else will be on your team to help implement the project?
Mr. Hood Ssuna-Project Co-ordinator: http://www.facebook.com/hood4, http://www.ssuuna.blogspot.com
Mrs. Julianne Sansa Otim-Project Adviser: http://www.facebook.com/sjotim
Ms. Doreen Nerima-Project Assistant: http://facebook.com/ndoreenr
What kinds of news, stories and other content will be created?
Publications will be created containing peoples ideas collected on governance, development projects, and public infrastructure which will inturn be posted on our blog and then shared on the facebook and twitter accounts. Then presented to the community leaders so that they can find a way of addressing peoples’ grievances from an informed perspective.
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 was part of a team that setup two projects. Dreamland cooperative which avails low cost loans to its members and Mukono Seeta Housing cooperative whose purpose is to ensure that members of the community own decent houses at a very affordable cost.
How many participants do you think will be trained in your project?
I will train between 10-20 Volunteers within the community on how to gather information, the use of digital photo and video equipment. The participants will be sustained by facilitation of transport and meals allowances.
Describe which technologies, tools, and media you will focus on when training participants.
I will focus on Media platforms like the Radios especially participating in talk shows where peoples’ views can be easily obtained and shared since most of the community people use this tool in their homes, Social technologies like Facebook which many youth can access,share and discuss community-based ideas.
I have a personal blog (www.ssuna.blogspot.com) that i can use a baseline to train the participants especially on how to use the project blog.
Describe the facilities where you will hold the workshops.
Community Halls like Church premises of Seeta Miracle Center which seats 500 people and is already installed with a projector. We will acquire 2 Laptops and a USB modem which will be connected to the projector. This has been a place where we have been conducting our training for Dreamland Co-operative and Mukono-Seeta Housing Co-operative.
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?
Being part of Dreamland and Housing Co-operative consistently engage the people about the benefits of saving with the SACCO and give feedbacks after attending development workshops with the Uganda Co-operative Alliance.
This makes this project the most appropriate platform since I have been working with the people on community development issues.
What specific challenges do you expect to face when planning and implementing your project?
Political misconception about the project because some leaders are intolerant to dissenting views. As the project co-coordinator, i will engage leaders on the benefits of peoples’ views since it can help them in resource allocation hence better governance.
How will you measure and evaluate the project’s impact, specifically: your primary participants, the wider regional community, or the global digital community?
Success will be determined if a particular topic raised by the community has been followed up by the leaders. If there is an increase in followers, comments or posts on our project blog, facebook and twitter accounts.
If your project were to be selected as a Rising Voices grantee, what would be the general timeline of project activities in 2014?
Activity When
Registration of the domain name and blog designing June
Purchase of equipment and training materials June(2nd-15th)
Identifying and recruiting volunteers June(23rd-30th)
Training July(7th-21th)
Publication and Community outreaches(radio talk shows) Aug-October
Monitoring and Evaluation November
Report January 2014
Detail a specific budget of up to $2,500 USD for operating costs.
Activity Amount (USD)
Domain Registration and hosting 130
Modem and Internet data 150
Laptops (2) 1000
Training 500
Publication and Community outreaches 700
Besides the microgrant funding, what other support can Rising Voices provide for your project to ensure its success?
Rising Voices can help in terms of expertise support in training and advocacy for the project through their online platform like the website and other sites they operate.
Contact name
Ssuuna Hood