Dear All,

Another week has passed which means it is once again time for the Rising Voices newsletter.

Greetings from Madagascar where I have been impressed by the enthusiasm and hard work by the bloggers of the Foko Madagascar project despite the prohibitively slow and costly internet connection here. It has been a while since the newsletter has covered the latest accomplishments of the Rising Voices projects. For those of you who haven't stopped by the website lately, lots of goodies await you.

Let's start with a couple of posts by our new health editor, Juhie Bhatia, who has introduced two of the newest Rising Voices grantee projects, “Blogging the Dream” in northeastern Romania and the Kwa Mashu Community Advancement Project near Durban, South Africa.

Rezwan, meanwhile, has been keeping us up-to-date on the first ten Rising Voices projects. Nari Jibon continues to train more women how to blog in Dhaka. Voces Bolivianas successfully pulled off this year's Bloguivianos conference. HiperBarrio, in addition to producing an online collaborative novel, is making a big difference in the life of Don Manuel Pizarro Sierra, formerly known as “filthy Suso”. And the REPACTED project in Nakuru, Kenya is making up for its late start with a flurry of activity and new blogs, as well as a fascinating portrait of magnet theater being performed in Nakuru's women's prison.

Finally, we have two special looks into Rising Voices. First was the participation of two Rising Voices bloggers at the Global Interdependence Youth Summit in Brussels. And second, how will Rising Voices projects sustain themselves after the micro-grant funding is used up? Some of the projects have come up with very creative strategies.

But I'd like to hear more ideas from all of you. What do you think are smart strategies for citizen media outreach projects to stay sustainable?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts. In the meantime, have a wonderful and restful weekend.

Best,

David