Rising Voices Wiki / AIDS Blogger Network

At least 15 of the June 2007 applications we received focused on using blogs and new media to empower individuals living with HIV and AIDS so that they can tell their own stories. A few AIDS bloggers networks do already exist (http://blogs.poz.com/ + http://www.hivforum.com/blogs) but nearly all of the bloggers are based in North America and/or Western Europe.

This wiki page is a place to come up with ideas and suggestions regarding the use of citizen media with projects focused on HIV and AIDS positive communities. Please press the "Edit page" button and share your ideas and suggestions.

The Impact of HIV/AIDS Among Older Adults in Tanzania (Tanzania)

Niarobi Blog Project (Kenya)

TB Photovoice Thailand (Thailand)

AIDS and Zambian Pupils (Zambia)

Discover More to Know Your World (Kenya)

E-Power Project Iganga (Uganda)

Orphans and Vulnerable Children Against HIV/AIDS (Tanzania)

HIV/AIDS Information and Resources and Related Resources (Kenya)

Transparency in HIV/AIDS Programmes Initiatives (Togo)

Photos for Fortitutude (United Kingdom)

The Youth Campaign Against HIV/AIDS (Ethiopia)

The Impact of HIV and AIDS among The Older Adults in Tanzania

Care for the Needy Tanzania (COTN)

www.cotntanzania.org

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community you are targeting? (100 words)

In Tanzania, HIV/AIDS impact is felt in different levels of the social hierarchy, though the poor marginalized people in the rural settings are highly affected, yet the impact remains untold. In these settings, most affected and now infected are the grandparents who are entangled in the web of poverty and lack of home based care skills. In Africa, AIDS is known as grandmothers' disease because the burden of caring for the sick and the survivors fall to their mercy. Production of their untold stories will create basis for realizing HIV/AIDS impact and fostering support through capacity and skills building activities

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide? Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

The project intends to provide real life experience stories from grandparents in their home settings, this stories will incorporate the daily routine challenges grandparents come in contact with, their reaction to HIV status of their children, the emotional and psychosocial effects that they have to face every day and their efforts to curtail their situation.

Recently, due to increased sensitization in HIV/AIDS, there have been reported cases of increase rate of HIV infection among grand parents associated with unsafe home based care for the sick practices, also including infected grandparents stories will be vital, putting in to consideration their lack of adequate information on HIV transmission, confusion for their love for their children, fear for community stigma and their responsibility to cater for grandchildren.

These stories produced will be used for HIV/AIDS preventive interventions awareness campaigns addressed national wide. These stories will aim at addressing the community, the relevant stakeholders and government officials through mass mobilization and advocacy on the impact and the realities to HIV/AIDS among the grandparents including the urgency of their support in meeting grandparents’ needs and basic requirements putting in to consideration their age, vulnerability to infections and lack of enough strength to support and meet the demands of challenges they are facing.

Who will generate the content? Who is the target audience? How, and how often, will it be distributed? What language(s) will it be available in? (300 words)

The project will identify sample families which are run by grandparents with unique and impacting stories. These families will be then informed on their participation on the project and the importance of producing their stories for media. From each selected families, one member of the family especially youths will be incorporated in the training on how to produce an ongoing video blog documentary in their home setting including daily challenges that they face. This procedure will be conducive and comfortable to the family since it will involve the family member in it production.

The project stories aims at attracting the attention of the community, political and government officials in the efforts of sensitizing them on the impact of HIV/AIDS to the grandparents and their need to provide support to them.

After the production of the stories, these stories will be aired to the community in two ways; one through the use of local television station available in the country so as to reach a vast part of the community, secondly through the production of VCDs and DVDs that will be used by the organization as case study sensitization models during workshops and trainings offered by the organization to the community and advocacy activities to the political and government leaders.

These stories will be produced in Swahili language, as Swahili language is the national language and is well conversant to majority of the communities. Swahili subtitles will be included to stories where the grandparents are not fluent with Swahili and use mother tongue. However, these copies will also be translated into English language so as to be used at an international scope.

What kinds of participation and interaction do you expect from the readers/listeners/viewers of your content? How will you encourage participation? (75 words)

We expect that our viewers to be sensitized to acquire more or new information on the impact of HIV/AIDS to grandparents and the willingness to participate in contribution towards supporting the families headed grandparents. The project will conduct participatory open discussion forum with the communities, relevant stakeholders, political and government officials encouraging them for their contribution towards supporting the families

What is your knowledge of your target community? Why are you the best individual/organization to lead this project? Do you have prior experience in citizen media outreach? (100 words)

Through it is years working with the needy and children infected and/or affected with HIV/AIDS in the rural areas. COTN Tanzania has come to realize the problems and challenges grandparents face in caring for children and grandchildren; lack of knowledge on HIV/AIDS transmission, skills on safe home based care, realization of their HIV/AIDS status, lack of ability to meet the demands of basic needs requirements to their grandchildren in their custody. These challenges coupled with old age. COTN Tanzania is experienced with working with grandparents affected and infected with HIV/AIDS though the research that the organization has conducted in the rural areas of Ruvuma region. These families were also incorporated in the HIV/AIDS prevention interventions project that was conducted by the organization. The organization has good experience with the media outreach programs, in that we have participated in the production of HIV/AIDS illustrative programs of PMTCT and pediatrics living with HIV/AIDS with local television channels

Describe what technologies and tools your project will use to produce the content What kinds of technical skills and expertise do you bring to the project? What are your technical needs? (100 words)

The project will incorporate latest digital; information technology in which digital cameras and recording tapes will be used. The project will involve people with expertise in information technology, photography and video editing and social workers. Technical needs will include project volunteers and organization staffs

How will you measure and evaluate your project’s impact – on your main participants? other contributors? on the larger community? How many participants do you expect to be involved in your project? How will you seek and sustain their involvement? (200 words)

The Measuring will be an on going process involving regular collecting, analyzing and using information to measure the effectiveness of the project performance at the level of objectives activities, input and output. Data collection tools (forms) and regular follow-up shall be used as the way of monitoring the project going. This M&E tools shall be developed in relation with work plan, to measure expected deliverables. Both quantitative and qualitative project information shall be gathered and be analyzed by the project staff and partners.

Evaluation of the project specific intervention will be conducted at 2 different levels, terminal and ex-post. Evaluation will focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of the project performance. The available baseline data shall be gauged against the developed project indicators and output. A set of survey tools to be developed which consist of indicative questions to measure the performance of the project activities. A set of checklist to assess and track whether the project goals and objectives have been met, to indicate whether we have met the output targets essential about performance and what did we do. A total of 20 families will be involved in the project from which their stories will develop

What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them? (200 words)

The main risks that may be delay the effectiveness of the project include communication barrier and reluctance of the grandparents to fully participate in the project, poor climatic condition, poor all weather roads and hilly and steep topography of different location of the region.

Despite the risks the project will be delivered within the time scale because all the activities will be done together with the assistance of members of the families that will be involved in the project and the activities will be conducted indoors thus no be affected by weather condition. Also the project will use a four wheel vehicle to convey from different location, these types of vehicles are well conversant with the type of roads in the region

Nairobi Blog Project

ThreeStones

www.threestones.net

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community you are targeting? (100 words)

Our project targets youth groups within Kenya. According to the Kenya National AIDS Strategic Plan some parts of the AIDS prevention message are getting through, others are not. For example while most young people in Kenya have heard of AIDS only 53% of young women and 60% of young men aged 15-24 know that condoms reduce the risk of contracting HIV. Our project aims to set up a separate blog for 5 youth groups across Nairobi. Through these blogs we will encourage the youth to engage in this critical conversation through a medium they are comfortable with and find exciting, the internet.

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide? Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

Rather than the classic attitude of “build and they shall come” our project lets THEM, in this case the youth of Nairobi BUILD it, and then more shall come. Rather than dictate to the youth groups what should or should not go on their blog we will issue guidelines on and then let each group create a blog that reflects the personality of their group. We will not end up with 5 identical blogs, rather 5 distinct blogs creating an online presence on AIDS awareness, written by the informed youth for the wider youth.

The guidelines we will issue will focus mainly on blog etiquette such as copyright issues and the AIDS information will come from material provided by the National Aids Control Council of Kenya.

We anticipate that the youth groups will start by writing about the impact AIDS has on their lives and which campaigns they find effective and which ones they do not. Hopefully youth who are open about their positive HIV status will also share their experiences on the blog. In time however these blogs will grow to cover just more than HIV and will instead reflect the lives of the youth more fully.

We will encourage the youth to post personal stories, poems, pictures, honest appraisals of the situation they face and highlight to them that they remain the ultimate editors of this project, and the responsibility that comes with that.

Who will generate the content? Who is the target audience? How, and how often, will it be distributed? What language(s) will it be available in? (300 words)

As mentioned above the youth group members will be responsible for generating content for their blogs. In our initial out reach we will target youth groups with 5 members or more. Each group will get 3 days training on blogging at our offices and 5 days monitoring, evaluation and support at their base. We will ask that each group nominate 5 people for this training. Having 5 trained bloggers in each group means that even if one or two people lose interest in blogging the blog will survive as there is a wide pool of writers available. Having 5 people per blog will also ensure that it is regularly updated and the content will not be monotonous. We anticipate at least one post per blog per week.

The target audience of the blogs will be other youth across Nairobi, Kenya, Africa and the world who are sharing in the same experiences. How wonderful it would be creating a connection between youth in Kenya and Brazil for example or India who can share their experiences with dealing with daily life. We anticipate that this will lead to other youth local groups wanting to join the blogging revolution. These blogs will also be a resource for national policy makers as they will have first hand information on what type of campaigns are getting through to the youth and what type are less successful. To this end we may occasionally met with the bloggers in a question and answer session where we ask for their responses to various campaigns.

English and Kiswahili are the official languages of Kenya and we anticipate the majority of the posts will be in these two languages. However Kenya is made up of 40+ tribes all of whom are represented in Nairobi. Therefore, some posts will be in vernacular languages.

What kinds of participation and interaction do you expect from the readers/listeners/viewers of your content? How will you encourage participation? (75 words)

Comments and trackbacks will be encouraged as well as emails. It is the interactive nature of blogging that will attract the youth to it! We shall also ensure that the blogs are registered on the leading Kenyan and African aggregators to widen their readership and generate debate. Full use of web 2.0 applications such as Flickr and tagging will also contribute to increase readership and interactivity between our bloggers, the wider blogging community and the web.

What is your knowledge of your target community? Why are you the best individual/organization to lead this project? Do you have prior experience in citizen media outreach? (100 words)

Daudi started and maintained the first active African bloggers webring the Kenyan Blogs Webring now with over 450 active blogs. Daudi and Bantu both spend a large time of their professional life interacting with Kenyan and African youth. Bantu is a leading member of the African Youth Parliament. Daudi and Bantu have both worked with various youth groups in Kenya through UZIMA Foundation Africa Daudi as the Resource Development Manager, Bantu in the Nairobi Field Office. We have the technical know-how and credibility with youth groups to make this project a success.

We will use open source software to power the blogs, WordPress. We have extensive experience with blogging and blogging software as mentioned above. We will also encourage the youth to use digital cameras to enhance their blogs; we have wide experience with photo editing software. However we will need server space for the blogs to reside upon and are happy to note that this are included in the RS package.

Methods through which we can measure progress:

1st half of the year:

· Number of suitable groups identified

· Invited groups attend training

· Number of blogs started

· Number of trained members that contribute to those blogs

· How often the blogs are updated

· How interactive the blogs are – do they receive comments and link backs?

2nd half of the year:

· Number of trained members suitable for advanced training

· Well attended training sessions

· Confidence and ability to train others

· Number of new bloggers recruited by each advanced trained member

We anticipate a minimum of 25 direct participants. 5 people each from 5 youth groups. In the second half of the year we will select the top 2 from each group for more advanced training so they can go out and create and maintain blogs on their own. This could have a domino effect of bloggers, creating more bloggers and so on. The impact on their communities through this could revolutionary.

What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them? (200 words)

Problems – solution

Initial scepticism from the youth – highlight our previous experience with them and show them they will be able to write their stories.

Technological diverse groups – develop different training manuals for each group dependant on their exposure to the internet thus far.

Regular blog content – train 10 members per group each member has to post only 5 weeks in a year to ensure that each blog has a new post each week,

Internet connection – purchase a mobile city wide wireless internet solution for training and outreach purposes.

How do you plan to sustain your project's content after the Rising Voices funding has ended? Detail specific plans. How do you plan to raise revenue to continue your efforts in the future? (300 words)

We are currently in negotiation with other organisations to securing funding; these organisations mainly focus on HIV/AIDS advocacy which is why our proposal has a heavy HIV/AIDS angle. This funding together with a successful big for a Rising Voices grant would not only secure this country project but would enable us to roll it out across the rest of Kenya and the East Africa region. A list of the organisations we are talking to can be supplied on request.

In addition we intend to sell advertising on the blogs related to the topics discussed on the board. A across board price for appearing on all five blogs we feel would be attractive.

If in the worst case scenario in the unlikely event that the blogs did not raise any revenue or funding and could not sustain their own domain, we would move the blogs on to our website, threestones.net and host them there. All the blogging software will be open source so we do not anticipate any costing there.

What resources and support can Rising Voices provide to your project to ensure its success? (200 words)

Rising Voices support would greatly enhance this project.

Financial - The financial support would enable us to purchase the technical equipment and hold the training days necessary to introduce the youth groups to blogging and teach them the skills to blog.

Publicity - We are happy to read that the Rising Voices projects will be featured prominently on Global Voices as this will help generate readership and interest in the blogs.

Project management - On the project management side Rising Voices can help us with the setting of targets, monitoring and evaluation of the project to enable us measure the progress of the project.

Vision – You understand blogs, and the power of blogs as showcased by Global Voices. We would be dealing with the converted, which is a very welcome break!

TB Photovoice Thailand

Health & Development Networks (HDN)

www.hdnet.org www.hdnet.org/tbphotovoice

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community

you are targeting? (100 words)

TB Photovoice Thailand (TBPV) is an initiative that empowers TB patients and their

caregivers/families to raise TB awareness in their communities and increase TB advocacy efforts

through photography and dialogue. Participants are trained to use digital cameras to take photos

of the social context which impacts their lives and TB, HIV and related health issues in their

communities. We are seeking funding to expand this programme to develop an interactive

website/blog and train participants to ustilise these resources to:

• Create a safe space where participants can get support each other and dialogue with

other TBPV projects in the US and Brasil;

• Increase TBPV visibility in Thailand to learn and share with other people affected by TB;

and

• Increase TB awareness and advocacy in communities and among policy makers.

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide?

Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

The TBPV project produces photographs and stories that reflect the real life affects of TB on

individuals, families and communities. It provides a human voice to a highly biomedical-ized

disease. Main themes and issues are identified through in-person monthly participant dialogues

about the photos that they have taken. These issues will be used to facilitate community

dialogues, electronic discussion forums and/or blog discussions. Documented blog conversations

between participants giving each other advice and sharing lessons learned about best ways to

communicate and advocate for TB issues at the community and national levels will also be

produced. Additionally, the project will provide participants a forum to support and communicate

with each other outside of set participant in-person dialogue times. Project content will be shared

with projects in the US and Brasil to inform future development of global TB patient empowerment

efforts. Other content that will be generated and used for the project is information about TB

treatment, HIV and TB co-infection and HIV/TB related stigma.

Who will generate the content? Who is the target audience? How, and how often, will it be

distributed? What language(s) will it be available in? (300 words)

Content will be generated by TBPV participants and other contributors who support the work of

HIV and TB in Thailand. These will include HIV/TB activists, people cured of TB, people living

with HIV/TB, policy makers and health workers. The project content will target the general

community, health care providers, policy makers, media and other HIV/TB affected individuals.

TBPV information is regularly distributed to partner organisations and other local community

based organisations working on HIV and TB in Thailand, through meetings and personal contact.

Participant photographs are exhibited quarterly at local venues such as museums, health related

events and community forums. The website information will be available on demand. Updates,

media and advocacy alerts, highlighted participant stories will be updated at least once a month.

Times around special events (i.e. World TB Day) and advocacy events, the website will be

updated more frequently. Photographs and participant discussions will change as they utilize the

website and blog resources. Majority of the information presented on the website will be available

in Thai and in English. Participant discussions will be in Thai and translated as resources are

identified.

What kinds of participation and interaction do you expect from the

readers/listeners/viewers of your content? How will you encourage participation? (75

words)

People who see the photographs, stories and other information from the TBPV project will be

asked how their exposure to TBPV has impacted their view about TB. They will also be given call

to action, which can include posting a comment on the TBPV website in response to a

photograph or story, talk to a TBPV participant about their experience, discuss TB with their

friends and families, become a participant and/or contribute resources to the project.

What is your knowledge of your target community? Why are you the best

individual/organization to lead this project? Do you have prior experience in citizen media

outreach? (100 words)

The TBPV project in Thailand has been running for the last year. It has trained TB patients to take

photographs with digital cameras, improved their writing skills and empowered them to become

better advocates for the TB affected community. There are existing long-term relationships with

project partners and participants. Participants and partners’ ownership of the TBPV project are

integral to the implementation and future development of the project.

Health & Development Networks (HDN) is well qualified to lead this project because we have a

history of engaging marginalized groups and individuals through utilizing innovation and

technology. HDN’s programme in Thailand works with NGO networks to create a single national

platform for coordinated information, timely dialogue and advocacy on HIV and TB issues.

Describe what technologies and tools your project will use to produce the content What

kinds of technical skills and expertise do you bring to the project? What are your technical

needs? (100 words)

TBPV uses digital photography to produce content. The dialogues and participant stories are

usually digitally recorded and then transcribed. Participants who do not have access to computers

write their stories using pen and paper and their stories are inputted into a word processing

programme by the project staff. HDN and the TBPV staff are well versed in using online

communication tools such as the internet, instant messaging, email and content management

systems for updating websites. HDN is a leader in communication and information for HIV and TB

issues, increasing awareness and facilitating change. Our technical needs include web

development, blog integration into the website and participant training for photography and blog

use.

How will you measure and evaluate your project’s impact – on your main participants?

other contributors? on the larger community? How many participants do you expect to be

involved in your project? How will you seek and sustain their involvement? (200 words)

The project’s impact will be measured on various levels:

• Participants – through pre- and post-interviews/surveys regarding their involvement,

knowledge of photography and writing, knowledge about TB.

• Comparing identified issues around TB before programme participation with issues raised

in photos and participant dialogues

• Pre- and post-survey of TB awareness and understanding within the targeted

communities

• Effect on policy change will be measured by assessing the extent to which policies

targeted by the project have changed

• Participant interviews will be conducted to see how their personal experience of TB has

changed due to their involvement in the project

• Website statistics will be tracked and blog content analysed through quantitative methods

What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them? (200

words)

• Varying literacy levels: initial training involves two days of writing skills and conceptual

thinking; the project will create a buddy system where participants with higher literacy

skills assist those who are not as skilled

• Limited photo content – guide participants to move beyond the medical impact and look

at the social factors that propagate TB, this will be addressed by training in how to

express abstract ideas through symbolism

• Limited participation in community engagement – involve participants in all aspects of

planning community events, including giving participant leadership roles in planning and

organising

• Participant attrition – recruit at least 20% over desired participant number, more concise

participant criteria, increase recruitment outreach, identify meaningful incentives for

participation

How do you plan to sustain your project's content after the Rising Voices funding has

ended? Detail specific plans. How do you plan to raise revenue to continue your efforts in

the future? (300 words)

TBPV is currently seeking co-financing from various donors to support programme activities.

Fundraising efforts will be focused on donors who want to fund the whole programme in its

entirety and specific components (i.e. website, advocacy, special events). Donors being targeted

include Stop-TB Partnership, private foundations and individual donors. Strategies are being

explored to determine the feasibility of income generation for the programme and participants

through sales of generated photographs and also providing capacity building training on the

TBPV methodology for other areas/organisations interested in implementing TBPV in the Asia-

Pacific region. Joint fundraising activities are being initiated with the Amaya-Lacson TB

Photovoice project, the founder of TBPV and initial donor.

What resources and support can Rising Voices provide to your project to ensure its

success? (200 words)

In addition to the microgrant funding, Rising Voices can support TBPV Thailand by providing

additional resources/leads for other funding sources. TBPV can also benefit from Rising Voices

expertise and guidance on innovative ways to engage TBPV participants and supporters in citizen

media techniques for raising their voices about TB, HIV and other health and development

issues.

AIDS & ZAMBIAN PUPILS

Watchdog Newspaper

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community you are targeting? (100 words)

The project seeks to enable Zambian youths infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in boarding schools to share their experiences, fears and hopes with their counterparts, the nation and the global community. The project further seeks to accord Zambian youths in boarding schools to access and acquire latest and useful information on prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS with particular emphasis to Anti -Retroviral Drugs (ARVs).

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide? Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

The site will contain all the necessary information about HIV/AIDS in Zambia. Information containing jargon will be paraphrased to suit the target audience. The target group (Youths in Zambian Boarding schools) will be encouraged to submit (write) their views on HIV/AIDS. In their writing, they will be encouraged to be personal, that is to say, they will be encouraged to write their personal experiences; are they personally HIV positive, do they know of someone who died of AIDS or is on AIDS treatment, a close family member for example. It would be an interactive site where youths shall be encouraged to debate issues pertaining to sexual practices that may lead to contraction of HIV/AIDS. At times, experts shall be requested to explain or clarify certain issues which shall be raised in the debates. The site shall be linked to important AIDS organizations in the country like NGOs, care givers and government departments dealing with AIDS. The coordinator shall make sure that the site contains all the latest and necessary information on AIDS fight.

Who will generate the content? Who is the target audience? How, and how often, will it be distributed? What language(s) will it be available in? (300 words)

The content will be generated by both the coordinator and target audience. The target audience is Zambian youths in secondary boarding schools. The coordinator will research and write content on the AIDS situation in Zambia and the world at large, available treatment and alternative methods. Will interview experts, affected individuals and care givers and upload this content. The target audience will be encouraged to write on any topic related to AIDS or sexual practices that may lead to contraction of Sexually Transmitted Illnesses (STIs). For example, they will ask questions which other members can respond or if they are technical, they coordinator shall be obliged to seek answers from experts and then upload on the site. The content will be updated as often as possible. The idea is to promote debate and allow the target audience to tell the AIDS stories in their own language though of course the site will be moderated to avoid illegal content, or content not in good taste. The content will be in English as this is the official language.

What kinds of participation and interaction do you expect from the readers/listeners/viewers of your content? How will you encourage participation? (75 words)

Participation from readers shall be through letter writing responding to issues raised by others through giving their own experiences or perspectives and/ or actually generating content. We shall work through AIDS clubs or other school clubs in target schools to alert youths of the existence of this project. Visits to schools shall be conducted to inform the pupils of the project.

What is your knowledge of your target community? Why are you the best individual/organization to lead this project? Do you have prior experience in citizen media outreach? (100 words)

The target groups are easily defined since they are in boarding schools three-quarters of each year. Normally the group is between 14 and 21 years old. According to the Zambia Central Statistical Office baseline study (2006), this age group is the most infected by AIDS in Zambia. Yet, this is the group which is mostly sidelined in terms of AIDS information due to their confinement in boarding schools most of the time.

I am the most suitable person to lead this project because, apart from being interested in the HIV/AIDS fight, I am a professional journalist with eight years experience, I have worked as editor of a national tabloid called the Watchdog and I have also worked as volunteer editor for one World Africa. My job as volunteer editor was to manage a d-group. I have also keen interest in the application of ICTs as evidenced by the fact that I was the founding chairperson of Zambia Media ICT network for Development (MIND).

Describe what technologies and tools your project will use to produce the content. What kinds of technical skills and expertise do you bring to the project? What are your technical needs? (100 words)

Basic tools shall be a digital camera to capture visual images of the AIDS situation, Computer, the Internet where content will be uploaded on the site and software required for uploading content/or and designing the website/blog. My technical skills are that I am able to upload content using basic html and software like dreaweaver and adobe. I am also also a competent text subeditor. My technical needs are that most of my understanding of web designing and uploading are basic and may require some upgrading.

How will you measure and evaluate your project’s impact – on your main participants? Other contributors? On the larger community? How many participants do you expect to be involved in your project? How will you seek and sustain their involvement? (200 words)

A questionnaire shall be administered quarterly or as resources allow to the target audience to measure relevance and usage of the project. Initially, the project shall target 10 secondary schools. (Most secondary schools in Zambia have up to 1000 pupils). From comments posted by members of the public and their reactions, it shall be possible to have a working evaluation of the impact of the project on the larger community

What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them? (200 words)

By far, the biggest challenge shall be access to the Internet by the pupils. Internet is rarely accessible in boarding schools. It is only available for limited times in senior teachers’ offices. It shall be therefore the duty of the coordinator to encourage pupils to access the internet whenever chance may allow it. To those schools which have connectivity, the responsible teachers shall be encouraged to download and print content from the site and distribute it among pupils especially on club days. All those pupils who may have access to Internet shall be encouraged to print out and share with friends. Local NGOs operating near boarding schools and have internet connectivity shall also be encouraged to come on board and assist in making available to pupils the content through print outs. The coordinator also shall take note of such and from time to time shall make print outs and post them to those schools which may lack Internet. When schools are in recess, pupils shall be encouraged to browse the site and read all the content they may have missed during school. But to avoid all these hurdles, the project shall first target those schools which have some form of Internet connectivity adding on more schools as they become connected.

Given the nature of the project, raising revenue for its sustenance commercially will not work. It is however hoped that the project will generate enough interest during the period of Rising Voice grant to attract another benefactor to come on board. In short, revenue for continuation shall be sought though project proposals.

What resources and support can Rising Voices provide to your project to ensure its success? (200 words)

Financial, moral and technical support. The project clearly involves some money for internet connectivity and content generation, which, among other things includes transport, purchasing of some equipment like computers and digital camera. Moral support comes in terms of understanding of the main aim of the project which is to enable Zambian youths gain access to valuable information about their health vis-à-vis the HIV/AIDS pandemic which has killed so many of their colleagues and parents. Zambia is one of the countries most hit by AIDS and the youths are the most affected according to available data. In terms of ARVs provision which government reportedly provides for free, youths in secondary schools rarely get the appropriate information leading mostly to dangerous self treatment. Technical support maybe in terms of Rising Voices maintaining such a website/blog so that it can be easily accessible by anyone interested.

DISCOVER MORE TO KNOW YOUR WORLD

MAGONGO COMMUNITY SELF-HELP ASSOCIATION

Am e seeking to be funded by Rising Voices so that I can be able to buy and install a media project for learning and communication which will assist to educate, help and improve the lonely life of the many poor young men and women who at the moment are behind the current world of modern communication system of technology, also to assist the many orphans and widows left behind by the dangerous wiping disease HIV/AIDS within the remote areas of the interior parts of our country, (Nyanza Province). These people not only unable access these modern technology equipments, but they cannot afford to buy because of the high rate of poverty within the interior communities am are targeting to work with.

News and information such as their to the general life style, for example believes they have about the epidemic disease HIV/AIDS, economic impacts, culture, social life, effects of illiteracy, their right as human being, environmental issues, I will give highlight on our progress throughout our campaigns. Stories about cause and actions taken so far against these problems must be highlighted to the community and to the entire public for either education or awareness. As local communities they have their ways of practicing their cultures, ways of life which may have led to the high of infection of the HIV/AIDS hence increasing the high number of many windows and orphans in the community therefore I need to highlight these issues and educate them on the best way of doing or not practice the specified custom or culture rather, these informations found during our missions are to be collected and given out the public.

I have a good structure for generating our contents in the areas of our coverage in that I have divided the areas into small zones, with a coordinator in each zone whose main duties and responsibilities is to get news and information within the his area of working or from the ground and communicate it to the chief coordinator at the main station for analysis and produced to the locals and the entire public for education and awareness, and may be quick respond for the sake of the community and the entire public. Our main target audience is the local community, the public, the relevant government bodies/organs or offices, related NGOs, NPOs, individuals. Some news may be of and can be analyzed and be given out to the public and the community immediately, I will be giving out major news and information on monthly basis and summary annual events by the end of every year. I will be printing a yearly magazine, and also communicating some episodes to be broadcast through local radios and also through private televisions. Considering the local communities, who are mostly illiterate, I will be also producing news/ information contents by using local languages for the local community to get and understand the contents of the news and information related to their daily life and the community as a whole. Secondly I must use our two national languages i.e. English and Kiswahili for the general public to get and understand our news and information. This way will be creating awareness to entire public and also educating the public widely.

I will organize workshop with the community and teach or rather train them about blogging and photography; These will motivate and inspire more youths to come up in large numbers to get educated, will organize seminars locally within the community, schools, churches, tournaments and these will give me opportunity to educate them. I will produce news daily, monthly or annually new and information release with alert the entire public; Also working and visiting them door to door to interact fully with the local community.

I was born and brought up within the communities am targeting to work with; I speak most of the local languages found here. Have shared and experienced with them problems they are facing daily for last 30years. Have mobilized the communities here to fight inter-tribal clashes and assisted to solve the issue. Am a diploma graduate in Community development which has been guiding me through out my missions within the communities, I have a High Diploma in Computer IT which I trained from a very reputable college, Have been working with a local private media firm for the last 6 years. Thus am capable.

I will be using the cheap modernized equipments like computers for editing data, Digital Video cameras for capturing events and production of video-blog documentary, scanners, Photocopier machine, UPS power backup, phones, and some other related equipment. All these will help us translate our media curriculum to an indigenous language which is currently not present in the blogosphere or pod sphere and encourage bloggers to write using them. My technical need is how to get and install a fully equipped project to the local community, cost of mobilization and awareness which requires some funding to successes as expected fully.

I will be having a daily basis monitoring of my working within the project, talking o the locals, inviting external experts to assist in educating, mobilization and evaluating the progress made. I will set up suggestion boxes within the local centers for the locals to give their suggestions and opinions, these will enable me evaluate the impact of the projects to the people, I will be watching the rate at which people are responding, I will seeing how other contributors are cheeping in the contributions through records interactions with them, the larger community will be accessed through participation in organized seminars, events fund raisings and visiting them within their reach and weigh their respond and welcoming my ideas and suggestions towards the project and its activities, their supports whenever they are called to do so. Am expecting to work with 10 experts, the number will enable me manage, coordinate and educate the locals adequately. I will move very close to the people in order to get touching matters from the ground, also my frequent presence and interactions with people will make and convince the locals feel and see that am part of them in such touching issues they are facing.

Am expecting various challenges during my working, challenges like political must be seen within my working radius especially during my first days, even though my project strictly a non-political body, finding ways of how to harmonize my policies and those of local administrative bodies, other NGOs, different faith and believers from different denominations. Also being that I will be working within my community whom I grew up with mot of then, am expecting my idlers and lazy people whom will be popping in frequently for begging and not ready to be active part of troop mobilizing the entire community. Am expecting doing my duties in odd hours with the most affected orphans, aged, and larger community. How my entire staff members will survive with the families because they will be fully involved in the project duties daily. To overcome those, I will make sure that I clearly and free define the project polices to the community by holding seminars with communities and authority concerned to harmonize my polices with theirs. I wish stricken my duties to benefit the community with transparencies, accountability and honesty to avoid scaring away community faith, and other sponsors, and contributors and to maintain the impact to community.

I will looking into other ways of expanding the project to get some of its own income through establishing some projects which can generate some money towards the project example sell of some of our photos and collected documentaries to the local radio and televisions and have some fees from them, hence will be on the ground which getting very fresh and vital news and events which they might not be aware or in a position to cover and air to the public. Because of the important project we are establishing, we are going to attract interest of many well wishers who actually my effects will be to conceal a strong economical relationship with them for the betterment of the project and that’s my vision for the project. Am going to create awareness to public and make sure that they recognized my existence, by making simple advertisements where possible and frequent invitation, attending and inviting other NGOs and relevant government official, churches, schools to solidify my good relationship with them, participating in their organized events to create and learn more about new ways and inventory. I will charged entry fee to foreigners coming to see whatever the project is all about, non local community members. I will produce more articles, to earn us income, activities like farming with the community by producing vegetables, tomatoes, fruits, keeping domestic animals like dairy cows, beef, sheep, goats and chicken for meat and eggs. Their products will be sold both locally and to the entire public. This will be doing while still under sponsorship of Rising Voices. It will be also a sign to motivating the local community to participate more towards economic grounds. I will look for Video coverage contracts outside the community hence giving students and people taking training exposure and experience.

E-Power Iganga

Busoga Shining Light Association

http://busogashining.blogspot.com

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community you are targeting? (100 words)

\The Busoga Shining Light Association is a young not-for-profit community organization finding ways to meet the great needs of the people in the Iganga District of Uganda. Meeting the challenges and enabling solutions requires empowering the strengths of the human resources of our community. Blogs are an example of people producing something for reasons other than money. Providing reasons to produce other than money is essential to enable members of our community to provide the most vulnerable and destitute the information they need, in a form they can understand.

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide? Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

Internet content is most often many-to-many; it is social. The Busoga Shining Light Association is engaged in an agricultural project to help improve the incomes of widows caring for orphaned children as the results of AIDS. These families are in villages without electricity and most of the women do not speak English. AIDS education, as well as agricultural and marketing information is critical. In addition frequent contact with the major donors to the program, Slum Doctors in Belligham Washington is important.

MP3 players can be made to broadcast a short distance to a radio, so these players provide a portable way to provide content in the villages, as do video CD players. These media are also a way to gain the attention of sponsors and potential collaborators abroad.

School materials are a critical need for the children in these families. Small books made form a single sheet of paper or less provide an inexpensive way to provide educational content. Blank sheets of paper and pens and pencils are a way for the children to also create content.

The content is intended to be educational in three formats: audio, video, and text.

Who will generate the content? Who is the target audience? How, and how often, will it be distributed? What language(s) will it be available in? (300 words)

In Iganga there is a University and a college as well as secondary schools. Students here are eager to embrace Information and communication technologies; however the penetration of these technologies is still shallow. In exchange for access to the tools and some training in how to create text, audio, and video files students and community members will created educational content for the target audiences here in Uganda and content for audiences abroad. The students and community members can create content in local languages.

Community members in Iganga will be particularly excited to learn about creating audio, video and Presentations, but the creation of the small books is very important. Educational materials for the children might be as simple as practice exercises, and emphasis will be on creating original content. Interest in original content may not be limited to Uganda, nor should the creation of content be. For example children here may create books which can be shared abroad, and children abroad may create small books for the children in Uganda.

As text files can be easily sent over the Internet these small books can be sent to be reproduced abroad. While the value of the books may not be great, they are a product which can be sold in support of the program. As text files can be easily sent over the Internet these small books can be sent to be reproduced abroad. The exchange of files will be facilitated by a blog.

What kinds of participation and interaction do you expect from the readers/listeners/viewers of your content? How will you encourage participation? (75 words)

The value of education is well understood by Ugandans. The ability to create content is empowering. Young people in Iganga will have a way to contribute to connection people in villages. People abroad will learn from content created in Uganda. The goal is to create multi-directional conversations connecting people together.

What is your knowledge of your target community? Why are you the best individual/organization to lead this project? Do you have prior experience in citizen media outreach? (100 words)

The BSLA was formally registered as a community-based organization in February 2004, but has roots extending much earlier with a group of young people eager to improve the lives of people in the community. Together we identified five inter-connecting areas where together we can make a positive difference: fellowship, education, health, the environment, and livelihood. From our earliest days we've been collaborating with persons in the USA by way of the Internet. As a local my knowledge of the Iganga District is informed by my years as Chair of the BSLA working in collaboration with native organizations and interested organizations and individuals in the USA.

The BSLA office is imagined as an ICT hub. Two computers, a scanner, an inexpensive video camera, an MP3 player with transmitter to radio and a microphone, and Internet connection are important technologies needed. I worked five years managing the computer center at Iganga Secondary School, a large and well-regarded high school for girls. My qualifications included my training on Microsoft Office software. I instructed community members in their use as well. I completed a correspondence course in Computer Management as well as receiving school-sponsored training. We need interested parties abroad to assist in gaining attention for our online presence.

The base of content creation will be instruction at the BSLA office in creating new media. As fulfillment of these classes media will be created, but the important measure is whether participants go on to apply what they have learned by creating further content. Blogs provide a efficient way to collect Web analytics; again the important measure is not the raw count of media created, rather growth in the trend of content creation.

In the BSLA AIDS Widows project currently there are seven groups of five women with an average of five dependants. Over the course of they year we hope to involve 100 students and community members in the creation of content. In addition we hope to actively engage at least 100 people abroad in creation of some content for the project. We also anticipate thousands of views of content uploaded to the Internet.

School enrollment a crucial measure of the well-bing of the children of the Widows Project.

Creation of the small books is important to sustain the project. Relationships are the essential part of the many-to-many new media. The small books provide a physical symbol of that relationship. Sharing or exchanging small books whose content was created in Uganda by people abroad is a way for them to explain to others their relationships with people in Uganda and to encourage others to seek these relationships out.

What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them? (200 words)

Internet connection speeds are slow in Uganda making uploading of large files like video and audio files cumbersome. Perhaps the most efficient way to get such content online will be to send CDs abroad for people there to post.

While there is a great interest in ICTs in Uganda, the Internet still remains new and retains some level of suspicion about it. Students often find that schools keen to protect them actually discourage posting and using the Internet for research. It's hoped that creation of content for local audiences will be a way to provide evidence of the positive potential of ICTs.

One of the first projects the BSLA undertook was AIDS education. One of our rules in that program was “At least it should be entertaining.” The participation in training to create content must be fun. Our aim is to create “passionate users.”

We plan to upload as much content as we can on free services like Blogs, Wikis, image hosting services, and video hosting services. The objective of the BSLA AIDS Widows program is to improve their family income by the provision of inputs, education, and marketing for maize over three years. The children need some immediate help too. By the creation of small books the children can do something in exchange for help they receive. For example perhaps a school class or Church group could market some of the small books created in Uganda. Small donations could enable aid to the children for school and the creation of small books for them. There is potential for organizations to use this model all over the world. In fact, the more organizations participating could help to create a “library” of useful informational pamphlets which could be shared widely. The revenue stream created by the exchange of small books is essential to the sustainability of this project.

What resources and support can Rising Voices provide to your project to ensure its success? (200 words)

Global Voices "curates and amplifies the conversation online." Global Voices does more and one of the important things is in bringing content and content creators together who would not otherwise find each other. Rising Voices can assist by suggesting and facilitating connections with creators worldwide to assist the BSLA in providing excellent training for the content producers here. Some help in creating templates for the creation of small books of a single page or less would be quite helpful. Such expertise is surely to be found among the many bloggers who join with Global Voices.

Orphans and Vulnerable Children against HIV and AIDS

Orphans Relief Services (ORES)

www.ores.or.tz

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community you are targeting? (100 words)

To conduct workshop on blogging, photography and video to the selected Orphans. Aim to empower rural Orphans Children to voice their needs and Problem encountered as vulnerable children in rural setting of Tanzania.

This project focus on 20 Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) living at Help Orphans Tanzania Orphanage centre. This Project shall raise voice to the Tanzanians to know the Problems of Children who have been affected and infected by HIV and AIDS. It estimated in Tanzania the HIV prevalence rate is 9.0% Number of Children living with HIV is more than 180,000 and more than 3 millions Orphans.

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide? Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

The project shall focuses mainly on the Story and news include

· Suffering history of children who are HIV+,

· Life experience of HIV Orphans living in the streets,

· Children who taking care of their siblings after their parents died.

· Life history of the Orphans who forced to child labor in order earns money to buy food and pay for shelter themselves and their young brothers and sisters.

· Life experiences in the Orphanage and being Homeless

· Problems of Orphans and Vulnerable children who are living with HIV and AIDS are getting in Treatment and care due to poverty and lack of access to children treatment

· Adolescent orphans who due to difficult if life force themselves in Prostitution and commercial sexual works, abuse and problem experiences

· Problem faced by the OVC in the streets

· Medical problem and access to difficulty access to secondary Education

The vision of the contents is To raise awareness and sensitize the Tanzania community and the world on the Problems and Challenges Children who affected or infected by HIV and AIDS have been sufferings and call for the lobbying and advocacy of urgent support from National and international level support.

Who will generate the content? Who is the target audience? How, and how often, will it be distributed? What language(s) will it be available in? (300 words)

The contents shall be generated by the orphans and vulnerable children themselves who have been sufferings and experiences the challenges and difficulties of being Orphans and Vulnerable, Living with HIV and AIDS, being forced to Child labor, Prostitution, adolescent pregnancies.

The Target group: This project shall focus on 34 Orphans and Vulnerable Children who will be representing 1142 Orphans and vulnerable children living at Help Orphans Tanzania Orphanage center based in Dar es salaam, Tanzania.

After training workshop the group of youth at the Center, the identified orphans to perform at the project shall be identified and guided by the workshop on how to give their Life history experiences, Photos and Video shall be taken by the youth trained later the photo and video to be sent dignitary to Global Voice and other media or Internet sites who can need them.

How Often: Basically the activity shall be done quarterly, that means after every four months, sometimes might happen as emergency experiences to be reported when arise.

But principally shall be distributed after every three months.

Language: Initially the work shall be done in Kiswahili, which means that is language spoken fluently in East Africa particularly in Tanzania, But having the project done the Project as well shall be translated in English, there shall be two version of the work in English and Kiswahili. But if it needed to another language as needs require the product shall be have word translated to the language concern by the Volunteers of the Project.

What kinds of participation and interaction do you expect from the readers/listeners/viewers of your content? How will you encourage participation? (75 words)

The participation and interaction expected shall be of mixed reaction of feeling after reading, listening and view the product Children experiences, Particular the sufferings and abuse histories as well as being Homeless and HIV+. I believe that the readers/listeners/viewers shall be touched by stories and volunteer to support these children.

The participation shall be encouraged by calling people of the good will to support these children and call Government leaders to advocacy and good policy.

What is your knowledge of your target community? Why are you the best individual/organization to lead this project? Do you have prior experience in citizen media outreach? (100 words)

Knowledge of the Target group: Orphans Relief Organization has ten years experience working in support and care of the Orphans and most Vulnerable children (OVC) therefore we have vast experiences working with the Target group (The OVC)

We are the best Organizations in the sense that we have long experiences in working with Orphans and Vulnerable Children, we have good team of social worker and child care staff, we have experience of 3 years running the Orphanage, therefore we are sure we shall lead well the Project based on experiences and expatriate.

Yes we have experiences in citizen media outreach

The Organization shall be bringing the experience Video media expert in project as Trainer, Who shall work in hand with the Youth at the centers to train them. The Organization having two media staff who have been trained at the SAUT College of Journalism, we have 1 expert in Photo taking, I expert in Video taking, we have the expert reporter and story taking, we have 1 expertise in making documentary video production.

Tools: The Organization shall bring two video camera in the Project, One hand tape for the recordings.

Technical needs: Computer, editing equipment, digital camera and graphics designees.

Measuring and evaluating activities will be an integral and important component of the project. This will be an essential element of the project.

The Measuring will be an on going process involving all the main participants and Projects and viewers in regular collecting, analyzing and using information to measure the effectiveness of the project performance at the level of objectives activities, input and output. We shall develop the M&E tools in relation with work plan, to measure expected deliverables. Both quantitative and qualitative project information shall be gathered and be analyzed by the project staff, participants and viewers. A set of checklist to assess and track whether the project goals and objectives have been met, to indicate whether we have met the output targets essential about performance.

Participants: The project shall involve 34 youth at the center active participants

Sustainability: The Project shall sustain the involvement of the participants due fact the project shall have grassroots approach and the target group shall be fully involved identified and trained. Through training, purchased equipment to use and full participation they have sense of belonging and up keeping. There shall be constant visit of the Project staff to give technical support after training.

What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them? (200 words)

Challenges

· The learning capacity of some youth who shall be involved in the Project, some shall be quick learner and some shall be slow.

· Poor infrastructure and climatic condition sometimes when we visit some Orphans families to get their previous life experiences.

· As concern with Tanzania there have some problems of constant availability of electricity, then shall interfere sometimes with work

· Lack of openness among the children story teller due fear of Stigma, This might cause lack of openness and hinder full participation and cause missing of sensitive information.

· Risk of equipments damage.

· Failure to get constant internet services for sending information

Plan to overcome

· Appropriate Identification of the target group and having simple training methodology and participatory approach.

· On issue of power is to purchase the backup generator or set solar.

· On environment change: flexibility and being ready to adopt changes in time.

· On issue of stigma there shall be good counseling sessions to all Orphans participated in the project

· Proper care of Project equipments and having the backup equipment if problem arise

· Purchase of Desk top Computers and Installation of Broad band Internet at the facilities.

How do you plan to sustain your project's content after the Rising Voices funding has ended? Detail specific plans. How do you plan to raise revenue to continue your efforts in the future? (300 words)

The Project shall be sustainable after the ending Rising Fund in the following strategies:.

· From initial stage of the project shall be element of the community involvement in the need of the project. Then community shall be sensitized to continue to support the project

· Due that some media documentary such as Video documentary provided by the Project shall have impacts to the Community we shall cooperate with some Media TV station such as ITV and Channel, to broadcast the documentary and appeal for the other local benefactors to come out and support the Project.

· Other documents shall be sold then to provide source of income to the project.

· Equipment purchased for the project, shall be on the hand used to be used in income generating activities such as hire the equipments, have tender to make documentary or video shooting to other events.

· From the documents provided the Organization shall arrange fund raising events where the document shall be viewed and other people shall be invited to give out their donation to support the Project some other document shall be sold.

· There shall be plan to use the equipments and support from the ORES Organization to develop Film as a product of the Project, Then the Film shall \be sold t the TV stations which aim to air the Children affairs like Star TV and ITV.

HIV/AIDS Information Resource and Related Resources

Lake Victoria Earth Charter Youth Group

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community you are targeting? (100 words)

I am seeking this fund to set up HIV/AIDS information and related information database to be freely accessed by the rural youth in the Lake Victoria Basin.

The Lake Victoria Basin has an average population density of 250 people per square kilometer, HIV/AIDS prevalence particularly Nyanza province is standing at 13% twice that of the national average, and the same province despite being one of the two that receive rainfall twice a year has higher level of poverty and Western province also part of the Lake Victoria Basin is ranked as third poorest province in country. This project is for empowerment through information and also includes follow as to how the information received could best translated into concrete actions for the betterment of the youth and other vulnerable members of the society hence it will surely benefit the community since they make informed decision about their health and development in general.

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide? Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

This free information database authoritative information and medically approved intervention measures to curtail the spread of HIV, in all aspects of the disease and how to take care and relate with those who are affected and infected with disease. The project will also carry opportunity that empowers young people and other disadvantaged groups like in terms of microfinance information, poverty eradication, ventures, water and sanitation, Education opportunities, business opportunities, environment and social life among others.

The vision of the project is to build an empowered and informed youth regardless of their gender, race, class, status, creed, and economic status in the Lake Victoria Basin

Who will generate the content? Who is the target audience? How, and how often, will it be distributed? What language(s) will it be available in? (300 words)

This is a pioneer stage, we will use the internet facility to critically source, document and distribute useful information to the youth in the Lake Victoria Basin, the information will be obtained from the various United Nation agencies their allies and other internationally nationally recognized institutions and organizations, we are aware that that some information in the internet are meant to misinform, mislead or even are not well informed.

As provided for in our constitution, the target audience will be members of the group who are described as young people between the ages of 18 and 35 as ordinary members, corporate members being youth organizations affiliated to the group, those registered under the District Social Development Office ( Dsdo), friends of the group, those over the age of 35 years and share the ideals of the group and willing to participate in the affairs/associate with the group. and lastly, women groups willing to be members, this is because of their position in the society as the most vulnerable and yet, the poorest and yet the most overburdened.

A documented newsletter will be made available to the members every month, however the coordinator will be visiting the constituency every week to collect views and opinions and follow up of possible intends to take up projects and initiatives based on the information received. The information will be available only in English but we recognize the deserving need to translate the information in the local ethnic languages, the only barrier will be finances but we will explore that.

The coordinator will lead in the information development.

What kinds of participation and interaction do you expect from the readers/listeners/viewers of your content? How will you encourage participation? (75 words)

As an Earth Charter activist and a keen follower/reader of Quantum Leadership: The Power of Community in Motion, this project will entail participatory approach, in which the views of the community will be sought to inform largely the kind of information they be presented with. Also the project seeks to empower them and so they are expected to initiate projects in collaboration with organization, these could be cooperatives societies, advocacy and lobbying particularly if it is leadership that is needed.

What is your knowledge of your target community? Why are you the best individual/organization to lead this project? Do you have prior experience in citizen media outreach? (100 words)

I am 24 years old and was born in and grew up in this region (Rachuonyo district Nyanza province in the Lake Victoria Basin) and from a humble background. I have always experienced and associated with the predicaments of the people and this is my motivation for seeking social entrepreneurship. I have engaged in a lot of civil society workshops, seminars, lectures and directly as a member e.g. in ; Nature Kenya, East Africa n Wildlife Society, National Youth Parliament, Kenya Young Greens and the Earth Charter Youth Initiative and the Global Youth Coalition on Aids

The project will use the ICT technology, in particular it requires; a computer, internet access, a printer, binder, digital camera, video camera, printing materials and binding materials.

I in particular will provide my talent of being an information resource mobilizer and Quantum leadership (i.e. leadership for a community in motion, leadership for the betterment of the community).

My technical needs are in the certain aspects of ICT like design, web development, video and film production and fundraising skills

This is an empowerment project; the results will be; more member will be engaging in income generating activities, speaking openly about HIV/Aids, will be opened to the global community, writing on the local daily news papers, more learning opportunities and hence increased tertiary education among the members and also vocational training, change of attitude and lifestyle regarding HIV and Aids.

The project will start with the close to the 200 youth groups in registered in the Rachuonyo district social development office in Nyanza province. Their involvement will be sought through conducting an Earth Charter Workshop in the district and subsequently enrolling them as members in which they will start get the inspirational newsletters and other educational materials and surely they will be members to stay.

What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them? (200 words)

Eminent challenges include;

1. Maintaining personnel to carry the research and other related activities

2. Securing and maintaining an officer space and other indirect expenses

3. Breaking the cultural barriers in HIV/Aids curtailment, stigma associated with disease and

4. Fear of political advocacy

How to over come the challenges;

1. Aggressively search for partners to take of the first two challenges, advice from the Global voice will be highly appreciated.

2. With genuine information and exposure of the bad attitude and comparing notes from other places we will surely break through the last two challenges.

Most established societies charge membership at quite some high fees, at the end of the project or upon good establishment will scale the membership fees and renewal but not locking out anybody, the spirit of the Earth Charter is to cooperate and collaborate with local and international NGOs, the tendency is that a lot of grant makers like to come in to support established projects , though this is unfortunate for starters but we will benefit from this as we strategize for it, particularly if we have a video camera to document our projects and also a digital camera.

Transparency in HIV/AIDS programmes initiative

The AIDS Africa eNetwork (Réseau Sida Afrique) and AJAAH

www.reseausida.org

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community you are targeting? (100 words)

(i) Purpose of the request

We are seeking funding for the Transparency in HIV/AIDS programmes initiative to be implemented in 10 countries in Africa where there are active 50 members of the AIDS Africa eNetwork (Réseau Sida Afrique). The fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Governments are expected to achieve.

(ii) Benefits of the project for the community

Objectives:

· to provide a critical mass of members of the network with skills to use blogs, discussion groups, audio and photos sharing spaces;

· to stimulate debate and reflection on HIV/AIDS policies, programmes achievements and weaknesses aimed at influencing policy;

· to generate content on HIV/AIDS related issues to share useful resources, best practices and challenges .

The project will:

1) Organize an online training of trainers on use of Web 2.0 tools;

2) Organize local trainings on Web 2.0 tools for the network members;

3) Launch on line discussions whose content will feed the blog;

4) Create a blog and a space for sharing photos online.

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide? Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

The members will be gain new skills and knowledge and use strategically web 2.0 tools to monitor HIV/AIDS initiatives in their countries, as well as to report on the achievement status of promises made by national AIDS Councils and Governments. They will also produce analytical articles on limitations and original reports on populations affected and infected by AIDS. They will the opportunity to express free themselves even anonymously.

The content produced will be stories, analytical articles, facts and figures and testimonies from the field on HIV/AIDS aimed at increasing transparency in the public management of resources committed to HIV/AIDS in the African countries.

The stories will be a way to hold Governments responsible for their commitments and monitor the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

There will be a moderator of the blog who will also collect data and resources available on internet on HIV/AIDS that is critical and could be used by AIDS Africa eNetwork 215 members in 17 countries in Africa.

Content will be produced in text and audio format as well as we will have pictures. Local languages will be used and we expect a diversity of languages such as (Sango, Lingala, Wolof, French and more).

They could raise their voice on critical issues such as access to ARVs and treatment, people living with HIV/AIDS rights and other. Discussions will also be hold on HIV/AIDS policy issues at the national, regional and international level.

Stories will also feature how people’s living with HIV/AIDS is being violated and what actions need to be taken.

During the on line discussions, the best views and critical analysis will feed the blog. We will also be running a contest each month to stimulate production of good content.

Who will generate the content? Who is the target audience? How, and how often, will it be distributed? What language(s) will it be available in? (300 words)

(i) Who will generate the content?

The project primary beneficiaries are 60 organizations and individuals’ members of the AIDS Africa eNetwork in 10 African countries - Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo, Mali, Benin, Gabon, Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Rwanda and Senegal.

The second beneficiaries are the 215 network members in 17 countries in Africa. The people living with HIV/AIDS and affected by HIV/AIDS are involved in this project.

The content will be produced by the 50 organizations and individuals’ members of the network who will be trained in the use Web 2.0 tools. However, as our network is a pan African one where members regularly communicate through a list and exchange of stories and discussions, we expect some the remaining members (115 out of 215) to contribute as well.

The online training of trainers will equip 10 members with advanced internet skills who will be able after the training to train 4 local members of the network (50 members in total for the 10 countries).

(ii) Target audience

The target audience is people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa, Governments, decisions-makers, private sector and civil society organizations as well as international organizations.

(iii) Frequency

The content will be updated weekly; we expect at least 3 new articles per week from the first targeted contributors.

The discussions will be holding each two months and as mentioned earlier, the best views and critical analysis will feed the blog. We will also be running a contest each month to stimulate production of good content; the best content will be featured on the blog.

(ii) Languages

Local and official languages will be used and we expect a diversity of languages such as (Sango, Lingala, Wolof, French and more).

What kinds of participation and interaction do you expect from the readers/listeners/viewers of your content? How will you encourage participation? (75 words)

(i) Participation and interaction of readers/listeners/viewers of the content

The online discussions that will happen will be a good way to involve other stakeholders willing to discuss. The readers/listeners and viewers will have the opportunity to post their stories, comments, and photos and also compete for the best content of the month.

The project will have enough exposure to other communities and people involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa and worldwide.

(ii) Encourage participation

The moderator is also expected to contact and thanks all content contributors to encourage them to continue doing so. Other forms of encouragement for participation will be contacting some identified people who could provide new perspectives to discussions, share stories, and also bring critical information and analysis.

The contest for best content of the month will also be a good motivation.

What is your knowledge of your target community? Why are you the best individual/organization to lead this project? Do you have prior experience in citizen media outreach? (100 words)

(i) Knowledge of your target community

The organizations implementing the project are themselves involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We have been coordination the AIDS Africa eNetwork since 2004, thus we have been working all the 215 members organizing joint activities in some countries.

(ii) Experience of the organizations and prior experience in citizen media outreach

Réseau Sida Afrique (The AIDS Africa eNetwork) is a network and AJAAH is the assuring the Secretariat of the Network for West African countries since 2004. We are already using internet tools such as an on line discussion group (http://www.dgroups.org/groups/ReseauSidaAfriqueeForum/index), a blog (http://reseausidaafrique.blogspot.com), a flickr space for sharing photos

(www.flickr.com/photos/reseausidaafrique ) and a website being actually redesigned at www.reseausida.org. We are launching a newsletter in the next month.

(i) Technologies and tools your project will use to produce the content

We will use blog at www.blogger.com, flickr space at www.flickr.com

for photos sharing, our website www.reseausida.org for audio podcasting and dgroups.org to conduct on line discussions. We will also use RSS feeds, aggregators, and tagging tools.

(ii) What are your technical needs

We will need a support from Rising Voices to hold the on line training on the use of Web 2.0 tools in the course of this project. We could also explore hosting issues with Rising Voices especially for our website and podcasting.

(i) Expected impact

Capacity building

· 50 members (men and women) of the network from 10 countries are trained in used of blogs, photo sharing spaces, audio podcsating and use of RSS feeds, aggregators, tagging and other Web 2.0 tools.

· Increased understanding and capacity among institutional and individuals members in using citizen medias in their work;

Content Development

· New and original content on HIV/AIDS, local and diverse content is produced on HIV/AIDS related issues.

· Diversity of content on HIV/AIDS in various languages: Sango, Wolof, Lingala, French and other.

· Network members and other stakeholders share and have access to content in text, audio and photos format in multiple formats by appropriating and adapting ICT tools such as RSS, blog aggregators, tagging etc.

Policy influence

· Increase of analysis on HIV/AIDS programmes achievements and weaknesses.

· Information available on HIV/AIDS policy for more than 10 countries.

· Stakeholders share strategies and best practices on HIV/AIDS initiatives.

· Stakeholders use the content generated in their advocacy work at the local, national and regional level.

(ii) Evaluation and project beneficiaries and involvement

The evaluation indicators of the project impact will be based on the expected results.

This project is based on needs assessment conducted by the network in earlier 2007 and a further development component of the project of increasing collaboration and sharing knowledge within the network and with other stakeholders.

The project beneficiaries thus are involved in the development of this project, including people affected and infected with HIV/AIDS.

What challenges do you expect to face, and how do you plan to overcome them? (200 words)

We expect to face challenges such as electricity cuts off in some members’ countries participating in the project and challenges with the online training. To overcome it, we will use interactive methods of online training including use of voice discussions by skype, yahoo messenger conferencing and other tools. We will also provide an on going technical support during the project.

· The project is already a part of a broader part of activities aimed at helping the network achieve its objectives, and is already producing content. This project is an added value to the work already being done and an opportunity to use new tools to increase our impact.

· The project will enable the network and its members to use new web tools and continue to interact.

· There will be more visibility of the work members achieve in their countries and also more knowledge shared.

· Since free hosting services will be provided for us to undertake the project and members after one year of implementation will have skills to use the citizen media, it is ensured that they will keep generating the content.

Photos for Fortitude

http://forfortitude.org/

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community you are targeting? (100 words)

I am seeking Rising Voices funding to launch a pilot project, Photos for Fortitude, which will operate under the umbrella of For Fortitude (see below) to pull together photography essays & writings from both development workers in the field, & also from local communities. While I intend this to be wide-reaching in the future, the pilot project will focus on women & children who have experienced suffering from HIV/AIDS, whether directly or indirectly (through living with family members etc.) in Swaziland. This complements my existing academic research into HIV/AIDS & governance in Swaziland, by hopefully giving a greater understanding of how (lack of) governance contributes to the HIV/AIDS crisis at a micro, household level. By doing so, it is to be hoped that greater awareness is raised of the need for coherent governance strategies to combat HIV/AIDS in Swaziland, the country with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world currently.

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide? Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

For Fortitude (at http://forfortitude.org) will ultimately be a portal for photography essays & writings from both development workers in the field & the local communities they work with, with the only criteria being that the content will give voice to inequalities & deprivations of poor communities around the world. I see immediacy & directness being aesthetically desirable qualities – in the spirit of photojournalism & documentary photography - & it is my hope that the people who contribute to the site, whether on an organized or ad-hoc basis, do so to demonstrate their passion for both poverty/inequality reduction & (photo) journalism.

Who will generate the content? Who is the target audience? How, and how often, will it be distributed? What language(s) will it be available in? (300 words)?

The pilot project that I seek funding for, i.e. photographic essays from HIV/AIDS sufferers in Swaziland, will be carried out by me, & I anticipate doing most of the photography. However, I would like for the families I meet to tell their stories in their words, & I aim to present these stories as they are told to me. Other projects on For Fortitude in the future will be carried out by other development workers & the communities they work with – I would welcome any one who is enthusiastic about such an approach!

The target audience is that of the global photographic & media community. This is ambitious, certainly, but given the internet & the reach of Global Voices, & my intention to publicize this here at the London School of Economics (where I am completing my postgraduate degree), I think this is very possible.

Distribution will be done after the fact, i.e. this will not be a real-time project. I am emphasizing individual realities, so censorship/excessive editing will not be carried out, but coherence is as important as immediacy in putting together photographic essays & writings.

Photos for Fortitude will be largely image-driven, & content in English. To the extent that projects in the future are carried out on an extensive scale in communities in which other languages are spoken, they will also be presented in local languages with English translations (if possible to do so).

What kinds of participation and interaction do you expect from the readers/listeners/viewers of your content? How will you encourage participation? (75 words)

I would love & encourage participation, whether from the development community or from people who would like an arena for their voices. I see a possibility for a feedback loop of sorts, so that communities who participate do so on an ongoing basis, with content & stories being updated, & the ability to receive emails/communication from readers/viewers around the world, & to respond to such.

What is your knowledge of your target community? Why are you the best individual/organization to lead this project? Do you have prior experience in citizen media outreach? (100 words)

I have spent almost a year doing academic research on HIV/AIDS in general, & Swaziland in particular, & governance is a particular passion of mine. There is a plethora of academic work on governance & HIV/AIDS, but not very much on Swaziland in particular, & as far as I am aware, there is a lack of awareness in the media about the situation in Swaziland.

I am the best individual (& soon to be organization) to lead this project because I will bring my passion & academic knowledge to the issue, with an eye for aesthetically effective media & the capacity to dedicate myself to this task. Before I heard of Rising Voices, I had already registered the domain forfortitude.org in anticipation of kicking off this project over summer 2007, & I have had prior experience constructing websites for community-based organizations (see kafami.forfortitude.org, the website of another CBO I worked with in Uganda that I helped develop, & which I transferred over to this sub-domain).

Technologies & tools needed will be basic – a few digital cameras, internet access, & a website to host the content (which I already have). I will focus on simple digital cameras in the field, especially when working with local communities, as in my experience these make for fast learning, adaptation, & provide instant feedback (the participants want to, & should, have a say in the images they present to the world – which is possible with a digital camera). I am able to teach people to use a camera, & have experience teaching communities to use computers & the internet, which will allow for future community-created projects.

If I receive positive feedback from just a few viewers/readers, that will be sufficient for me, personally. However, I hope that the local people I work with will be self-empowered by lending their voices to us, to co-opt for For Fortitude - & I anticipate being able to evaluate this by developing & sustaining long-term relationships with them, even tracking updates & progress of families over the years. This will ideally feed into a self-perpetuating cycle – by helping people on the ground find their voice, it is hoped that stronger self-awareness & consciousness will result in them being heard by higher levels of civil society & government – i.e. in Swaziland, international donors & civil society. This will be a self-sustaining project as I hope that the participants will see tangible effects not only in their self-empowerment/confidence, but the ability to effect change, & thus will want to be involved on an ongoing basis.

What challenges do you expect to face, and

how do you plan to overcome them? (200 words)

I expect to face challenges to my legitimacy from both the authorities overseeing the places I work in & the communities I work with, as well as issues of trust from the participants themselves. This is unavoidable, but I hope to be able to build & sustain relationships with them that build trust, & demonstrate the benefits of For Fortitude, in giving voices to inequalities & deprivations in society.

Logistical/operational issues are also problematic. Cost of access (e.g. travel within Swaziland), internet access & camera equipment is also a factor – which is where I hope Rising Voices comes in. Rural communities may not have access to the internet, nor have the resources to gain such access – in which case the facilitator (in Swaziland, myself – in other communities, the development worker) will take responsibility for uploading photographs & editing the writings etc.

If I succeed in launching this on a wider scale in the future, I will not personally be able to oversee each & every project. I am in the midst of pulling together a network of like-minded individuals who would be interested, to give ideas, facilitate other such photographic/writing projects for For Fortitude, & who are equally committed to issues of poverty/inequality in the developing world in the work.

The Youth Campaign Against HIV/AIDS

Why are you seeking Rising Voices funding? How will your project benefit the community you are targeting? (100 words)

The Youth Campaign Against HIV/AIDS is a comprehensive operation to bring attention to concerns associated with HIV and AIDS in Ethiopia, specifically those that affect children. The campaign will be made up of video blog website, and a print campaign created by HIV positive children addressing the issues that most influence their lives.

The forum is intended to demonstrate that using visual communications methods, one can encourage open discussion and present new ideas. By creating an uninhibited environment for dialogue and debate, young visual communicators will provide their audiences effective information that will effect of change. The Youth Campaign Against HIV/AIDS focuses on improving skills in communication and teaching manipulation of graphic design devices, and in the end, gives its participants the needed tools to influence and inspire development.

What kinds of news, stories, information and other content will your project provide? Describe your vision for the content. (250 words)

Website Sections:

- Future Plans – Aspirations and dreams for the future; hopes for the public concerning issues surrounding HIV

- Rights of Children – Addressing the rights specific to children, how those rights pertain to those living with HIV, and common vio