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

 

Rising Voices is a rare initiative that recognizes the growing participation gap in digital media and journalism. Its goal to bring new voices from new communities and languages to the “conversational web” aligns with Neighborhood Diaries’ fundamental objective: to empower socio-economically underprivileged youth living in Kolkata slums as citizen journalists who will write and disseminate unrecognized and authentic community narratives in global media.

ND will benefit the target community -- youth slum dwellers (child laborers, children of sex workers, and low-income school-going youth) -- by mobilizing them to think and write about their personal and community stories, issues, and histories, as an integral and vibrant part of the socio-cultural fabric of urban India and publish them on blogs accessible to the globe. This program and practice will foster dignity within communities often viewed as powerless, illiterate, and culturally impoverished.

 

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

 

Often urban slums in India are misrepresented and sensationalized.  Through ND, slum community residents and insiders will voice local stories through personal perspectives, disrupting stereotypical representations of such neighborhoods. Content of ND will include:

 

ND content is a radical perspective to mainstream news and journalism on urban slums because the authors of ND are young slum residents themselves. As insiders, the authors have an acute perception to neighborhood nuances, subtleties, and sensitivities that outsiders are unable to perceive and interpret. ND will promote stories from slums as ‘neighborhood stories’ through the gaze, consciousness, and articulations of the local youth residents. Their authorship will add authenticity to popular conversations and journalism on ‘the poor’ and ‘the disadvantaged’ by empowering sources/subjects to be creators/distributors of local knowledge themselves. The contents above will be documented through various mediums including, writing, photography, audio/videography, and other visual art.

 

 

 

 

 

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 youth (age 15-25) living in two urban slums in Kolkata. Each slum will have a neighborhood blog. Authors will include child laborers, children of sex workers, and low-income school-going youth.

 

Ten youth authors from each slum will be facilitated through the writing and blogging process through a series of citizen journalism workshops facilitated by Kalam educators. These workshops will take place on a weekly basis for 2 hours in a 6-month period in each slum. The workshops will include components on narrative writing, photojournalism, and web literacy. For youth who are lacking reading/writing literacy, they will participate as authors through audio recordings, photography and other non-literate artistic mediums.

 

The target audience of ND will range from activists, educators, India enthusiasts, travelers, researchers, social scientists, media persons, and most importantly, residents of urban slums. A crucial component to ND is to raise blog consciousness and web literacy among urban slums in Kolkata. Therefore, communities that are usually ‘left behind’ in digital development will be fostered as contributors and readers through creating neighborhood blogs in their neighborhood computer station provided by Kalam.

 

ND Blogs will have new posts at least once a week (after every workshop). The language of the blog will be Bengali. ND will translate its Bengali content into an English blog for English readers.

 

 

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

 

 

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)

 

Kalam is the most effective organization for successfully facilitating ND because it is devoted to building voices among underprivileged youth in slums. For the past 3 years, Kalam is the only program in Kolkata working with underprivileged youth facilitating writing workshops, empowering young people to identify their personal realities and expressing them through the written word. Youth we work with are writing about the history and culture of their community as poets and writers, and Kalam is circulating these writings in diverse flows of communication, including publications, exhibitions, and performances.

 

It is Kalam's next step to mobilize young voices through citizen journalism and take their voices to the blogosphere, facilitating grassroots participation in global media. Kalam is in prime position to facilitate this project because it has developed trustworthy relationships with slums, local NGOs, and youth residents. Kalam, as a recognized art education program in slum neighborhoods, is the best candidate to work in a direct and sustained manner to implement ND.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each slum will by equipped with one desktop computer, internet connection, a digital camera, a an audio recorders, and other basic tools needed to set up computer/blogging station.

 

Kalam will need technical expertise and support in teaching young people computer and blog literacy. It will particularly need support in the technicalities of vernacular blogging.

 

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)

 

ND’s impact on underprivileged youth will be assessed through evaluation from youth authors, Kalam educators, and other slum residents to measure Youth Authors’ growth as writers, bloggers, and community researchers.

 

Youth participants will be evaluated in several ways. Each participant will be posting their work on a blog, which will become a performance-based assessment of the participants’ ability to interpret neighborhood life and write their perspectives. Youth Authors’ progress in the areas of social research, journalistic writing, and blogging will be examined for through the quality of blog posts.  Kalam Educators  will also interview select group of participants to solicit feedback about their engagement with various parts of the program and its effect upon them. Other slum residents will be asked to evaluate their experiences of witnessing any change or development among youth authors over the project period.

 

 

 

ND expects challenges in the following areas:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

Rising Voices can provide support in circulating and publicizing ND blogs in the blogosphere. Rising Voices’ global reach can connect Kalam Educators with other citizen journalists, researchers and teachers doing similar work around blog mobilization. Also, Rising Voices can support ND through implementing systematic evaluation protocol, which will help Kalam monitor ND’s progress. Furthermore, Rising Voices can offer technical expertise in vernacular blogging.

 

 

Detail a specific budget of up to $5,000 for two years of operating costs. Applicants are encouraged to submit budgets for less than the maximum $5,000 as smaller grants allow us to fund more projects. Hosting fees and curriculum resources will be provided by Rising Voices and therefore need not be included as budget expenses. Potential costs might include hardware, internet access, workshop costs, translation, travel, and coordinator expenses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Sasaki

outreach@globalvoicesonline.org