Children's Emergency Commitee #2 -La Marmonera ($5,000) July8-September 12
Children's Emergency Committee #2- La Marmonera
This will be our 2nd children's committee. The first was completed in Nov-Dec 2010 in el Borborllon, the most vulnerable sector in Joya Grande. After evaluating the project, we have decided to replicate it and improve out methodology.
Objective: The program’s mission is to increase children’s capacity to effectively respond in emergency situations by minimizing vulnerabilities and supporting adults. The project increases children’s self-confidence, helps them prevent separation, and organize and care for younger children during a disaster. Children are trained in first aid, safe evacuation routes and procedures, and methods of communication. These activities are coordinated with families of children and the existing adult Emergency Committee to ensure sustainability and community participation.
Beneficieres: This program will directly benefit 25 children in the community of Joya Grande. The Sector Marmonera is the 2nd most vulnerable neighborhood in Joya Grande (the 1st being Borborllon, where we completed the pilot committee), where 4 children died in November 2009 due to landslides.
Budget: $5,000
Financial Support: Sladek Family, Fred Sanchez, CEIBA Donors
Project Dates: July 8-September 12
VOZZ El Salvador
Increasingly, youth in the country are in crisis – unemployment is at an all time high, hundreds migrate to the U.S. daily in search of work or fleeing violence, and gangs and drug trafficking disproportionately affect youth – the murder rate among young Salvadorans is 92 per 100,000 people. Thirty percent of youth in El Salvador 2009 last election exercised their right to vote. The factors that account for low youth voter turnout are misinformation and lack of voter education, as well as youth sentiment that political parties and leaders fail to represent their concerns or to provide them with opportunities to participate. Many youth voters are also not interested in voting because of the perceived lack of importance of the activity of voting. The mayoral elections to be held in March 2012 are an opportunity for young people to get involved at the most local level of political participation and to hold their future leaders accountable for the concerns and rights of young people. The mayoral election season is a pivotal moment for participation, and it is one sphere in which every Salvadoran is faced with the task of finding solutions for the challenges facing their country.
There is an evident need for a youth-driven election project focused on education and training, citizen first-hand reporting, interactive events for conversation-building, and collaboration with the local municipalities to create lasting ties of civic engagement and participation. Vozz, a name created by youth in Guatemala City’s crime-ridden Zone 1 to capture the spirit of having a voice or voz to their stories, will create opportunities for youth to be trained by local reporters and seasoned election trainers, to share their stories from their municipalities on election day, and to distribute those stories both to a central website and to local and global syndicating partners such as YouTube and Demotix.
VOZZ is a citizen journalism training project which was implemented as a successful pilot project during Guatemala’s election in August 2011. More than forty trainers from 22 municipalities were trained in the age range of 16- 24 years old. Youth were taught the fundamentals of journalism and reporting, the use of tools like cameras and cellphones, and the electoral process. The reporters returned to their communities, replicated these trainings and reported both during and after the elections. The project continues as an online space in English, Spanish and Kaqchikel for Guatemalan youth to share their stories around local events, environment, information and news that impacts them.
This project will be launched in El Salvador as a second pilot test to coincide with the 2012 municipal elections. There will be three components to Vozz El Salvador:
There is an evident need for a youth-driven election project focused on education and training, citizen first-hand reporting, interactive events for conversation-building, and collaboration with the local municipalities to create lasting ties of civic engagement and participation. Vozz, a name created by youth in Guatemala City’s crime-ridden Zone 1 to capture the spirit of having a voice or voz to their stories, will create opportunities for youth to be trained by local reporters and seasoned election trainers, to share their stories from their municipalities on election day, and to distribute those stories both to a central website and to local and global syndicating partners such as YouTube and Demotix.
VOZZ is a citizen journalism training project which was implemented as a successful pilot project during Guatemala’s election in August 2011. More than forty trainers from 22 municipalities were trained in the age range of 16- 24 years old. Youth were taught the fundamentals of journalism and reporting, the use of tools like cameras and cellphones, and the electoral process. The reporters returned to their communities, replicated these trainings and reported both during and after the elections. The project continues as an online space in English, Spanish and Kaqchikel for Guatemalan youth to share their stories around local events, environment, information and news that impacts them.
This project will be launched in El Salvador as a second pilot test to coincide with the 2012 municipal elections. There will be three components to Vozz El Salvador:
- TRAINING OF TRAINERS We will focus on creating a training of trainers “bootcamp” program which will convene two youth from each of 20 municipalities and provide scholarships for them to attend two weekend trainings in San Salvador in February 2012. The first training will focus on the fundamentals of reporting, the electoral process in El Salvador and the use of multimedia tools for reporting safely and accurately. The second training will focus on educating this same core team on three youth laws that could serve as tools to hold local governments accountable during the mayoral elections. PROJECT PHASE COMPLETE FEB 10-12 FUNDED BY CIPJES. Evaluation and reinforcement workshop March 31. See Election coverage by youth at http://www.vozz.com.sv/
- A PUBLIC FORUM. A public forum will be held in Santiago Texacuangos where youth from youth-serving organizations will publicly interview local candidates for mayorships on issues concerning young voters. This forum will also livestreamed online so more people both nationally and abroad can view it. The semi-urban municipality where the forum will be held is located 30 minutes south of San Salvador, where CEIBA has worked to develop youth organizations in communities and to create partnerships with the local municipal government to help implement new laws to protect and empower youth. PROJECT PHASE COMPLETED MARCH 3RD WITH FORUM IN SANTIAGO TEXACUANGOS BY CEIBA (FUNDING $1,400) AND MARCH 6TH BY CIPJES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL AMERICA. VIDEOS HERE:YOUTH AND WOMEN PRESENT THEIR PLATFORM read the youth platform here and the party youth platforms here
- SOFTWARE PACKAGE AND CURRICULUM. An out-of-the-box easy to install open-source software package ready for online launching. This software package with language localization capacity will also be accompanied by a digital and printable curriculum that contains trainings focused on election coverage and participation. This electronic “Journalism and Political Participation Do-It-Yourself Election Guide” will be in both Spanish and English and available for nonprofits and civic groups across Latin America to use as an initial civic engagement tool and gateway to civic knowledge. IN PROCESS
Beneficiaries: 200 Salvadoran young adults ages 18-24 who live in 20 municipalities considered to be areas of social exclusion. 40 youth will be trained as the core group of citizen reporters to cover the 2012 Mayoral Elections, and 160 youth will be invited to participate in the Youth Forum in Santiago Texacuangos.
Partners: HablaCentro and CIPJES See http://en.vozz.com.gt/
Funding needed: $13,905. Funding received from individual CEIBA doners like Mr. Bill Sladek, CIPJES, and Hablacentro which provided video camaras for the youth
