Reading and Speaking out: Establishing a passage for immigrants 閱讀與發聲：為移民開拓道路
Lighting up a media revolution. Functioning as paper-facebook of migrants. Building consciousness and experiences of democracy.
About You
About You
About Your Organization
Organization Name
4-Way Voices Monthly (四方報)
Organization Website
Organization Country
Taiwan, TP
Country where this project is creating social impact
Taiwan, XX
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Entry Form title
Reading and Speaking out: Establishing a passage for immigrants 閱讀與發聲：為移民開拓道路
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Scaling (the next step will be growing impact on a regional or even global scale)
How long have you been in operation?
Operating for more than 5 years
THE NEED: Describe the need for your solution and the size/dynamic of the community (ies) you will engage
There are 600,000 people living in Taiwan today who originally are from Southeast Asia, 2.6% of Taiwan’s population of 23 million. (Spouses: 200,000. Migrant workers: 400,000). They suffer from low wage, long working hours, and minimum protection. For example, if economy was bad and the factory lay off these migrant workers, then they would face a dilemma: either return to home country with a lot of debt which they borrowed in advance to pay for trip to Taiwan and help their families; or, become an illegal worker in Taiwan and worrying about being caught all the time. There are estimated 38,000 illegal workers in Taiwan with 15% increase annually.
These immigrants are not familiar with the local languages, laws, and cultures, desperately need communication channels in their mother language in order to voice out their thoughts, as well as to serve as channels for them to seek help. While at the same time, this newspaper also provides the channel for local Taiwanese people to understand immigrants’ cultures and situations. Thus, the existence of our paper helps people from different cultures to get along harmonically in Taiwan.
THE SOLUTION: Please explain what your solution offers and how it is innovative. How will you put your solution into the hands of users or beneficiaries? Be specific!
The 4-Way Voices, founded by local Taiwanese, is a bilingual magazine published for the migrants from Southeast Asia, which is different from other foreign language media for serving the white-collar migrants from industrialized countries. Through publishing the creative works produced by the migrants, such like the poems with beautiful descriptions of their families of origin, the letters with great affections for homeland, and the paintings with childish imagination of the life, the 4-Way Voices not only to the most degrees eases the homesick of the migrants, but also leads Taiwan’s mainstream society to deeply reflect the discrimination against the migrants such as treating them as baby-delivering or house-keeping machines which have no emotions.
While only a few migrants have the access to internet and computer and mobile phone is the main equipment for most of them to bridge with each other, the 4-Way Voices works as a paper-facebook helping migrants to link and extend their interpersonal relationships. The migrants can acquire the information and news of their friends and fellows through the letters and pictures published in the 4-Way Voices. In addition, the migrants can send their messages to t us, with the hope to meet new friends and personal information. After the messages are edited in the friends-making-page of the newspaper, they can then step out of the “homes” wherein they work and live to build new friendships.
THE MODEL: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference through use of information technology and media
In the past 5 years, 4-Way Voices has helped many immigrants to live a happier life in Taiwan through interacting with readers by multiple ways and our connections with Taiwan government. We’ve not only improved the interactions and relationships between immigrants and local Taiwanese people through various gatherings, exhibitions, speeches and distributing processes, but also helped immigrants to find friendships and consolations from each other.
For example, immigrants leave their home countries behind to work in Taiwan. They are separated from their friends with no one to talk to. Most of them have 2G cell phones, but they have no means to contact their friends in Taiwan. Thus we provides a convenient advertisement platform which utilizes SMS and print media. Here is how it works:
Sitty is an immigrant worker from Indonesia; she wanted to find her friend Nana who went to Taiwan for work a little bit earlier before her. Though Sitty had Nana’s address in Taiwan, she couldn’t write in Chinese. She didn’t want her employer to know that she communicates with her friends, in the fear that her employer would set an even stricter rule. For this, 4-Way Voices offers a solution. From August 2009, 4-Way Voices offers SMS advertisement sections for immigrants to look for friends. Sitty only has to send “kea cari#Sitty is looking for Nana, call xxx” to the number 55123, then her message will be posted on the next issue of 4-Way Voices paper and 4-Way Voices’ webpage. Many immigrants find their friends through this mechanism, making their lives in Taiwan not so lonely anymore.
THE MARKETPLACE: Who are your peers and competitors? What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
In the field of Vietnamese publications, one international forwarding and remitting company published a monthly magazine in 2011. Its form is an imitation of Báo Bốn Phương.
In the field of Thai and Cambodian, our สี่ฝั่ง and កាសែតបួនទឹស both are the only regular publications.
In the field of Indonesian and Pilipino, there are several operating magazines. These other publications have several differences with our Empat Arah and Lakbay:
Other publications mostly hire overseas Chinese or overseas students. But our staff is mainly formed by Taiwanese. We hire Indonesian and Pilipino spouses as translators and advisors.
Other publications are mainly in pure Indonesian or pure Pilipino, but ours contain Chinese contents.
Other publications have more connections with Indonesia and Philippines locality, while we have more connection with Taiwanese government and NGOs.
We hope to become a friend of immigrants, give consideration to their bilingual needs. In one direction, we relay the welfare information for immigrants offered by Taiwan society. On the other direction, we translate their thoughts into Chinese to let more Taiwanese understand their real concerns and hear their voices.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
FOUNDING STORY: We want to hear about your “Aha!” moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution’s potential to change the world.
In 2004, Chang Cheng and Liao Yun-zhang volunteered as Chinese teachers at one Shelter of Immigrant Workers. One day, one Vietnamese immigrant pointed at a copy of colorful Chinese newspaper and said: “I don’t think I will be able to understand this paper for my entire life.”
Volunteers felt quite helpless. These immigrants can’t red or listen in Chinese, and that makes them feel like being blind and deaf. These immigrants resolve a lot of problems for Taiwan, but who will resolve their problems and how?
In 2006, Taiwan Lihpao’s late president Dr. Lucie Cheng brought out an idea to publish journals in Southeast Asian languages. Dr. Cheng convened a group for the promotion of this project, including Chang Cheng and Liao Yun-zhang. Half a year later, they published a Vietnamese paper named Báo Bốn Phương. After the 1st test issue, the office received many responses from the readers. In their letters, we can see their eagerness for Vietnamese publications and their gratitude to our editorial department. This strengthened our editorial team’s belief that they are doing it in the correct and feasible way.
Specify both the depth and scale of your solution’s social impact to date
The purpose of the 4-Way Voices is to plant the seeds of democracy into the minds of migrants rather than merely working as a “mass media.” The 4-Way Voices not only reports the news, but also encourages readers to take action against the policies infringing them. The officer of Vietnam in Taiwan once warned the chief editor of 4-Way Voices that propagating the ideas of democracy and social movement in the Vietnamese community in Taiwan was definitely unallowable since democracy is not a desirable political system for Vietnam that has stuck to communism since the Vietnamese War ended. The team of 4-Way Voices was not frightened by the warning, however. We deeply and greatly hopes that all migrants can realize the true meaning through reading and comprehending the information published in and participating in the activities organized by the 4-Way Voices, as one of the creeds of the 4-Way Voices is to commit itself to emancipating the weakened in order to realize a true democracy.
4-way Voices, a newspaper published in “foreign” language, has also become the effective channel for Taiwan government to propagate decrees on Southeast Asian immigrants.
What is your projected impact within the next 1-5 years? Is your idea replicable? If so, how?
We hope to expand the paper’s development through the operating modules similar to 4-Way Voices. By doing so, we hope to provide new immigrants with more complete channels to “obtain information” and to “express opinions”.
The way we operate can be replicated by any ethnic groups and for any languages. 4-Way Voices is willing to disclose our operating mechanisms.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and mark growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
4-Way Voices Monthly goes digital
Six-Month Tasks
Task 1
We have established the database for Vietnamese readers’ written letters. The total numbers of data are more than 16,000.
Task 2
The program design is finished.
Task 3
We issued the interactive version of 4-Way Voices for cell phone users.
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
We are looking to expand our operations to Hong Kong and Macau’s market.
12-Month Tasks
Task 1
Firstly, we have to connect with the immigrant/ immigrant workers group and begin our primary collaboration.
Task 2
Then, we will start Hong Kong and Macau content pages on 4-Way Voices.
Task 3
Lastly, we will establish local printing and delivery processes.
How many people have been impacted by your project?
More than 10,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
More than 10,000
Sustainability
Explain how your company, program, service or product is structured
Non-profit
What barriers have hindered the success of your project to date? How do you plan to overcome these and other challenges as you grow your solution?
Bilingual human resources: Based on Taiwan’s related regulations, fulltime bilingual workers must be immigrant spouses. It’s difficult to find an immigrant spouse who can speak fluent Chinese, handle digital devices and have strong family supports at the same time.
Digitalization: We do not have any full-time IT workers. Therefore most digital work has to seek for outsourcing workers and it’s hard to track the progress of their achievements. In the future, we are planning to hire a full-time IT worker.
Internal operation: How to make co-workers from different background to cooperate with each other is important. We hold a meeting once a week. In the meetings, there are not only regular working reports, but also language teaching and introductions of each countries customs.
How do you see the information-technology and media sectors shifting over the next decade? How will your solution adapt to and/or drive that changing environment?
The use of internet and cell phones will be more and more popular. However, the need for foreigners remains unchanged. They are always seeking for the consolation of mother-tongues, and they desire to receive information and express their opinions through their mother-tongues.
To match up with the increasing popularity of cell phones and internet, 4-Way Voices will establish related mechanisms, in order to fulfill these foreigners’ needs for communications.
Failure is not always an option. If your solution fails to gain traction in the next two years, what other applications of the idea could you explore?
We have 4-Way Voices in printed versions now. It is a way to meet the immigrants and immigrant workers’ need with “the lowest technology”. If we can’t find enough support for us to develop cell phone and internet interactive mechanism, at least 4-Way Voices won’t give up its printed version.
Expand on your selections, explaining how you will sustain funding
Subsidy and funds from foundations, NGOs and governments: Our premise is that the goals our funding organizations hold are tally with our goals. This premise is also how we maintain its subsidy- since we fulfill both sides’ mutual goal, the organizations mentioned above would definitely offer the funding.
Commercial firms (advertisers): If we maintain the steady quality and quantities of each issue, and keep its influence on the readers, the commercial firms will continuously buy spaces for their advertisements.
Customers (readers): To ask readers to buy our paper, we should keep providing contents of good quality. In addition to the basic tasks to “spread information” and to “offer a channel to speak out”, we will also provide some recreational functions in an appropriate portion.
Tell us about your partnerships
Social Development Culture and Education Foundation (財團法人社會發展文教基金會), TASAT (南洋台灣姊妹會), Tiwa (台灣國際勞工協會), Tima (台灣國際醫療聯盟), Coherence between Ethnic Groups Fund Charitable Trust (公益信託族群和諧基金), United Way(聯合勸募), and Cheng-Chi Education Foundation (財團法人誠致教育基金會).
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section?
On the perspective of attitude, we hope to work with people with empathy, capacity to handle with digital equipments and ability to communicate between different cultures.
On the perspective of identity, we wish to collaborate with immigrant/ immigrant workers, relative NGOs, and industries working between Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
Changemakers is a collaborative and supportive space. Please specify any community resources you would need to grow and sustain your initiative. Select all that apply
Investment, Human resources or talent, Marketing or media, Research or information, Collaboration or networking, Pro-bono help (legal, financial, etc.), Innovation or ideas, Mentorship.
Specify any resources you might offer to support other initiatives. Select all that apply
Human resources or talent, Marketing or media, Research or information, Collaboration or networking, Innovation or ideas.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren’t specified within the list
Investment: All of our revenues are invested in the elevation of quality and scale at present. It will be the same in the future.
Human resources: A good human talent is always welcomed.
Marketing: To understand how the market works is the way to see how to adjust our product.
Research: Any kind of research or market survey, are related to our identify and future development.
Collaboration or networking: We hope to collaborate with organizations of different fields and to connect the power all around.
Pro-bono help: We are in need of full-time workers responsible for legal and financial issues.
Innovation: Good ideas and creativities are never enough!
Mentorship: We know we are always a step from perfectness. Any one that can provide us with improvement ideas, we will humbly accept.
Summary
Define your company, program, service or product in 1-2 short sentences
Buddies of immigrants (異鄉人的好朋友): Let immigrants speak out and help each other; Communicate immigrants and local society.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences
Lighting up a media revolution. Functioning as paper-facebook of migrants. Building consciousness and experiences of democracy.
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 | 33 weeks agoRavi Saxena said: This project sounds like it has a big impact for those who get connected! I was wondering, what difficulties to you face in getting the ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 36 weeks ago張張正 updated this Competition Entry. |
| 37 weeks ago張張正 updated this Competition Entry. |
| 37 weeks ago張張正 updated this Competition Entry. |
| 38 weeks agoNidhi Tewari said: It also builds a sense of community among the migrants which can support them in an alien country. Seems to have a potential for a ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 38 weeks ago張張正 updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago張張正 updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago張張正 updated this Competition Entry. |
| 40 weeks ago張張正 updated this Competition Entry. |
| 41 weeks ago張張正 updated this Competition Entry. |
