Groundviews - Using Citizens Journalism to transform violence and curtail human rights abuses
In response to many requests from INGOs, humanitarian aid organisations including sections of the UN, CSOs, local and international journalists as well as members from the diaspora to have a better idea of conditions on the ground in Sri Lanka, the Media Unit through the Voices of Reconciliation project (voicesofpeace.lk) decided to launch a tri-lingual website called groundview.lk to strengthen the voices of civil society and concerned citizens, particularly in regions of conflict, in Sri Lanka. Called citizens journalism elsewhere, this is the first attempt in Sri Lanka to create a means through which civil society and concerned citizens can bear witness to human rights abuses, write their own brief daily accounts of life in conflict zones, call attention to humanitarian emergencies, give information on security / ground conditions etc and also a place provincial journalists can pen down their thoughts, in Sinhala and Tamil, with a guaranteed global audience. The website will accept and display short articles, features and blog entries in Sinhala, Tamil and English. At first, the website will only be open to a network of trusted organisations and individuals. Initial discussions have already been conducted with the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) with a view using their networks of CBO and CSO partners to populate the website with content that highlights life on the ground for citizens living in the midst of conflict. Other CSO and NGO actors are also encouraged to do the same. Content will be from all provinces in Sri Lanka and can be entered, and viewed, in Sinhala, Tamil and English. Attachments to individual posts to the websites can contain multimedia ? such as short videos, sound-bites and photos. The initiative aims to build bridges between communities and will also encourage diaspora participation in local peacebuilding and reconciliation processes. Vernacular content ensures the widest possible dissemination of knowledge on the website.
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Ubicación
Project Street Address
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tu idea
Focus of activity
Tecnología
Start Year
2004
Posiciona tu iniciativa en el mosaico de soluciones
Main barrier addressed
Lack of empathy
Main principle addressed
Create communities of peace builders
Name Your Project
Groundviews - Using Citizens Journalism to transform violence and curtail human rights abuses
Describe Your Idea
In response to many requests from INGOs, humanitarian aid organisations including sections of the UN, CSOs, local and international journalists as well as members from the diaspora to have a better idea of conditions on the ground in Sri Lanka, the Media Unit through the Voices of Reconciliation project (voicesofpeace.lk) decided to launch a tri-lingual website called groundview.lk to strengthen the voices of civil society and concerned citizens, particularly in regions of conflict, in Sri Lanka. Called citizens journalism elsewhere, this is the first attempt in Sri Lanka to create a means through which civil society and concerned citizens can bear witness to human rights abuses, write their own brief daily accounts of life in conflict zones, call attention to humanitarian emergencies, give information on security / ground conditions etc and also a place provincial journalists can pen down their thoughts, in Sinhala and Tamil, with a guaranteed global audience. The website will accept and display short articles, features and blog entries in Sinhala, Tamil and English. At first, the website will only be open to a network of trusted organisations and individuals. Initial discussions have already been conducted with the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) with a view using their networks of CBO and CSO partners to populate the website with content that highlights life on the ground for citizens living in the midst of conflict. Other CSO and NGO actors are also encouraged to do the same. Content will be from all provinces in Sri Lanka and can be entered, and viewed, in Sinhala, Tamil and English. Attachments to individual posts to the websites can contain multimedia ? such as short videos, sound-bites and photos. The initiative aims to build bridges between communities and will also encourage diaspora participation in local peacebuilding and reconciliation processes. Vernacular content ensures the widest possible dissemination of knowledge on the website.
Innovación
Description of initiative:
In response to many requests from INGOs, humanitarian aid organisations including sections of the UN, CSOs, local and international journalists as well as members from the diaspora to have a better idea of conditions on the ground in Sri Lanka, the Media Unit through the Voices of Reconciliation project (voicesofpeace.lk) decided to launch a tri-lingual website called groundview.lk to strengthen the voices of civil society and concerned citizens, particularly in regions of conflict, in Sri Lanka. Called citizens journalism elsewhere, this is the first attempt in Sri Lanka to create a means through which civil society and concerned citizens can bear witness to human rights abuses, write their own brief daily accounts of life in conflict zones, call attention to humanitarian emergencies, give information on security / ground conditions etc and also a place provincial journalists can pen down their thoughts, in Sinhala and Tamil, with a guaranteed global audience. The website will accept and display short articles, features and blog entries in Sinhala, Tamil and English. At first, the website will only be open to a network of trusted organisations and individuals. Initial discussions have already been conducted with the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) with a view using their networks of CBO and CSO partners to populate the website with content that highlights life on the ground for citizens living in the midst of conflict. Other CSO and NGO actors are also encouraged to do the same. Content will be from all provinces in Sri Lanka and can be entered, and viewed, in Sinhala, Tamil and English. Attachments to individual posts to the websites can contain multimedia ? such as short videos, sound-bites and photos. The initiative aims to build bridges between communities and will also encourage diaspora participation in local peacebuilding and reconciliation processes. Vernacular content ensures the widest possible dissemination of knowledge on the website.
Description of innovation:
This is the FIRST citizens journalism initiative in Sri Lanka that operates not just in English, but in Sinhala and Tamil and well. Despite the lack of standards for font display in Sinhala, the website displays content in the vernacular, enabling anyone on any PC using any connection to the internet / web on any browser (XP, Linux, OS X) read and contribute on the website. The use of new media for the transformation of violence and conflict can occur in a number of ways. Another proposal submitted by me takes the approach of sending in change agents INTO a community to elicit and amplify voices of peace. This initiative takes a complementary approach, but providing social change agents WITHIN a community to express their views, idea and opinions online without a third party intervening on their behalf. This can be a powerful tool for a number of reasons. Firstly, with a highly suspect human rights record and further erosion of human rights and peace daily, there is serious threat to life and limb of peace activists on the ground in Sri Lanka. Many have been forced or coerced into modes of self-censorship and the media too are disallowed or disinterested in promoting alternatives to the propaganda doled out by the State, or armed groups. Groundviews.lk will provide a gateway into the aspirations of communities for a just, sustainable peace and democracy. It will bring together the voices of beneficiaries of every single major civil society initiative for peacebuilding in Sri Lanka, with almost no overhead. It is a catalyst, and will provide a central location for interested journalists, researches and peacebuilders in Sri Lanka and internationally to "tune into" content that is relevant to their work and planning. No other comparable resource highlighting the voices of ordinary citizens, operating in all three languages, exists in Sri Lanka.
Delivery model:
Access to the website to post & view content will be through dial-up or broadband access. The website is light and fast, enabling access even by users who do not have broadband connections. Most of Sri Lanka is covered by dial up access, and many CBOs, CSOs and NGOs even in the provinces have computers. The website runs on any operating system, on any browser, on any PC (old or new) and is (existing) standards complaint for Sinhala and Tamil. No special training is required to enter posts to the websites, even in the vernacular ? it is made to be as simple as entering text onto a Microsoft Word document. The content is geared for policy makers in Colombo, including political parties, donors, large NGOs and CSOs based in Colombo with operations across Sri Lanka, influential academics, media persons, researchers and peace activists. Importantly, it is also geared towards the diaspora, who can access the website to get a better idea of actual conditions on the ground for those in conflict zones. With many families in Canada, the US, Europe and Australia who still have relations and members of family living in the North-East of Sri Lanka, the website will prove to be a valuable access point of information on the ?view from the ground?.
Key operational partnerships:
The networks of access to the website were not set up by VOR. We utilise existing and planned projects for internet infrastructure to populate the website with content ? such as utilising the hundreds of cyber caf?s set up around the country by the Information and Communications Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka (www.icta.lk). As such, the website is not burdened with the maintenance of network infrastructure. Content will be produced by CSO / NGO / CBO networks around the island on an on going basis. The need for such content will be constant during the peace process. There is, as a result of this ever present need, a guaranteed audience that will ?tune-in? to the website to receive viewpoints otherwise invisible in the mainstream media. Risk management strategies have been put in place to ensure that the website cannot be easily shut down by the Government or the Ministry of Defence. Furthermore, the individual identities of contributors will not be made public, minimising the risk to those who contribute on highly contentious issues such as human rights abuses and ceasefire violations. Hooks into on-going and planned activities of key NGOs and CSOs in Sri Lanka will also ensure that perspectives based on research and advocacy of policy options for a negotiated peace settlement in Sri Lanka, and ideas on Federalism and Power Sharing, will be featured through voices at the grassroots on this website for many more years to come.
Impacto
Financial model:
This initiative piggybacks on the rapid development of web and internet access infrastructure in Sri Lanka. While millions of dollars are being spent on the development of such infrastructure, there is extremely little interest in the development of mechanisms through which communities can actually use this infrastructure to better their lives.
Costs as percentage of income:
0
Financing:
The entire set up costs for the groundview website will be borne by the Voices of Reconciliation project. However, given that this project comes to an end in December 2006, what is sought from a Changemakers grant is to develop in-country civil society networks to populate the website in all 3 languages through infrastructure that is already in place (and continuously developed) by other stakeholders in Sri Lanka. With developments in wireless internet access, mobile internet access, the exponential growth of mobile phones with multimedia capabilities and the setting up cybercafes around Sri Lanka by government and private agencies, it is becoming increasingly easier to access web and internet content even if one does not own a PC. The content generation network is thus highly sustainable.
Effectiveness:
- Project outcomes: The central outcome of the VOR project, which will be strengthened further by the proposed initiative, is the development of a collaborative and united voice against violence and war by media and CSOs in Sri Lanka. This united voice amongst CSOs will take more time to strengthen and build. However, amongst the media - at a national as well as provincial level - the results have been remarkable. We have a network running into hundreds of professional journalists and committed peacebuilders around Sri Lanka. The proposed initiative seeks to be a primary vehicle of peace related content in English, Sinhala and Tamil EVEN IF the mainstream media is coerced into a silence on human rights abuses and proactive conflict transformation.
- Number of clients in past year: At least 60 CBOs / NGOs / CSOs 5 of the largest journalists organisations, with a collective membership of over 10,000 of which around 3,000 have been trained in Public Service Journalism / Conflict Sensitive Journalism through the VOR project. All major CSOs / NGOs in Colombo (who have extensive grassroots networks) on strategic communications and crisis communications strategies to support their work on peacebuilding and conflict transformation. Beneficiaries at this level include some of the most experienced and senior civil society leaders / peace activists in Sri Lanka.
Scaling up strategy:
Stage of the initiative:
Scaling Up stage.
Expansion plan:
Content will be produced by CSO / NGO / CBO networks around the island on an on going basis. The need for such content will be constant during the peace process. There is, as a result of this ever present need, a guaranteed audience that will ?tune-in? to the website to receive viewpoints otherwise invisible in the mainstream media. Risk management strategies have been put in place to ensure that the website cannot be easily shut down by the Government or the Ministry of Defence. Furthermore, the individual identities of contributors will not be made public, minimising the risk to those who contribute on highly contentious issues such as human rights abuses and ceasefire violations. Hooks into on-going and planned activities CSOs / NGOs in SL will also ensure that the pro-peace perspectives will continue to be featured on groundviews for many years to come.
Origin of the initiative:
The genesis of groundviews (.org and .lk) is located in the Voices of Reconciliation project, which I helped conceptualise, design, development, implement and monitor in Sri Lanka through the Centre for Policy Alternatives. It is one of the largest projects of its kind in Sri Lanka in operation today and seeks to build sustainable links between media and CSOs / NGOs to support peace in Sri Lanka. The project was initiated to support social change agents in Sri Lanka in activities related to peacebuilding. We strongly feel that groundviews strengthens the core outcome of the project and gives those with whom we have worked with for 2 years an avenue through which their views and ideas on reconciliation and peace can continue to nourish policymaking in Sri Lanka.
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