My first Publication Mojatu Nottingham Magazine M030 | Page 18

18 Fearless Youth Association (FYA)
mojatu .com
COMMUNITY MEDIA &
DIGITAL STORYTELLING
PROGRAM LAUNCHED
Fearless Youth Association (FYA), Mojatu Foundation
and Basement Studio will provide community
members with access to the tools and training needed
to produce digital stories.
FYA in partnership with Basement Studios has supported
over 130 young people in the last 12 months through
training, music production, business development and
further education, including joining university. Their
work focuses on tackling knife crime by giving young
people opportunities through media and safe space.
Through this scheme, FYA has offered training courses
and practical work in music engineering and production,
video recording and production and organising events.
On the other hand, Mojatu Foundation has used
storytelling for nearly 8 years to turn community’s shared
experiences and concerns to an effective community
development strategy through Social Media and
Mojatu Magazine. They have also been running a pilot
Community Media training program for the last three
years (2016 - 2019) and have successfully trained 43
people.
Using the lessons from FYA and Mojatu Foundation
and the experience of Basement studio and Radio Faza,
we will launch a 5 years Community Media & Digital
Storytelling program this year. Based at the FYA studio
in 151-153 Alfreton Road, this program will offer training
and skills development to individuals and communities
in the local area and online. It will also offer the learners
and communities access to tools, resources and training
materials to produce digital stories useful for community
development.
This Community Media & Digital Storytelling program will:
• Encourage conversations among community
members
• Use storytelling as an instrument for citizen
empowerment
• Help community members and groups to
design community storytelling events that build
relationships with community stakeholders.
• Train community members and organizations
how to plan storytelling projects throughout the
community designed to address critical local issues.
• Create a collective representation that improves the
community’s well-being
•
Facilitate individual and community self-discovery,
understanding and citizen empowerment
This program will strengthen relationships and build
power by reaching heart of decision-makers who often
forget the plight of the people. This way, storytelling starts
to create power and empowerment.
It will also give communities the necessary skills and
resources to tell their stories in their authentic voices and
from a relatable perspective and communicate in a way
that elicits a positive response from the audience.
The courses will help individuals and community
members to:
•
Use audio, visual and text tools to create digital
stories that build connections
•
Create digital stories to develop political, social and
cultural stories concerning their community
Valentine Nkoyo, the CEO of Mojatu Foundation said,
“We believe that anyone can make the difference in his/
her life and other people’s lives and this program will
offer participants a sense of empowerment which helps
people believe they can affect political and social change”.
Esther Muthoni, the FYA projects Manager noted that,
“Within a few months, FYA team has had great success,
with many young people gained skills, producing music
records and videos and succeeding in completing courses
and joining institutions of higher education”.
“As one of such young people who will be joining
university in 2019, I believe this program will give
opportunities and open doors for many people in the
often deprived and disengaged communities. Gaining
university admission is a dream come true and I with my
team members will use practical experience in supporting
individual and community transformation”. Esther said.
Angela Wathoni, FYA manager and a master’s student
at Nottingham Trent University says, “Over the last year
or so, FYA team has developed extensive social capital
and many local groups are joining us in using this to
influence human capital, policy-making and community
initiatives. We will use this storytelling program to build
understanding and bridge differences”.
The program will help individuals and community
members create and distribute digital stories consistently,