5) Description of initiative: The main focus of the initiative will be to explore human interest stories that frame the conflict in a manner that helps peacebuilding, conflict transformation and reconciliation, thus serving as an effective foil against the bias and parochialism of mainstream media.

The initiative seeks to address the growing lack of trust within and between ethnic groups in Sri Lanka by fostering the production of content that explores the roots of conflict.

The activities will involve the production of new media content and its promotion through the web and through print media to a large spectrum of government and civil society stakeholders in Sri Lanka, including donors and diaspora as well.

While the primary beneficiaries will be communities whose stories are put up as case studies through which peace, good governance and reconciliation can be strengthened, the larger group of beneficiaries will include not just those with access to the web and internet, but also those who read about a different framing of conflict through print and electronic media such as TV and radio. The primary targer group will be communities at the front lines of conflict whose voices are almost erased from mainstream media today, as well as communities who have been affected by the on-going violence and ethnic strife in Sri Lanka. Content thus generated will be in print, video and multimedia formats and encourage discussion and consumption amongst those communities such as youth in urban areas, who are usually apathetic to such content when delivered through traditional / mainstream media.

Furthermore, this will be the first initiative to specifically target a new generation of young peacebuilders equipped with mobile phones suitable to be used as devices of peacebuilding and reconciliation through the dissemination of content that is geared to work with such devices.

6) Description of innovation: There is no comparable initiative in Sri Lanka. While Yahoo's Richard Sikes did a comparable exercise around the world in conflict hot spots, there wasn't the interest in staying on with a community, going back to hear their stories, engaging them over the longer term to ascertain whether peace was being strengthenied or eroded in their lives etc. The proposed initiative will be an extremely cost effective and innovative method through which the world of professional journalism is married to the world of sustainable conflict transformation.

The primary device used in this initiative will be the Samsung SGH-X820 mobile phone - capable of photos, audio notes and video that is of a quality that can be easily uploaded to a website and viewed online. The use of such a device opens up a whole world of possibilities in the use of digital media to, at the risk of cliche, go where no media has gone before.

Content that can be produced using such a device ranges from oral histories of communities, to mobile video blogs that bear witness to human rights abuses. The two journalists who will be given these phones will be conversant in English as well as the vernacular. In addition, the website / portal wherein the content will be hosted will be operational in English as well as the vernacular, enabling responses to be generated any one of the three languages used in Sri Lanka.

The financing will be entirely from the project grant of Changemakers. Most of the financing will go for project travel and accomodation, the purchase of two mobile handsets, the development of a website and mobile charges to upload content to the web.

It is important to note that the content thus produced becomes a matter of historical record, that is important for posterity and invaluable for researchers in the future, since it will have viewpoints, opinions and ideas that will not be reflected in any other contemporary media source.

7) Delivery model: Journalists trained in new media skills and experienced in conflict sensitive journalism will travel to remote locations, border villages, conflict zones, territory held by rebel groups as much as safety and common sense permits. Thus, the content generated will not just reflect an urban bias, but will include communities who really do not have a voice in mainstream media.

Sensitive to the challenges of peacebuilding in a violent context, it may be necessary at times to black out faces, and annonymise content from the field, so as not to endanger the lives of peace activists at the grassroots.

Communities, through the hundreds of cybercafes set up all over Sri Lanka through various public and private sector initiatives (not related to this initiative) will be promoted as ways through which the community can engage with the content that is produced.

8) Key operational partnerships: For 7 years, I have worked with media in Sri Lanka to develop their capacity to report violent conflict in a non inflammatory fashion. I have worked with CSOs and NGOs across Sri Lanka, at a national and provincial level, and have developed these relationships through peace and war. Organisationally, I work with InfoShare, which through links to civil society in Sri Lanka, has a wide footprint of actors who can serve as entry points for this initiative. I have also coordinate and spearheaded a 2 year project called Voices of Reconciliation (voicesofpeace.lk / radio.voicesofpeace.lk) that has married new media and ICT to national and grassroots level strengthening of CSOs and NGOs working for peace, governance and democracy in Sri Lanka. This experience, coupled with the availability of journalists who are professional, trained, experience and capable of handling new media, makes this project eminently suited to local conditions.

9) Financial model: Beneficiaries will not bear any cost towards the production of content. Content produced will, as noted above, be made available WITHOUT COPYRIGHT to anyone working in peacebuilding and conflict transformation, in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in the world. Piggybacking on other large private and public initiatives that have created access infrastructure in rural areas in Sri Lanka, this initiative will make a compelling reason for communities hitherto uncertain of the power of the web to engender social change to use their neighbourhood cybercafes to promote and participate in discussions based on the challenges of peacebuilding that, often, will be based on their own lives.

          • Costs as percentage of income: 0

          • Financing: Changemakers seed funding will ensure the initiative is begun. Six months after the launch, the website and the content will be promoted as a best-practice case study amongst a large spectrum of donors, CSOs, NGOs and government agencies with a view to securing funding to scale up and continue operations.

It is unlikely that an ad supported model for the website and the production of content will work - commercial interests in SL may not be willing to be featured alongside content of a "controversial" nature that may harm profit or business interests. Thus, the initiative will depend on external funding through its life-cycle.

10) Effectiveness

          • Project outcomes: Though the initiative itself has yet to be launched, the success of new media initiatives that I have engendered in Sri Lanka to strengthen peace and reconciliation - such as Voices of Reconciliation Radio (radio.voicesofpeace.lk) - are hailed as case studies on how the innovative use of ICT and New Media can truly strengthen conflict transformation.

          • Number of clients in past year: N/A for the proposed initiative, though server logs and feedback show that similar initiatives, such as the Voices of Reconciliation Radio (voicesofpeace.lk) show daily hits of over 4,000.

11) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Start Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: Expand number of journalists / Strengthen the production of content in the vernacular / Move into content monetising for broadcast & telecast on mainstream TV and radio.

These methods, dove-tailing with other new media initiatives in Sri Lanka, will actively support the creation of content that supports a return to negotiations in Sri Lanka, strengthens civil society advocacy and activism for peace and back stop conflict resolution initiatives by archiving content that can be used for social activism.

12) Origin of the initiative: Growing up in conflict does one of two things – it teaches you the limitations of violence to engender sustainable social change, or it compels you to enter the cycle of violence itself. Especially when the well-springs of hope have run dry, violence is often perceived to be an effective way to change the order of things. The internal logic of martyrdom and suicide terrorism may be inexplicable to those outside terrains of hopelessness, but easier to understand when juxtaposed against the backdrop of a perceived lack of alternatives and indoctrination. ICTs, often touted as a panacea for development, fail to make any sense for those enmeshed in violent conflict This is why I have proposed a deep and meaningful initiative that can help ordinary citizens express their desire for peace, amplify their ideas and bring about a stronger bedrock of conflict resolution in Sri Lanka through ICT.

Contact Information:
Sanjana  Hattotuwa
Senior Researcher
Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, Sri Lanka
(NGO)
Sri Lanka
Website: www.cpalanka.org