Summary
The Young in Prison Radio Project is a media training initiative operating inside the youth section of Cape Town?s Pollsmoor Prison, South Africa. The project works with 12 incarcerated males from the ages of 16 to 18, who meet weekly to co-produce radio stories about various aspects of prison life. Using radio production and training as both a means of building communication skills and as a forum for group dialogue, the Young in Prison Radio Project aims to provide a space for the young inmates to collectively dialogue about issues that are important to their personal development and rehabilitation, and to share their experiences with the outside world.
Main Communication Strategies
This project uses the medium of radio to facilitate individual and collective growth, and - through collaborative media production - to provide participants with practical skills applicable to a working environment. Specifically, through involvement in the project, organisers hope that the youth participants will acquire the technical and conceptual skills necessary to be a radio journalist, including:
- communication and organisational skills
- media processes, practices and journalism ethics
- sound recording, storytelling, and editing
- individual and collaborative work
- task and time management
- conflict resolution
During the initial 3-month training module, the group began to collaboratively work on producing short radio stories for broadcast among their peers and inside the prison. Starting with short commentary and reflection pieces, the youth participants worked their way up to pre-produced documentary stories, audio diaries, and multi-media presentations. Together with the project producers, the youth participants edited the final stories from the collected sounds, deciding what parts would be included in the final production and what parts must be discarded. This collection of stories was made available for broadcast on community and national radio stations.
To foster young prisoners' engagement in meaningful issues, each weekly training session has been organised around a particular theme. These themes are devised by the participants in the project, and are used to structure the dialogue. Previous themes have included sexuality, HIV/AIDS, gang involvement, warden/prisoner relations, drug use, family life, conflict resolution, and post-release solutions. During the week prior to the session, the youth prepare for these discussions by making a list of issues that they want to bring to the table; they often write short stories, poetry, rhymes, or songs relevant to the issue of the day. As all of the participants are trained in sound recording at the beginning of the project, they take turns leading the dialogue and recording the weekly discussions.
Development Issues
Youth, Conflict.
Key Points
According to the organisers, ?Giving these young people microphones and the means to tell their own stories is simultaneously giving them a voice, offering them hope, and investing them with much-needed mechanisms of self-esteem.? By moving their stories beyond of the prison walls, the project also aims to highlight the issues of young people in prison, fostering a public dialogue about youth incarceration and rehabilitation.
?Radio production not only allows young people to get feedback on their thoughts and ideas, but it creates a space in which the young people can air their views, discuss what?s on their mind, and hopefully negotiate tensions that may exist within the prison and in the society at large. Conversations about topics for radio programmes can bring about discussions among the youth that do not typically take place in the confines of the prison. In this instance, the microphone operates as a catalyst for dialogue, as an agent of negotiation and transformation. In our weekly meetings, we attempt to create such a transformational space, a forum for dialoguing about issues important to the incarcerated youth.?
By training young people in radio production, the organisers aim to develop their communication and critical thinking skills, teamwork, social awareness, and personal/collective social responsibility. ?We endeavour, in our conversations with the youth, to instil in them a sense of personal responsibility, self-esteem, and social motivation, and to encourage a productive lifestyle post-release. We see our roles as both media trainers and social workers providing them with valuable and marketable skills in the media, and also offering them mechanisms of support for themselves and their families.?
Partners
Young in Prison, Amsterdam.
For more information, contact:
Young in Prison
Nieuwe Herengracht 29
1011 RL Amsterdam
Tel: 020-5285056
Fax: 020-528 50 57
info@younginprison.nl
voornaam@younginprison.nl
Young in Prison website
Source
Email from Michal Rahfaldt to Soul Beat Africa on January 11 2005.
Placed on the Soul Beat Africa site January 18 2005.
Placed on the Communication Initiative site October 16 2005.
Last Updated October 16 2005.
To foster young prisoners' engagement in meaningful issues, each weekly training session has been organised around a particular theme. These themes are devised by the participants in the project, and are used to structure the dialogue. Previous themes have included sexuality, HIV/AIDS, gang involvement, warden/prisoner relations, drug use, family life, conflict resolution, and post-release solutions. During the week prior to the session, the youth prepare for these discussions by making a list of issues that they want to bring to the table; they often write short stories, poetry, rhymes, or songs relevant to the issue of the day. As all of the participants are trained in sound recording at the beginning of the project, they take turns leading the dialogue and recording the weekly discussions.
Development Issues
Youth, Conflict.
Key Points
According to the organisers, ?Giving these young people microphones and the means to tell their own stories is simultaneously giving them a voice, offering them hope, and investing them with much-needed mechanisms of self-esteem.? By moving their stories beyond of the prison walls, the project also aims to highlight the issues of young people in prison, fostering a public dialogue about youth incarceration and rehabilitation.
?Radio production not only allows young people to get feedback on their thoughts and ideas, but it creates a space in which the young people can air their views, discuss what?s on their mind, and hopefully negotiate tensions that may exist within the prison and in the society at large. Conversations about topics for radio programmes can bring about discussions among the youth that do not typically take place in the confines of the prison. In this instance, the microphone operates as a catalyst for dialogue, as an agent of negotiation and transformation. In our weekly meetings, we attempt to create such a transformational space, a forum for dialoguing about issues important to the incarcerated youth.?
By training young people in radio production, the organisers aim to develop their communication and critical thinking skills, teamwork, social awareness, and personal/collective social responsibility. ?We endeavour, in our conversations with the youth, to instil in them a sense of personal responsibility, self-esteem, and social motivation, and to encourage a productive lifestyle post-release. We see our roles as both media trainers and social workers providing them with valuable and marketable skills in the media, and also offering them mechanisms of support for themselves and their families.?
Partners
Young in Prison, Amsterdam.
For more information, contact:
Young in Prison
Nieuwe Herengracht 29
1011 RL Amsterdam
Tel: 020-5285056
Fax: 020-528 50 57
info@younginprison.nl
voornaam@younginprison.nl
Young in Prison website
Source
Email from Michal Rahfaldt to Soul Beat Africa on January 11 2005.
Placed on the Soul Beat Africa site January 18 2005.
Placed on the Communication Initiative site October 16 2005.
Last Updated October 16 2005.
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Chris Schuepp
Young People's Media Network - Coordinator
c/o ECMC (European Centre for Media Competence)
Bergstr. 8 / 11th floor
D-45770 Marl - Germany
Young People's Media Network - Coordinator
c/o ECMC (European Centre for Media Competence)
Bergstr. 8 / 11th floor
D-45770 Marl - Germany
Tel./Fax: +49 2365 502480
Email: cschuepp@unicef.org
URL: www.unicef.org/magic
Mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/youthful-media
Email: cschuepp@unicef.org
URL: www.unicef.org/magic
Mailing list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/youthful-media
The YPMN is supported by UNICEF and hosted by the ECMC.
The opinions and views expressed in this message and/or articles & websites linked to from this message do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.
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