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Aims

Intended Outcomes

The Youth Reporter Project was a participatory, community-based youth media project that is part of Plan's child-focused disaster response and designed to evolve with the recovery process and transition to development. The project supports children and young people to share their stories and priorities with each other, adults, supporters and decision makers through creative media, videography and broadcast journalism.

Defined by the participants themselves, the project aims to provide children opportunities to:

1. Apply skills in the use of creative media
2. Report on the recovery of their community and link their experiences to broader developmental challenges and rights-based issues
3. Communicate their opinion and priorities with decision makers
4. Communicate with other children on disaster risks and climate change adaptation

One of Plan's thematic focuses for the recovery and rehabilitation phase of its disaster response in Typhoon Haiyan is Child-Centred Disaster Risk Management where boys and girls in the affected areas take leadership in reducing disaster risk and mitigating impacts on their communities. The Youth Reporter Project, in particular, contributes in the development of DRR messages targeted to children, as well as communicating the DRR priorities of children back to government leaders and key decision makers.

Plan identified and began working with typhoon-affected children aged 8-17 in 12 communities in 2 provinces. A series of consultations were conducted in the communities to let the participants identify the outcomes they want from the project, as well as the themes and media skills they want to learn. The results were then developed into a year-long curriculum.

Plan brought in experienced multimedia professionals and journalists to teach the fundamentals of interviewing, camera handling, photography, videography, news gathering and reporting. Children also participated in child-friendly orientations on the core child rights and issues linked to the recovery process. To complete the workshop, the participants received 'Youth Reporter Kits' and were formally inducted into the year-long programme.

Now, 'Youth Reporters' participate in a year-long curriculum with monthly sessions that support children to report on the recovery from the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan, as well as themes linked to broader development challenges.

In addition to thematic touch points, the monthly sessions focus on strengthening a particular media skill of news reporting and broadcast journalism. They apply skills through a production of varied media outputs such as storyboards, news reports, and video. The monthly themes offer a fun and thought-provoking way to examine the concept of 'rights in practice,' giving young people the opportunity to reflect on issues that matter most to them and relate how these affect vulnerable sectors in the community.

Using cameras allow children to capture reality in their perspective. They are able to share their stories with a wider audience in an engaging, compelling and accessible format. In building skills in the use of creative media, participants build confidence to express their opinions and become active participants in the recovery process. It empowers children to influence resilience building in the community.

Using ICT and a participatory video technique for the Youth Reporters Project was key to helping bring together disaster-affected children and youth to express creatively their stories, issues, ideas and solutions. Additionally, teaching the children the fundamentals of behind both in front of the camera (as interviewee) and behind the camera (as director/producer) gave them the confidence and skills to influence and decide what exactly they wanted to capure and portray about their community and life as they recover from Typhoon Haiyan.

During the monthly sessions, participants not only discuss their experience of the disaster but also reflect on what are their vulnerabilities to disaster; how these vulnerabilities affected their capacity to withstand and recover; how various sectors and groups of people are affected differently; and what they think should change to aid their recovery and increase their resilience to future disasters.

They express their ideas and opinions through various media outputs such as photos, Public Service Announcements, video diaries, and news. Another important component of the Youth Reporter project is the community screening where participants show their outputs to other children, adults and decision makers. The screenings provide concrete opportunity for them to engage with government officials and other developmental and humanitarian agencies.

Since the project's inception in late 2013, Youth Reporters have been active in developing news materials and videos and not only in their monthly sessions, but in key moments when subsequent Typhoons hit their homes. When Typhoon Rammasun and Hagupit passed through Haiyan-affected areas in 2014, the Youth Reporters used their knowledge and understanding of disaster preparedness and climate change to pro-actively create Weather Reports, narrating and creatively detailing how they and their families prepared for both Typhoons

The participant's stories have been essential for government and humanitarian agencies to understand the challenges that children and communities face.

The photos and videos are uploaded to Plan's social media sites and have reached thousands of online viewers. Their work are also shared to wider audiences - to media networks and other civil society organizations - over traditional and online media and during interagency meetings.

The project involved 86 children aged 8-17 in four communities

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