Global Fund for Children: Using Digital Technology to Extend Grassroots Knowledge

1. What are you most excited about accomplishing so far as a HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition winner? How did winning this award help your project accomplish this goal?

We are very excited about showcasing the experiences and voices of our grantee partners in India who participated in the 2008 Enterprise and Learning Knowledge Exchange. Thanks to the MacArthur Foundation grant, our VP of Communications and Director of Information Technology had the opportunity to travel to India to survey the technology requirements of our grantee partners, and interview our partners to capture their stories and experiences. We are now working on integrating issues raised around youth development into our KLARA, GFC’s Knowledge, Learning, and Resources Exchange Network.

2. What are your goals for the next three months?

Over the next three months, we hope to conduct additional rounds of interviews with our grantee partners and post on our website. In addition, we are beginning a “Flip Cam” project whereby we will distribute flip cameras to 3-5 of our grantee partners in India and Africa to film their experiences within their organizations and share best practices around youth development. Our partners will then directly upload their videos to our website and participate in guest vlogging and blogging. Also, we are preparing for our next Knowledge Exchange where we plan to include a specific discussion section on digital knowledge sharing.

Global Fund for Children is also working on creating exchanges between our grantee partners around the issue of food security. Many of our grantee partners have been impacted by the increasing cost of food, food transport, as well as poor crop yields and supply disruptions due to climate and crisis. Global Fund for Children is encouraging our grantee partners to exchange information about how they are coping for the short and long term. The goal is to have our grantee partners participate in discussion groups on KLARA and contribute blogs that inform our grantee partners throughout the world about coping strategies around the issue of food security. We are using Survey Monkey to conduct our survey which, when completed, will lead our grantees to our KLARA knowledge and learning exchange website to continue the dialogue.

Global Fund for Children also has a Knowledge Exchange page that featureds blogs and video slideshows from the workshops and events in India. Click here to view images of our Knowledge Exchange in India,

3. Is there any kind of assistance, advice, PR, communications, networking, or any other kind of support from fellow Digital Media and Learning Competition winners or HASTAC staff that could have helped you with your project?

We are learning a great deal through the DML winner’s hub website, spotlight blog, and email updates. It would be helpful if there was a technology or video equipment resource page on the DML website for winners to learn more about what video tools work best, which to avoid, etc.