Sustainable user-created publishing (ad)ventures (in Africa) for young people
Aims:
* Create a communication channel that is controlled by the audience for the benefit of the audience: changing the way that content is delivered to a youth audience
* Encourage a world in which the voices of young people are heard far and wide, where they set the agenda, and don’t have to rely on government or charities to provide positive activities
* Transform the way that the publishing and media sector look at and interact with young people, as both potential readers and employees
* Seed a project that creates a whole new generation of young people working in the media and becoming role models for their peers
* Change the fact that the corporate and media sectors are not using their immense power and influence to educate, inspire and develop the underprivileged young people of South Africa
* Show that the delivery of education, literacy, empowerment doesn’t need to be confined to a classroom, doesn’t have to be delivered by government or charities, and can be exciting and appealing to even the most disengaged young person
* Launch youth-created publishing venture(s) created for/by young people from South African townships, that educates, inspires and informs; generates jobs, training and wealth; and gives the township youth a powerful voice in the media
* Harness everything Livity and Live Magazine have learned and developed about applying socially innovative approaches to education, training, job creation and the marketing of social issues
* Leverage not only Livity’s skills and knowledge, but those of the innovators already working in similar areas SA: often, as we’ve seen, in relative isolation
* Change publishing and the media sectors’ belief in the impact they can have in creating education and social uplift by doing what they do best: producing, marketing and selling content
* Channel the spending power and influence of brands as the primary funders through advertising
* Make content 100% youth-created: and consider ‘customer-owned’ co-operative for governance model
* Challenge myself, my preconceptions, and the established model we have created in London at every step of the way, and make sure the needs of the user/reader/beneficiary/community are always the principle driver
* Inspire change in the way that social uplift projects are seen and run (from charity model to social enterprise model)
* Sustainability, sustainability, sustainability
* Make it replicable, spreadable, impossible to contain
* Combine all the above to develop a new project that starts in one part of South Africa and then spreads to the rest of the continent, and through its mass distribution, creates an immense network of young people who collectively show the world that young people are worth listening to, and investing in (aka youth-led world domination).
How:
* Consolidate preparatory work already done in SA throughout 2010, with an initial period of further consultation and research to assess the needs of young people in SA, what else is available in the media and youth engagement sectors, and develop a defined model, project plan, core principles and objectives and governance structure.
* Reignite conversations, relationships and excitement stirred up in partners and collaborators during 2010
* Explore solutions for logistics of location, capital costs, production, format, distribution, printing.
* Work with educators and mentors to develop training units relevant for SA, and consider how/whether the publication relates to mainstream education provision.
* Co-create the format, name, identity, size, frequency, layout, ethos, and advertising policy with an initial core team of young people and mentors.
* Establish key partnerships in SA: including media companies, advertisers, technology partners, educators (schools and colleges), mentors and young people.
* Make deals with corporate investors/advertisers (building on initial interest from brands) and media buyers to ensure a viable revenue stream is in place before anything launches.
* Investigate the creation an apprenticeship programme between the magazine and the media that allows young people to progress into paid placements that prepare them for full time employment
* Launch a pilot phase in the Western Cape
