TACTIC 8: CASE STUDY
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Case Study
| TITLE: WHO: WHERE: WEBSITE: |
Unsung Peace Heroes Butterfly Works and Media Focus on Africa Foundation Kenya Peace Heroes website |
DESCRIPTION
Unsung Peace Heroes honoured those who worked for peace after post-election violence in Kenya in December 2007. Kenyans could nominate people and organisations by text message and email, and with paper forms at peace events. The groups Butterfly Works and Media Focus on Africa collected these nominations. Working with a local design school, Nairobits, nominations were translated, verifi ed and added to a map, using the community reporting tool, Ushahidi. In addition to online outreach, Peace Heroes placed newspaper, radio, and television advertisements, and Nairobits students distributed paper handouts. In 2009 the eight winning Peace Heroes were recognised on national television, and they used their prize money to support their communities and peace projects. One winner, Joel, hid 18 people for two weeks in his compound to protect them from violence. He says, "I received congratulations through telephone and text messages from diverse communities from far and near. As a family, we decided to throw a party and invite these people, those from my community, a local councillor, and the administration to celebrate. The need to form a peace initiative emerged during the party, and they mandated me to register a peace group and recruit members to address the violence." Marten Schoonman of Media Focus on Africa says, "The aim was to spread a message of hope and focus on the good in this time of trouble. The conflicts are far from solved, even today. Like the butterfly effect, a relatively small initiative like this has potential spin-off effects and unexpected benefits."
| TOOLS USED: | Ushahidi, mobile phones, Facebook, website. |
| REACH: | National. Over 500 nominations in one month, with peaks of 80 per day after Kenyan press coverage. |
| RESOURCES: | Local staff, volunteers and partner organisations to publicise the campaign and design the Facebook page. Local balanced expert jury. |
| TIME: | One month to collect nominations; three months later, awards and recognition given to Peace Heroes at ceremony. |
LEVEL Of DIFFICULTY: 3 out of 5
COST: USD$18,000 (SMS system was USD$3000; remainder for publicity and awards for participants).
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