Thursday, September 13, 2012

OYE Students and Staff Attack New Projects

September is a month of beginnings for OYE. We begin working on a social media project with Adobe Youth Voices, our art students begin a mural at KM2's office, OYE staff will be presenting its first comprehensive socio-economic investigation of El Progreso, and all of our programs will begin planning for next year.


Adobe Youth Voices is an awesome project that introduces youth to the dynamic Adobe programs Photoshop and Premier Elements 10 and teaches them how to leverage socio/multi-media technology in order to send a message. Starting September 21, OYE will be working with 70 youth from El Progreso teaching different photo and video editing techniques. Along with technical skills OYE will lead the local youth in exercises that build their capacity to express themselves. The final goal of this project is to create a space utilizing multi-media to permits local youth to express themselves and contribute to a dialogue on themes that are important to them.

It has been a long time since OYE youth created their own social media projects. Under the leadership of founders Justin Otero and Ana Luisa Ahern OYE scholars produced Fotos de mi Pueblo, embedded below. This photo journal tells the story of El Progreso, Honduras through the eyes of OYE's youth. 


More recent social media projects undertaken at OYE include volunteer Richard Lakin's "Cipotas Empoderadas," a ten minute film following four of OYE's incredible scholars. Once again the ball is in the hands of local youth, and we are excited to see what they come up with, what themes, mediums, and messages they use.



KM2 is running this building! Occupying the Lobby and first floor, the third
floor and the penthouse 14th floor.  Check out this article on their growth:
KM2, OYE's shining star in Honduras, is a call center based out of  San Pedro Sula, Honduras that has taken a keen social interest in OYE. They have donated computers and checks to OYE, but now they give us the greatest gift of all-a WALL. KM2 has invited OYE to design and paint a mural on one of the walls in their office at Altia Business Park. For those of you not familiar with San Pedro, I'm guessing that includes most of the blog readers, this is like designing a mural in Trump Towers. We look forward to dressing up one of Honduras' tallest buildings.


OYE Prepares its Socio-Economic Study for Presentation


OYE staff and students develop and execute a socio-economic study in association with World Vision. After months of research, proposals, drafts, and interviews OYE is concluding its study of community development in the NorthWestern Quadrant of El Progreso. The study analyzes the perceived shortcomings of community development as seen by heads of households. Hosted by World Vision, OYE will be presenting the results of its investigation to a group of interested NGO and community leaders in Tela, Honduras at the end of this month. This is the first time OYE has participated in a research project of this scale. We have done so with the hope that this study and the recommendations born from it will serve as a guide in future development projects initiated by World Vision and fortify the relationship between these our NGOs.

Study Snap-shots!

Conducting first person interviews.
"Not a single head of household interviewed over the age of 52 has achieved a university education."
 "94% of the heads of household interviewed view remissions as an important factor in the community. Only 4% believe that remissions are unnecessary."
"79% of the heads of households interviewed have a positive attitude about the possibility of making socio-economic improvements in their community"


Finally, we are entering that magical phase of the year that involves planning. OYE is looking at a strategic expansion of our projects. We always have the goal of self-sustaining projects and this year we will be making some serious infrastructural investments to make those a possibility. This involves technical equipment for both the radio and magazine group. We are looking thinking about mobility for the radio to take their show on the road and record live events. Our magazine is poised to enter a feverish growth phase as we bring the ability to print in-house to OYE. The end result is that large upfront costs will move these programs to the next, more professional level.