Loading...
background

Bada labari

Preamble

It is part of the advocacy strategy of Child Online Africa (COA) to structure communication about its subject matter interest that generates attention. Generally, we prefer the informal and engaging talks to the ones that sound like a stern lecture from a parent. This concept paper presents how we tell COP stories using a unique presentation format that will allow stakeholders and participants to have a more enjoyable event whilst streaming the content to live audience.

WHAT IS Ba da Labari?

Ba da Labari is the Hausa phrase for storytelling so it takes an informal conversation format with personal and interactive discussion involving a moderator and guest. This style allows the audience space to gain insights into the guest’s personal stories and thoughts on various topics on Child Online Protection across Africa. It is heavily inspired by the fireside chats where a series of evening radio addresses were given by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, between 1933 and 1944.

ba da labari

FIRESIDE CHATS IN THE 21ST CENTURY HENCE BA DA LABARI

A lot has changed since the 1930s.We now have video, email, the internet, and so many other means of communication. Despite these changes, a fireside chat’s purpose remains the same — to make everyone feel relaxed and leave the audience with more information than they had before. The fireside chat will be used to address the critical issue of Child Online Protection and we need to ensure that our audience can trust and see a real person, to make the impact required.

BENEFITS OF THE EVENT

  • Create excitement
    The event will create an informal excitement around the much important subject of online safety, ensuring that children have a friendlier environment to communicate their concerns, share experiences and learn from a trusted source.
  • Share useful information with our audience.
    This hybrid Fireside chats will come in question and answer formats, making the audience think about the questions being asked. By answering these questions during the conversation, the guest will impart useful information to your audience
  • Reduces pressure on guests
    Since these chats are conversations, invited speakers will be at ease. Many people are uncomfortable being the center of attention, making fireside chats excellent because the focus is on more than one person.
  • Creates closer connections between our guest and audience
    The informal setting establishes an affinity between the speaker and the audience. And with the speaker feeling more comfortable, they would be more inclined to delve into topics and share their knowledge with the audience.

OUR STORYTELLING FORMAT

We can only enjoy the benefits of the fireside chat if we use the right format. With that in mind, here is our common formats to model.

Live Ba da Labadi

A countryside ambience with an informal set-up using the African storyteller style of communication to engage the selected audience with relevant conversations motivated by real-life experiences and industry knowledge to bring the issues to a more relatable point of interaction.

Plan of Programme

NB: The Hashtag #BDL will form what the online community unique conversations identity making the storytelling an ongoing activity online even after an event. It will have a country name to identify where the story is coming from. Eg: #BDLGhana

The “Agoo” Message – This is the welcome call which announces the storyteller’s presence and the purpose of gathering. It is brief and swift, creating an excitement of a story time moment.

  • Telling the Story to our Friends - The child online safety and cyber risk issues facing (known as the story) the target group (children and/or minors) will be told in three possible formats depending on the storyteller’s experiences, background and the source of the story.
  • Storytelling by research extract: Under this approach, extract from field reports of incidents and challenges facing various target groups and named and unnamed will be told to the target group, recounting them under key pillars of child online safety and digital citizens pillars (Example DQ). Each story shall be brief focusing on the challenges and root cause.
  • Storytelling by representation (the SDG indicators): this approach is when a common group of people face a challenge and the story can be told by a representation (i.e the Ba da labari can be an industry expert who is versed with the issues i.e. a parent, teacher, caregiver, guardian, community-leader or representative willing to share an experience.
  • Storytelling 0n-the-Go: this style of storytelling chooses the Ba da labari from the audience without prior notice. It is a concept that allows a main storyteller acting in the role of a resource person/moderator to allow stories to be told on certain basic concepts during the storytelling sessions.
  • The BDL Voices: our concept of #BDLvoices is the aspect of Ba da labari which seeks to evaluate and share perspectives about what have been the pattern as far as African countries are concerned. We need short video messages from our resource person both past and present regarding their views about Child Protection Online.

THE ORGANIZER

Child Online Africa (COA) is a child-focused research and advocacy non-governmental organization that campaigns for/with children and young people and their families to influence policies and change practices that affect child welfare in Ghana and across Africa. We build partnerships with organizations and individuals to promote online safety by employing rights and evidence-based advocacy approaches to achieve sustainable outcomes.