CABAR.asia Media School held a Content Lab dedicated to social design in the digital space

On the first day, Ksenia Diodorova, co-founder of the Gonzo Design studio and school, told the participants in detail about the development of a topic and creation of a concept, elaboration of a content plan, organisation of research and fieldwork for social design. According to her, a person sees only things he/she can relate to. Therefore, when planning a social project, authors should make sure they synchronise their messages with the world where their audience lives.

During the session, the participants briefly presented the topics of their social projects and received feedback from the trainer. Among the topics presented by the participants were domestic violence, women’s rights, domestic tourism, healthcare, and much more.

The second day of the Lab was devoted to fundraising, communications, and project support.  Ksenia Diodorova told the participants of the Lab about the need for preparation for the projects, introduced the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). She recommended participants to use this marketing model even in writing emails and noted:

Then, the co-founder of the Gonzo Design studio and school Aleksei Poleukhin spoke to the participants. Together they analysed the nuances of filling out grant applications and working with funding from businesses.

The second day ended with a practical exercise. The participants presented their projects. Among them were the materials on eco- and ethno-tourism, education, social orphanhood, people with disabilities, as well as projects aimed at increasing political and legal literacy, developing scientific potential in the community, preventing cyberbullying on social media, highlighting the problems of labour migrants’ children, and promoting the strong inspiring images of women in the format of fairy tales for children.  Each participant who presented the assignment received valuable comments and useful recommendations from Aleksei Poleukhin.

During the theoretical session on the third day, Aleksei Poleukhin and participants analysed the communication strategy, sustainability, and scaling of the project in detail.  

According to him, communication with the audience should not look like a monologue of the project’s author. He recommended leaving space for the audience to bring something of their own.

At the end of the day, the participants made the final presentations of their projects taking into account all the comments received earlier. Aleksei Poleukhin recommended most of the participants to conduct preliminary testing and prototyping of projects before their implementation to assess sustainability and future success. Once again, he emphasized it was very important to promote not the project itself, but its content.

The communities around the projects and their role in social change were discussed on the fourth final day of the Lab. The speaker was Alima Pardasheva, curator of the Alliance of Fact Checkers community.

During the theoretical session, she told participants about her experience in managing the community. She also shared her knowledge about why it is necessary to create communities, what roles of participants exist in it, and what the daily routine of a community manager is.

At the final practical part of the event, the participants presented ideas for the development of the current and the creation of possible future communities around their projects and received feedback from the trainer.

It should be noted that the members of the content makers’ community moderated all days of the Lab: Saule Agatayeva (Kazakhstan), Karina Gaberkorn (Kyrgyzstan), Ellina Kim (Tajikistan), and Samrin Mamedova (Uzbekistan).

At the close of the event, IWPR Central Asia Program Coordinator Jazgul Ibraimova summed up the results of the four-day workshop, thanked all speakers and moderators, congratulated the participants on completing the Online Lab, and awarded them with certificates.