Nyugat.hu website, published by a nonprofit organisation, launches a video and podcast channel, which introduces key members of self-organized, autonomous groups operating in West Hungary. We intend to address groups being marginalized because of age, ethnicity, political view, or geographical location. The channel will operate as a separate section of the Nyugat.hu news site. They will provide an insight into who a particular local community works and also serve as a kind of counseling function

Szombathely, Western Hungary
The area of town is located near to border between Hungary and Austria

The northwest region of Hungary is relatively developed in terms of economy, however, geographically is far from the capital (Budapest) and the major cities, located near the Austrian border. The local communities mostly focus on culture and preserving traditions, while social issues like minority group rights, equal opportunities, fighting against discrimination do not play important roles.
In the county Vas, the civil movements were dominant and highly influential in the last century, but after the fall of communism, they became apolitical. Now, the self-organized, autonomous groups operate in self-isolation, mostly unknown and invisible for the society.

Our target groups operate in the northwest of the country (counties Vas, Zala, Győr-Moson-Sopron), living further from the major towns, or socially disadvantaged, less mobile, or operate informally, so they do not have resources for efficient communication or public relation. The planned video and podcast channel as an efficient media tool to give voice to these groups and introduce various opinions. During the one-year of the project period we intend to introduce 15 community activities related to the region. We plan to cover the spectrum of civil society as wide as it is possible. On the other hand, it is an important element that group activities must be related to local issues such as a self-educational group at mount Kissomlyó,a community fighting against illegal rubbish shooting,etc

Besides the videos and podcasts, we plan to build network. The “discovered” and introduced civil groups, with the help of a special form, can recommend other civil groups, projects, initiatives. This organic expansion guarantees the long-term operation of the channel and the sufficient social base. In order to find the smaller, marginal group we approach the employees of local councils in charge of civil issues and consult with a specialist in community development.

We believe that introducing minimum 15 community initiatives encourage the civil actors of the region to intensify the collaboration with each other, on the other hand, the good practices will become katalizators for new organizations.
Our association also can benefit from getting in touch and supporting civil organisations. Over the years we have given publicity to local communities, non-profit events, but lacking sufficient resources haven’t been able to find the appropriate and regular form for it. A video and podcast channel focusing on civil issues brings us tremendous experience in that field and significantly widen our network in civil society.

A “Voice & screen for inaudible and invisible groups” project is based on the assumption that the initiatives of the communities have limited impacts due to the poor visibility of their operation and activities. We observed that communities in Vas county such as charity organizations, environmental groups, caring projects do not have the experience and knowledge of how to reach significant publicity. As a result, valuable initiatives, good practices do not have effects in a broad circle. However, if they received more publicity they could be inspirations and motivations for the rest of the local society to get more involved in various issues.

The members of the Association are highly committed to the civil groups and community initiatives. This attitude can clearly be seen presently in the media contents of Nyugat.hu and in the video and podcast channel in the future. We love the concept of the project as we will not only document the events as earlier but actively contribute to foster further initiatives and community activities by our videos and podcasts about good cases. Monitoring and publicizing their operation and results, remote and isolated communities will have the motivation and chance to grow stronger and more confident, which can have an effect on the entire civil society in northwest Hungary.

Personnel costs (video and podcast maker team - 2 persons - part-time, a technical supervisor - part-time, an editor - part-time, a project coordinator - part-time, during 10 months) 28,500 EUR
Technical support cost (video editor station, mobile podcast studio) 12,500 EUR
Travel costs (to a built network) 3,000 EUR
Workshop events cost (workshop leader fee, workshop materials, and tools for the local communities) 3,000 EUR
Public relations (ads cost, graphic design materials) 1,500 EUR

We would happily take part in consultancy related to community building. We are also interested in receiving information about assessing community projects.