Hillside Digital, a South African public benefit media development organization, has teamed up with FIFA and Sony on a major new project to train young video journalists in some of South Africa’s most deprived communities.

As part of the ‘Siyakhona’ project, Hillside Digital has created two community production units for citizen journalism in Alexandra and Khayelitsha.

Siyakhona is a project that trains young people from disadvantaged communities to be photographers and video journalists. It is part of Sony's collaboration with FIFA on corporate social responsibility and will be implemented through Football for Hope, the movement led by FIFA and streetfootballworld.

The name Siyakhona, which means “we can do it” in Xhosa and Zulu, was chosen as it embodies the project’s spirit of empowerment and inspiration, and that precisely encapsulates the aim of Hillside Digital.

Hillside Digital identifies young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds and equips them with the knowledge and skills required to become part of Hillside Digital’s community production units. Through filming and screening their videos, the participants will provide a ‘voice’ to the communities that they represent.

The training delivered by Hillside Digital covers all aspects of video journalism and citizen activism. Hillside Digital aims to dramatically increase social change through accountability to improved service delivery and social cohesion - made possible by citizen video journalism production units, which will expand across Africa.

Ntombi Nongauza (30 years), a Hillside Digital trainee in the Siyakhona project from Khayelitsha, said that she would like to “…uncover the stories of people in poor communities like the one I come from. There are many issues facing our communities, like drugs, HIV/AIDS and shortage of housing and these stories need to be told.”

In each area where Hillside Digital operates, it coordinates with the relevant area’s key role players to make an impact in the region. NGOs, development forums, political representatives, local authorities and community leaders will assist with the implementation of a ‘plan of action’ inspired by the community through the video advocacy screenings.