Friday, April 13, 2012

SOMA's Birth

Continuing with updates. During our training period, myself and other volunteers came up with the idea of publishing a journal to capture our PC service. We wanted a professional looking journal with official feel to it. Here's the proposal letter I put together and sent to the PC Country Director, John, and his deputy, Biba. (Original Date, April 29th, 2009)

John and Biba,

A group of the volunteers expressed interest in putting together a Peace Corps/Rwanda Magazine/News Letter. We set up two meetings to brain storm on content and structure and came up with this DRAFT proposal that we would like to share with you.

We would like to initiate a quarterly Peace Corps Rwanda journal publication, journal title that we came up with is, “SOMA: Stories, Opinions, Messages, Art”. SOMA also means “READ” in Kinyarwanda. The publication will serve the purpose of capturing the experiences and stories of interested volunteers. The journal will be a montage of free-form entries both professional and personal that could include articles, poetry, photographs, and shared lessons and experiences from the field. The journal will eventually serve as a documentary for current and future volunteers, as well as any interested readers. Publication guidelines will be in place and enforced by the managing editor, ensuring the adherence to Peace Corps policies.

Journal publication will be as followed:

• PCVs submit free-form entry via email or mail (ie: poem, drawing, article, photo, story, etc.)
• Submissions must be received by managing editor one month prior to publication date
• Submissions will be reviewed and approved by managing editor according to the set guidelines
• Entries may be in Ikinyarwanda or English
• Publication dates will be the first week of:
o Aug 09, Nov 09, Feb 10, May 10, Aug 10, Nov 10, Feb 10
• Estimated cost per print copy is 500 rwf.
• An E-copy may be made available free of charge.

Sample Format:
Below is a sample of the titles that will be included in this publication along with responsible party for content review.
I. Index
II. Letter from Editor-in-Chief
III. Letter from Country Director/APCD
IV. Featured Partner Organization - Ahmed
V. Free-Form Articles and Stories
a. Lessons learned and active projects – Anna
b. Book Reviews – Katie
c. Kinyarwanda Page – Bryna
i. Fact sheet
ii. Dictionary
iii. Culture review
d. Travel Section – Ahmed
i. Places to visit, eat and stay
VI. Entertainment section
a. Fashion Review – Jacelyn
b. Music Review - Brandon
c. Word on the Street from Kigali – Raechel
d. Advice Column “Words from Felician” – Felician
e. Poetry – Emmet
f. Horoscope – Chrissi
g. How to… - Taylor
VII. Arts and Photography - Malcolm
VIII. Comics – Tom and Emmet
a. Where’s Mup?!

Logistics:
I. Production
Main form of production will be in paper form. Volume size will range from 20-30 pages with estimated number of copies (50)
Number of pages 25
Print cost per page 15 RWF
Binding cost per copy = 75 RWF
Other Cost per copy = 100 RWF

Total cost per copy (est.) = 500 RWF
Number of copies 50
Total print Cost (est.) = 25,000 RWF

Electronic form will also be available and can be sent via email.

II. Delivery
Mode of delivery will need to be finalized. Several options are available
a. Using mail boxes at the PC office in Kigali for pick up during site visit
b. Mail delivery
c. Delivery by PC staff visiting PCV sites
d. Electronic copy to be sent via email

III. Accounting
Average cost per copy is estimated at 500RWF

Sources for funding this publication will vary:

• Application for PEPFAR funding for issues covering HIV/AIDS and other PEPFAR related projects
• Application for funding from NGOs and/or other organization featured in the publication
• Charging recipient of publication the estimated cost of 500 rwf.

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