VIVA LA VISA STUDIO: END OF Cohort 1 PROJECT REPORT

END OF PROJECT REPORT
SUBMITTED TO ETC OF PWD CHARITY UK and VIVA LA VISA UK.

PREPARED BY MUSEMA FARUK @2024

Appreciation.
Chairman Board of Directors GDPU.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the board of directors of ETC of PWD charity UK for loving Gulu Disabled Persons union for the past 10 years, with their commitment we have achieved vocational skills training and capacity building support for over 300 youth with disabilities in Northern Uganda.”

“With love from our members we would like to thank Viva la Visa UK for the generous support towards toward the Music studio and capacity development for youth with disabilities in music production and recording, the studio has given the youth the opportunity to record quality songs, change mindsets and socialize with the community.

Ojok Nelson. Musician with Visual impairment.
“Wow I’m more than grateful to Andrew Corrigan for this great support, I thought I would only have one song that was composed during my time in school, but the studio has given me the opportunity to make more songs, to advocate for our rights through music and show the community how music can create social change in our communities.”

Introduction.
Viva la Visa Music program is a music for social change aimed at talent development, in 2023 we successfully started training and capacity building of 9 direct beneficiaries 7 Male 2 Female. They have gone through 6 months intensive training on music production and vocal training for our youth, they have produced a total of over 30 songs and 1 video dedicated to the donor of the Viva la visa studio and ETC of PWD UK.
We have seen a great change in the lives of the youth with disabilities, now through the viva la visa they are able to advocate for any change through music, they have composed songs that teaches the community on good morals, changed attitudes of the community, and social wellbeing of persons with disabilities in the community within Northern Uganda.

Objectives of the project
1.1 Supporting wellbeing of people with disability – Music brings people together across disciplines, age ranges and disabilities. It has a significant role in and is an important tool for Disability advocacy.
1.2 To integrate PWDs into their community, where previously they had been excluded. By being able to perform traditional songs and dances.
1.3 To provide one or more income streams. Entertainment, particularly writing, performing and recording music is a growing business whilst it might never be a sole form of employment.
1.4 To provide access to music technology and equipment. Although all trainees should be involved in performing song/ dance, music technology is equally relevant. The V-Plus electronics course showed that working with music and video technology to produce and record music could be within the reach of GDPU trainees and should be offered to them. The closely related world of video production, at an entry level, will be another productive area to investigate as the course develops.
1.4 To provide opportunities for all trainees to take part in music making, and many will also opt to work on more technical forms of music production in the audio music production course, those taking part should not be limited to electronics trainees
1.5 Providing the means and support to get music seen and heard, both as income stream and advocacy.
1.6 Providing the first steps in establishing a radio station that will play music produced through this project and feature other forms of PWD advocacy, perhaps at first limited to using air time from other local stations.
Impact of the Viva la visa music program.

Process
1) A complete music studio was created at GDPU for the disability community of northern Uganda to advocate for inclusion and rights of PWDs through the power of music.
2) A total of 10 musicians successfully completed an 8 months training on music recording and were able to record very good music the followings were the graduates of the music program.
Name: Stage name:
i. Ocen Samson Kiss pro
ii. Okello Abraham. Abram Music
iii. Watmon Emmanuel Palesta pro
iv.Abalo Scovia Queen Scovia
v. Akello Brenda Lady Brenda
vi. Oloya Keneth Chosen Louis
vii. Wokorach Wokos
viii. OJok Nelson Nelson P
ix. Odong Brain Brain Music
3) Music produced at the studio are being aired on radio studio stations within Northern Uganda for example at Mega F, Speak FM and Favor FM.
4) Beneficiaries of the Viva project are being recognized by the community for example they were hosted in three different radio stations, Mega FM, Speak FM and Favor FM.
5) Beneficiaries were trained with skills of playing local instruments like piano, xylophone, keyboard, flutes and production skills.
6) The music studio has open up to the community at a very low cost to record a complete traditional music song, basically a song is recorded at a cost of 300,000/= but at Viva we give it at a cost of 80,000/= per song.
7) The voice of the voiceless has been amplified through the music studio this is because youth with disabilities are able to record songs for free and all those songs are to aimed at changing the community attitudes towards disabilities.

Challenges faced during implementation.
1) Limited Skills for instructor on using the new music software Logic pro, this has made it very hard for the instructor to share the music with Andy in the UK.
2) Limited time for trainees to cope up with the training.
3) No mentorship program for the trainees.
4) Congestion at the studio due to high numbers of trainees in the studio.

Ways forward.

Build the capacity of the instructor in the use of the latest software in the marketing
Identify few trainees to give space for producer to compose more songs and complete them in time.
To have a mentorship program to help build capacity of youth with disabilities in music development.
Install the new software of Logic Pro to cope up with the current trends.
Run a one-year program to develop the capacity of youth with disabilities in music production.
Organize community outreach program to promote the songs produced by people with disabilities from the communities.
Identify two more beneficiaries from the first cohort to join the second cohort.

If you would like to know more about Viva La Visa please go to their website or Facebook Page