Siyakhona Project

Hillside Digital created two community production units for citizen journalism in two South African townships - Alexandra in Johannesburg, and Khayelitsha in Cape Town. The organisation identified young adults between the ages of 18 and 32 from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in the training programme on community citizen video journalism. The training covered a range of topics, including filmmaking, interview techniques, activism and human rights, basic business and marketing, and interacting with new media and emerging technologies.

Siyakhona trainees then go into the community and find out what are the most critical issues affecting people. They produce a 30-minute news magazine show on these issues together with culture, local news, and community success stories. These magazine shows are screened directly back into the community through 'mobile cinema' events attended by thousands of people. The community are invited to discuss and find solutions to the challenges in the films. Local health and social services together with NGOs are invited to use the screening events to disseminate vital information - right into the heart of the community.

In August 2010, Siyakhona trainees working in Alexandra township, Johannesburg found out that residents were concerned by giant rats that were infesting their houses and even attacking their children. The Siyakhona trainees made a film about the issue and screened it within the community and with local stakeholders. Later that month, with the support of the City of Johannesburg, Siyakhona trainees mobilised hundreds of volunteers for a 3-day clean-up campaign in the township to remove the rubbish and address pollution that was allowing the rats to breed.

Each community has it's own interactive new media website within the Hillside Digital portal for the international community to follow their stories and progress, and for supporting them through fundraising, donations, volunteering, and activism initiatives.

To view some of the videos produced by the project, visit the Siyakhona Africa website.

Youth, Citizenship, Gender, Environment, Health and Governance

Hillside Digital is a South Africa based organisation that works to empower young people from impoverished communities with training, hardware, technology, ongoing support and the means to publicise and advocate solutions to problems facing their communities. In addition to the Siyakhona project, Hillside Digital also has a 24-hour online television channel, as well as an e-commerce shop that markets products manufactured by local cooperatives. According to organisers, their network of websites (Siyakhona community video sites, e-commerce, and television channel) represents a new approach to charity and aid that encompasses online giving, e-commerce, as well as information and education dissemination.


Hillside Digital Trust works across disciplines for social and ecological justice. According to the organisation, "it combines the transformatory power of community video citizen journalism with the tangible goals of campaigning, the rigour of in-depth research with the vision to promote alternative futures. We believe in a holistic approach to development and want to work in partnership with local and global development agencies, NGOs, the governments, media and the private sector to help create change in disadvantaged communities."

The organisation also uses other applications such as Twitter, Google Earth, blogs, and the virtual world Second Life to interact with the international online community. For example, the organisation plans to create a Hillside Digital Island within the Second Life virtual world, which will house a lecture hall and conference facilities, as well as research and education facilities. NGOs and civil society will also be invited to build their presence on the island. As part of the 2010 World Cup, Hillside also collaborated with Buntuzim to host an arts festival in Alexandra township that included live performance, video screenings, and visual art.