PROJECTS: Citizen Journalists from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India Connect on “Bridges of Youth”

Growing out of a Kabul-based master class on peace and citizen journalism, Pul-e-Jawan(Bridges of Youth) has become a platform and ongoing exchange of ideas for young people involved in media in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

"Pul-e-Jawan is the only platform that I know where nationals of the three nations discuss and share their thoughts on regional issues," said Hameed Tasal, a web developer and blogger from Kabul. "It provided me with an opportunity to share my own experiences and thoughts with this special group."

Fifteen young bloggers, citizen journalists, filmmakers and technologists gathered together for the first time last fall to discuss security issues with policymakers, NGO representatives, academics, journalists and experts in the field. The workshop focused on how to use online and social media tools to address social causes, common challenges, and shared aspirations in the three countries.

Part of InternewsNext, a series highlighting 30 youth-led media initiatives.

read the full article on the Internews website

PROJECTS: Fukushima, Afghan high school students swap stories online

High school students from Japan and Afghanistan might not be expected to have much in common, but Peter Crowley, UNICEF's representative in Afghanistan, learned otherwise during his first trip to Fukushima Prefecture.

After visiting the prefecture Thursday to attend a Web conference between Yumoto High School in Iwaki and Tajwar Saltana Girls High School in Kabul, Crowley told The Japan Times that the students showed solidarity in their determination to make a better future for themselves.

full article

NEWS / CHILDREN'S TV: Popular children’s show Sesame Street debuts in Afghanistan

Big Bird is flying to Afghanistan — along with some of his of favorite friends.

The hit children's show "Sesame Street" debuted in the war-torn country on Thursday, featuring Elmo, Big Bird and Grover, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The beloved American show has spread around the world with different focuses for each country. For example, in Northern Ireland, where it airs on the BBC, Hilda the Irish hare and her "Sesame Tree" friends work to teach about cooperation. In Indonesia, "Jalan Sesama" works to celebrate the country's "unity through diversity."

Its aim in Afghanistan is to improve education for children there and is scheduled for an initial run of 26 episodes, the AFP reported.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/popular-children-show-sesame-street-debuts-afghanistan-article-1.986346#ixzz1ffCNm6iY

EVENTS: Afghan Youth Voices Festival

Welcome to the Afghan Youth Voices Festival, the first youth media festival in Afghanistan. The Festival will provide an opportunity for the country’s youth to express their ideas and dreams about their future through the media.

The festival will empower the next generation of leaders to discover the power of their creativity and learn to express their voices through different mediums including radio, television, the internet, blogging, photography, posters, art and music. If you are a young person (aged 15 to 24) you will have access to training, grants and there's a competition with special prizes. So we invite you to expresses your big idea.

website

ARTICLES / RADIO: Afghanistan’s Airways: Voices of Youth, Women and People with Disabilities

(May 19, 2010) Children who are forced to beg, cigarette smoking and access to education are just a few of the issues discussed on Radio Kodak, a program that follows the activities of a fictional radio station run by a group of children. The program includes news, interviews and roundtables conducted by children with a focus on peace-building and other social issues.

Radio Kodak is part of Internews' national production unit, Salam Watandar (Hello Countrymen), that was launched in 2003 in Afghanistan.

full article

JOBS: Youth Media Project Manager - Afghanistan

Youth Media Project Manager - Afghanistan
Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Duration: 6 months

Internews® Network is an international media development organization based in Arcata, CA and Washington, DC whose mission is to empower local media worldwide to give people the news and information they need, the ability to connect, and the means to make their voices heard.

Internews Network is seeking a Youth Media Project Manager to a) oversee the review and expansion of youth radio programming on the Internews Salam Watandar national radio service and on partner local radio stations and b) to manage a national youth media festival. The selected candidate will work closely with Internews local partner Nai, local radio station staff, and other Internews training and management staff.

more info

Heard the one about the Afghan comedy show?

After six years off the air, humour - of a sort - is back on Kabul TV. Rory McCarthy tuned in

Thursday January 2, 2003
The Guardian

Kabul television these days is an acquired taste. Peak viewing is on a Friday night, at the end of the weekly holiday when most people are at home desperate to savour the delights that their new-found freedom has to offer.
The build-up to the evening's main television event is a little slow. A succession of male singers appears on the screen. Each has his hair long and thickly oiled, and most are dressed in broad-collared, open-necked checked shirts and leather jackets as they croon Farsi and Pashtu love-ballads or songs about Afghanistan in the spring. And there is little disguising the fact that these are tapes salvaged from Kabul's golden age in the 1970s. Those were the days when many women wore miniskirts and couples walked hand in hand through the streets.