OPPORTUNITIES: German companies offer internships for journalists (BALKANS)

Young journalists with good knowledge of English or German from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia can apply.

The Internship Program of German Business is offering graduates and students a three- to six-month-long internship at leading German companies.

The interns will receive an allowance financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Participating German companies cover the cost of accommodation and health insurance.

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ARTICLES: Empowering Roma youth in Albania

Tirana, Albania, 13 August 2012: In Albania – the country with the highest percentage of youth in Southeast Europe – Roma youth face heavy discrimination. Their exclusion from sports competitions, school events, vocational training and community life often has a negative impact on their self-confidence.

As they overcame the cultural barriers in their own Roma and Egyptian communities, four Albanians from Tirana, Elbasan, Fier and Durrës enlisted as UN Volunteers to share their experience directly with youth from nearly 2,000 Roma and Egyptian families, thus helping them exercise their rights to civil registration, child protection, health, education, vocational training and employment.

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NEWS: Safer Internet Day 2012 celebrated in Albania

TIRANA, 7 February 2012 - Safer Internet Day 2012 brought together the Albanian Minister of Innovation and Technology, mobile operators, parents, teachers, civil society and NGOs in an attempt to increase child safety on line with concrete measures.

The Ministry of Innovation recently started an awareness campaign (1-17 February 2012) in order to build a strong commitment around this issue. During his speech, Minister Pollo highlighted the need to adopt the best European practices and sign an ICT Code of Ethics. "We should offer the Albanian children a possibility to report cases of abuse while they use the Internet."

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NEWS: Young People speak out on education for human rights

A new 12-minute film, “Education for Human Rights… Young People talking”, aims to raise awareness of key human rights issues in schools around the world.

Produced by UNESCO and realized by pupils of UNESCO Associated Schools in 10 countries, it shows adolescents of secondary-school age freely expressing their opinions about gender, diversity, violence, exclusion and other questions.

Viewers are invited to appreciate how young people understand and experience concepts and ideals of human rights in countries as different as Albania, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Dominican Republic, France, Indonesia, Lebanon and Uganda.

The film can be used as a teaching tool for secondary schools to introduce core topics of human rights education and initiate classroom discussions.

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OPPORTUNITIES: Film-making Workshops “Who is afraid of the Big Bad Crises?” (BALKAN REGION)

Are you young, creative, curious, willing to meet new people and visit new places? Are you interested in expressing your ideas through innovative film making techniques?

We are looking for you.

Apply now to one of our 3 film-making workshops and you will understand how to overcome your own limits and support others in overcoming theirs. The workshops will aim to address the topical issue of 'crisis' by developing 3 films all starting from the same moment of crisis and structured around the same 'anchor moments'.

During the workshops the selected young filmmakers will have the opportunity to meet and get to know each other, as well as exchange ideas about cinematography and the role of cinema, in the Balkan region.

The main purpose of the workshops is to give participants time to envision and create short films addressing the subject of 'crisis', seen from different perspectives: economical, political, personal crises, etc.

The moderators and trainers of the workshops will be the artists and filmmakers Effi & Amir: www.effiandamir.net

Each workshop will aim to produce a collective short film, challenging traditional film-making methods and instead of a linear creative process – writing, filming, editing – a new creative process will be developed and the three film-making stages intertwined (editing will take place throughout the process and not only at the end, writing will develop and emerge during filming etc), making the relations between writing, filming and editing much more dynamic.

The collective short films will, of course, be co-productions created by teams of participants of different nationalities and will be shown in a public screening after each workshop, as well as during the 2nd edition of "Balkans beyond Borders" Film Festival, which will take place in Athens in June 2011.

The workshops and festival should act as a meeting platform for young filmmakers from the region, workshop directors, organisers and institutions and offer participants opportunities for other future collaborations.

Schedule and deadline for applications

Skopje Workshop Dates: 30 March – 6 April 2011 – Application deadline: 15th of March 2011

Tirana Workshop Dates: 6 May – 13 May 2011 – Application Deadline: 1st of April 2011

Athens Workshop Dates: 15 June – 22 June 2011– Application deadline: 1st of May 2011

More info here

OPPORTUNITIES / FELLOWSHIPS: Fellowship open for young Eastern European writers

Posted on: 24/03/2010 Fellowships and Awards, International Experience, Study Abroad Deadline: 01/06/2010 Country: Moldova, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine, Albania, Belarus

Young writers from Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine are invited to apply for a fellowship for writers. Applicants should be no older than 35. Deadline: June 1.

The CEI (Central European Initiative) Fellowship is an award aimed at encouraging cross-border cooperation and promotion in the field of literature for young writers from Central European countries that are not yet a part of the European Union.

It is awarded by the CEI in cooperation with the Slovene Writers’ Association.

The fellowship is endowed with a cash award of EU€5,000 (about US $6,750) for a three-month stay in any of the Central European Initiative Member States, selected by the candidate.

To get more information, visit http://www.vilenica.si/files/1267629747CEI_fellowship-2010.pdf

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