OPPORTUNITIES: New course in New Media - call for applications (SOUTH CAUCASUS)

GO Group Media and Prague-based organization Transitions Online are inviting applications from young practicing journalists and journalism students from across the South Caucasus for an opportunity to be trained to use new media tools to produce impactful journalism.

Over the next ten months, the participants of the project 'Empowering Journalists to Promote Reconciliation in the South Caucasus’ will engage in the production of short multimedia featuring stories of lived experience told by their fellow community members.

Every participant will be presented with a smartphone for their filming sessions. Later on, trainees who will have demonstrated the greatest potential as learners will be rewarded with a chance to participate in an International Photojournalism Course in Prague.

Candidates are expected to speak Russian and have basic computer skills. Please send your CV and motivation letter writing ‘Multimedia Course’ in a subject line to maka.tsnobiladze@gogroupmedia.net 
The deadline is September 15, 2013.

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ARTICLES: Using Public Art to Promote Social Change in Armenia

Public art with a social agenda is something fairly new in Armenia. Young artist and activistLea Mkhitaryan recently founded the Eiva Arts Foundation to promote development of social consciousness through art. 

The organization’s People Daily: Art and Media project, funded by a small grant from Internews, aims to raise public awareness of human rights and social issues in Armenia through visual media content (illustrated stories, photo stories, PSAs and other forms of interactive visual arts), street art installations, and participatory public events. The foundation’s slick and colorful website, Eiva.am, got over 13,000 hits in October.

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ONEMINUTESJR / WORKSHOPS: Armenian teenagers share their experiences with juvenile justice in one-minute videos

YEREVAN, Armenia, 9 April 2012 - Sixteen teenagers from different cities in Armenia have come together in the capital Yerevan this week for a five-day video workshop as part of the OneMinutesJr initiative. Their aim is to write, film and produce movies that tell about the experiences they have made when coming in conflict with the law.

The young people are from Gyumri, Alaverdi, Kapan, Ijevan, Vanadzor, Chambarak and Yerevan. Most of them have been arrested by the police in their towns and cities at least once for petty crimes, robbery, stabbing other teenagers with knives or in one case also for alleged rape. Since they are all still minors and their crimes were either not severe enough or could not be proven, they were not sentenced to serve time in prison. Instead, they were all handed over to community centers by the police to receive psychological help and/or do community work.

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NEWS / WEBSITES: First website to promote child participation launched in Armenia

YEREVAN, 14 March 2012 – UNICEF and Youth for Achievements NGO launched today http://www.ashakert.am/ - the first website to promote child participation in Armenia.

“It is a true pleasure to be present today at an event which has a potential to change the way adults perceive children and children perceive important processes of decision-making and their role in those processes. Today we are making the first important step towards establishing a process that we call meaningful child participation,” UNICEF Representative in Armenia Henriette Ahrens said, addressing representatives of various ministries, local and international civil society organizations, school administrators and children.

The newly created website is primarily designed for members of Student Councils established in all schools in Armenia and aims to intensify Student Councils’ activities in the area of child protection and child participation.

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UNICEF is looking for an Armenian – English speaking intern to research on digital access and online behavior of children and young people in Armenia

Current vacancies or internships with UNICEF Regional Office

UNICEF Regional Office for CEECIS and Headquarters in New York is looking for an Armenian – English speaking intern to research on digital access and online behavior of children and young people in Armenia for 3 months minimum starting on March 30 or earlier if available. The intern can work remotely but is expected to have weekly progress calls with a project manager in New York. The intern will spend 15 hours a week in researching, translating, and analyzing with weekly working sessions with the project team via skype/phone. 

Please send your curriculum vitae to unicef.youth.jobs@gmail.comand indicate "Digital Safety Intern/Armenia" in the subject line. Click here to download more information.

Source: http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/16422_19360.html

Paper Garden - Video from Armenia on UN-TV

CALL FOR ENTRIES / OPPORTUNITIES: “Volunteerism in Videos”

Youth Initiative Centre NGO (YIC) with the assistance of the Centre for Organizing Youth Activities state non-commercial organization of the Ministry of Youth and Sport of the Republic of Armenia, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme and the United Nations Department of Public Information are launching the on-line video contest entitled "Volunteerism in Videos".

The contest is dedicated to the International Year of Youth (August 12, 2010 – August 12, 2011), and is aiming at awarding amateur videos on volunteerism, made or featuring youth in action.
It will be further promoting volunteerism as a way how citizens can participate to development and will encourage the use of media and social networking as an innovative mean of public expression.

Three winner of the competition will receive photo cameras and mobile phones to support their further engagement.

The eligible candidates are local Armenian non-governmental organizations or individuals who are citizens of Armenia. To participate in the competition the applicants must send the corresponding application form (different for organizations and individuals), and the video which should fulfill the following criteria:

* Have direct action on volunteerism;
* Be created after 2001;
* Be either created by or featuring young people age 16 – 30;
* Be no more than 2 minutes long;
* Video format: MPEG with MP3 audio, or other acceptable formats to be uploaded on YouTube: Windows Media Video (.WMV); .3GP(cell phones); .AVI(windows); .MOV(mac); .MP4 (ipod/psp); .MPEG; .FLV (adobe flash); .MKV (h.264).

The applications can be downloaded here:

* VIV Application Form Individual
* VIV Application Form Organizational

Attention: Applications that are not completely filled in, or sent after the announced deadline will not be reviewed.

The complete applications should be sent to the Youth Initiative Centre NGO to the attention of
Ms. Amalya Stepanyan:
In hard-copy to YIC office:
8/8 Sargsyan Street, Gyumri, Armenia 3115
Or in electronic form to:
yic_ngo@yahoo.com with a CC to amalyastepanyan@gmail.com e-mail addresses.

The Deadline for submitting the applications is 20th of July, 2010.

May you have further questions or there is a need for clarifications to be made, please contact Ms. Amalya Stepanyan at the above indicated e-mail addresses or via cell phone at +374 94 78-53-60.

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OPPORTUNITIES / EVENTS / SEMINARS: Young Media Makers Preach and Practice Peaceful Journalism (GEORGIA, ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN, BELARUS, BIH, GERMANY, ITALY, MACEDONIA, MOLDOVA, POLAND, ROMANIA, RUSSIA, SERBIA, SPAIN)

Kobuleti, Georgia, 19-26 June 2010

European Youth Press – network of young media makers in cooperation with Academy for Peace and Development invites you to participate in the seminar “Young Media Makers Preach and Practice Peaceful Journalism”. The implementation of the seminar is possible due to kind support of the European Youth Foundation, Council of Europe.

The aim of the seminar is to explore what peace journalism is and how it can be used by young journalists to foster peace building and conflict transformation.

The seminar will consider the ways in which peace and conflict transformation is to be represented in the media and will discuss the the role of young media makers in engaging in promoting peace building, conflict prevention and transformation. The participants will not only get a better comprehension of the peaceful journalism concept, but also will have the opportunity to put into practice their freshly gained skills. In addition to that, the seminar will tackle the issues such as Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue as major factors in supporting stability and intercultural understanding in Europe. The workshops will be led by CoE trainers’s pool and experienced journalists in field of peace and conflict reporting.

Good to know:

Who can participate: 22 young people (age 18-27) interested in peace journalism, journalists, bloggers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Spain.

Where: Kobuleti (20 km north of Batumi), Georgia.

When: 19 – 26 June 2010

Costs: Accommodation and food will be fully covered by organisers. Travel costs – participants will be reimbursed up to 200 euro upon presentation of relevant proofs.

Participation fee: 100 euro

If you are interested send your CV + letter of motivation (max 200 words) to Andrei Ioniță ( a.ionita@youthpress.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) until Sunday 9 May 2010. Mention in the email subject: “Application Peace Journalism”

Applicants will be informed about the selection decision on 11 May and will be asked to confirm their participation in the seminar by 17 May.

source

NEWS / EVENTS: Armenian youth-produced film featured at Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in London

Yerevan / London - March 18, 2010

Sako is the name of the short film produced by the Manana Youth Center in Armenia. Amongst other films, Sako is part of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival screening at the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton, on March 19.

The film was produced in 2004 with support from UNICEF Armenia and tells the story of 13-year-old Sako, who never attended school and works in a tombstone factory instead. The film was produced by Aram Abrahamyan and David Martirosyan, members of the Manana Youth Center in Yerevan.

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INTERVIEWS: Armenia-Azerbaijan: An interview with Elizabeth Métraux

Sunday, August 9th, 2009 @ 19:01 UTC - by Onnik Krikorian

DOTCOM, a program implemented by PH International and sponsored by the US Department of State, is an online initiative using blogs and video to bring American, Armenian and Azerbaijani teenagers together to work on creating socially conscious media.

With the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh understandably creating some problems, especially when ten teenagers from each of the two countries met up with their American counterparts in the U.S. last month, Program Director Elizabeth Métraux speaks candidly about some of the challenges experienced so far as well as some of the program's successes.

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Stranger Exhibition in Gyumri, Armenia

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