NEWS / EVENTS: Non-formal education week (ROMANIA)

Every year in Romania, the Ministry of Education dedicates one week in April to non-formal and extracurricular educational activities. All institutions, teachers and pupils are encouraged to participate in a range of diverse cultural actions.

The Safer Internet Centre (SIC) in Romania, and the country-wide network of active youth panellists, will take this as an opportunity to teach children and teachers about online safety issues. This is why, this year, in all 13 cities with active youth panels, informative sessions will be held in schools between 7-11 April. Most activities will use non-formal techniques in order to stimulate children and teachers’ participation in creating a safer and better online environment, both for them and their community. Besides activities in schools, some of the youth panellists have decided to organise flash mobs, followed by informative sessions in visible public places in their city.

full article

NEWS: UNESCO Anticyberbullying Charter opens to other signatories

The Anticyberbullying Charter is a project organised by the Junior Language School, Prague, Czech Republic and their twin school, Elena Farago School in Bucharest, Romania.

Children of both schools monitored cyberbullying in their schools and respective countries. Then, in peer-to-peer programmes, pupils discussed the phenomenon and blogged and video-conferenced on the subject, resulting in the drafting of a bilateral charter against cyberbullying. The charter has been added to with pictograms, posters and other materials. Pupils in both schools were invited to sign the document, and so far more than 60 per cent of pupils (aged 11-15) have done this. The document was then officially signed on 10 December 2010 under the auspices of UNESCO, with various honorary guests from ministries and participating bodies.

full article - project website

AWARDS / PHOTO: Young global photography competition winners arrive in Ethiopia

Five young winners of a global photography competition run by UNICEF and the World Photography Organisation have arrived in Ethiopia this week to attend a unique workshop where they are receiving tuition by acclaimed photographer and humanitarian Reza.

The five youngsters – from Brazil, Morocco, New Zealand, Romania and the United States – are joining 24 Ethiopian children at the workshop in Awassa from October 31 to November 4, 2010.

The ‘EYE SEE’ workshop, themed around children’s rights, is a photo project supported by Sony Corporation and UNICEF that aims to provide children all over the world with the opportunity to express and share their experiences through digital photography.

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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.

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EVENTS: Astra Film Festival 2009

Astra Film welcomes you to its ASTRA FILM FESTIVAL 2009 in Sibiu, from the 26th of October to the 1st of November 2009, to celebrate together the jubilee edition - the 10th!

Here is the place to see great documentaries, meet fellow-filmmakers from around the world, debate upon major issues faced by documentarists while exposing real life and real people on the big screen, and interact with professionals and an enthusiastic audience.

We offer a variety of programmes besides the INTERNATIONAL, EUROPE, ROMANIA, and STUDENT competitions, such as theme sections, special programmes, portraits of famous documentary filmmakers, debates, and workshops for young filmmakers. The Festival is located in Sibiu – Romania, a city that must be visited. Don’t miss the chance. See you in October!

website

TV / RESEARCH: Romanian TV Shows Have Bad Influence on Children

Romanian TV Shows Have Bad Influence on Children

UNICEF Romania, the National Audiovisual Council (NAC) and the Centre for Media Studies and New Communication Technologies at the University of Bucharest today launched a study on TV violence and its effects on children.

The report gives a clear picture of violent content in TV programmes and makes a classification of the frequency, duration and intensity of violent scenes that can be seen on different TV channels. The research aims at making the general public aware of the impact media violence has on children and the responsibility of the family, the school and the mass-media to protect young viewers.

A number of TV channels – TVR1, ProTV, Acasă, Antena 1, Antena 3, Realitatea TV, Prima TV, OTV, Cartoon Network, Jetix and Minimax – were studied. Results show that the average number of violent scenes that can be watched in one hour of TV broadcast (excluding commercials and promo images) varies from 9 on TVR1 to 23.4 on ProTV. Cartoon networks recorded even higher values, varying from 20 violent scenes on Minimax to 37 on Jetix.

OTV channel was found to have the longest duration of violent acts on the air: 22.6 of 60 broadcast minutes (excluding commercials and promo images). At the opposite end, we find Acasa TV, with 3.6 minutes.

An act of violence lasts an average of 60 seconds on OTV (the highest value recorded) and 20 seconds on Prima TV (the lowest value recorded). As far as cartoon networks are concerned, the average duration of a violent scene is of 15 seconds on Cartoon Network, 11 seconds on Jetix and 10 seconds on Minimax.

“NAC will show zero tolerance to any deviation from audio visual legislation on TV/radio stations, especially since some channels might think of adding violent content to their shows for the purpose of boosting their audience during the economic crisis” declared Răsvan Popescu, President of NAC.

full article

AWARDS: "Cinema Against Racism" Award for Young Roma Filmmaker

"Cinema Against Racism" Award for Young Roma Filmmaker

On Sunday, July 12, 19-year-old Roma filmmaker Laura Halilovic will receive the "Cinema Against Racism" award at the XV International Anti-Racism Meeting in Livorno, Italy, which is supported by the Region of Tuscany together with several local governments and associations. Halilovic is being honored for her feature-length documentary film "Me, My Gipsy Family & Woody Allen," which in June won the UCCA Prize 2009 at the Bellaria Film Festival in Bellaria, Italy. The film also received special mention by the jury "for the ability to describe in a soft, at times ironic, but always direct way, her own story, the one of her family and through these the difficult conditions of Gipsies in Italy." The UCCA Prize is awarded to the top two documentaries at the Bellaria Film Festival, and the prize-winning films receive the opportunity to be screened in at least 20 Italian cities.

See a preview of "Me, My Gipsy Family & Woody Allen" at http://www.romadecade.org/index.php?content=423

After the film won the UCCA Prize, the regional office of the Ministry of Education in Piedmont also agreed to facilitate screenings of "Me, My Gipsy Family & Woody Allen" at more than 200 high schools. The film will be presented to teachers in October, and from 2010 the documentary will be available in the teachers' resource catalogue. Schools will also have the possibility to organize screenings followed by discussions between Halilovic and students.

"Me, My Gipsy Family & Woody Allen" was produced by Zenit Arti Audiovisive with support from the OSI Roma Decade Matching Fund, Italian broadcaster RAI 3, the Italian Ministry of Equal Opportunity, Piemonte Doc Film Fund and others.

For more information about the film see

http://www.romadecade.org/index.php?content=450.

OneMinutesJr video from Romania - Baby trees