NEWS / WORKSHOPS: UNICEF, CIDA Helping Young People Make their Voices Heard (SUDAN)

Ways of enabling young Sudanese to become more actively involved in resolving community and other issues set the agenda of a two-day workshop last week in Khartoum.

The meeting -- which was attended by young people from three of Sudan’s 15 states -- ended with a call for the establishment of formal mechanisms that could bridge the gap between policymakers and youth and ensure that the voices of young people are heard.

“We are failing to harness the potential of the youth as there is no partnership between us and the elders,” said youth representative Nagham Hawash, adding: “We hope this consultation marks the start of a real partnership between the young people and the people in power.”

The workshop was the first in a series of youth consultations organised under the Youth LEAD (Leadership, Empowerment, Advocacy and Development) Project which is supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and implemented by UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

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TRAINING: UNICEF to Train Journalists On Child Reporting n South Sudan (AFRICA)

Juba — The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) will be training journalists on ethical reporting of children this later this month, the organization's Chief Executive Sid Shresha has announced.

Mr Shresha made this announcement today during a meeting with the deputy minister for Information and Broadcasting Hon Atem Yaak Atem. He explained that the training will target journalists from all the states, especially those in the grassroots.

He also pointed out that the training will be on print and radio and will entail writing good stories and producing good programs about children.

"Children are the future of the country and when photographing them they need not to be shown in a difficult situation", he said.

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NEWS: Arab Youth Criticize Government Media as it Doesn't Meet their Ambitions

SUNA A symposium titled "Young People in the Means of Mass Media" was held in Al-Fatih Tower yesterday as part of the activities conducted by the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) in Khartoum these days.

The symposium attended by the chairperson of USBU in addition to the members of ASBU. The symposium affirmed that governmental TV channels in addition to other means of mass media sponsored by governments failed to meet young people's ambitions in the Arabic World.

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ARTICLES: Alfred’s story: Youth journalist reports on early marriage in Southern Sudan

Alfred's story: Youth journalist reports on early marriage in Southern Sudan

In the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – a landmark international agreement on the basic human rights of all children – UNICEF is featuring a series of stories about progress made and challenges that remain. Here is one of those stories.

JUBA, Southern Sudan, 24 July 2009 – As Alfred Malish, now 14, has grown up, he has noticed an alarming thing happening around him: His female classmates are leaving school early to get married.

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Early marriage still happens with some regularity in Sudan, most often for girls, who are sometimes as young as 12 when they're married off. Marriage at such an early age can be an obstacle to further education; it can also result in complications should the girl become pregnant before her body is adequately developed.

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