As part of Internews Europe’s ENPI Consortium project, Hello Europe!, is a mobile project currently on the road travelling around France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The ‘Hello Europe!’ tour was formally launched with the arrival in Paris on 17th & 18th April 2009 of the six young "Kids’ Crossroads" journalists (two from Armenia, two from Azerbaijan and two from Georgia).
Unis Cité supports the employment of disabled people the group started travelling on 21st April 2009.
Travelling with the six young people are three cameramen from the Southern Caucasus as well as a team from DCTV, a respected non-profit media centre in New York City. DCTV’s cofounder and award-winning TV journalist Jon Alpert is supporting the teenagers to acquire documentary film-making techniques during their voyage.
"CyberCar" lent by DCTV is a unique fully-functional mobile television production studio with state-of-the-art equipment and with a video wall built in the side of the vehicle. This video wall is used to project video stories that can be watched by the public gathered around the vehicle. The young journalists will show their own stories on the vehicle screen, subtitled in English.
The origins of ‘Hello Europe!’ lie in a project led by Internews partner offices in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia over the last three years. They have been working with teenagers in the Southern Caucasus to produce television news pieces for young people, made by young people. The content they created has been broadcast on public television through a youth programme, Kids’ Crossroads, in all three countries.
The programme was conceived as a powerful reconciliation tool that brought together teenagers of 14 to 16 years interested in journalism from all three countries, to meet their peers from other Caucasus regions, sometimes for the first time; to learn journalism skills from Internews trainers in a summer camp; to work together on TV stories on subjects of their choice – and in the process to dispel stereotypes about each other, become friends, and show to the wider audiences candid and unbiased pictures of daily lives of teens across the border.
"Maximising EU Presence in the ENP regions”
Now they are acquiring new footage centred on their discovery of Europe and its people. Central themes to the tour include the environment, for which the teenagers will visit a recycling plant and learn about eco-friendly transport, and agriculture, with visits to farms and a vineyard where they will learn about the impact of food and health regulations.
Over fifteen days, the group will visit France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands, with the young journalists gathering material for their own films. Activities include visits to Euronews in Lyon, the European Parliament in Strasbourg and a discussion with the Jewish Community of Karlsruhe, Germany. Mentored by Jon Alpert and his team, they will begin the editing process which will terminate in their home countries.
A series of 4-minute shorts will be aired each week for three months by Public Broadcasters in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the frame of the youth television programmes: "Kechid Dovru" (Transitional Age) on Public Television of Azerbaijan; "Menkenk" (We Are) on Armenian Public TV; and "Chveni Expresi" (Our Express) on Georgia’s Public Broadcasting.
Photos from the tour can be seen in the slideshow below
Contact persons:
Morgan Williams, Hello Europe! Producer: mwilliams@internews.fr
Floriana Fossato, EU Policy Advisor: ffossato@internews.fr
‘Hello Europe!’ is supported by the European Commission as part of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Initiative.