Students and teachers from ten cities of Romania participated in a course on media and advocacy skills, organized in the frame of the porject by the Centre for Independent Journalism and Norsensus Mediaforum, on September 4 to 5 in Busteni, Romania.
Over twenty students from Alexandria, Bistrita, Bucharest, Craiova, Focsani, Galati, Slobozia si Târgu Mures took part in the workshop of visual communication and public information campaign, supported by Laura Ranca and Paul Radu.
Teachers became familiar with the topics studied by students in courses held in May, June and July in ten different Romanian cities. Teachers talked about human rights, discrimination and the role of the media and how they can assist the students in preparing advocacy projects.
The course was attended by Associate Professor Heidi Biseth, Buskerud University College, Norway. Biseth held presentation on alternative educational methods in the field of media literacy and democratic participation.
The event was organized in the frame of the project «Media literacy for high school students in the fight against discrimination and hate speech in the media» – implemented by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) in partnership with the Norwegian Norsensus Mediaforum in the period of April 2014 – July 2015.
The project – worth 157,065 euros – is addressed to more than 200 high school students, high school teachers, journalists, bloggers and civil society activists in 10 cities of Romania.
Participants will acquire skills that will allow them to identify and reject hate speech and discriminatory attitudes in the media and the society and to behave responsibly as «generators of media content.»
In the end of the course, students will prepare 10 advocacy campaigns with the help of teachers, journalists and civil society activists. In December this year, a Romanian-Norwegian jury will nominate the three best campaigns to be implemented.
«The project responds to the huge needs of education in three key directions in modern democratic society: human rights, media and civic participation skills.
It aims to bring a fresh perspective on the education of high school students who will practice civil participation and empowering models of citizenship.