Our Own Voice! - A Web Site For Children's Participation In The Media

Childreach
Monday, 5 March 2001

PLAN International Haiti and the Panos Institute announced today that they have launched a web site www.panosinst.org/radio to promote the participation of children in the mass media. The 4-lingual web site (English, French, Spanish and Haitian Creole) starts off with articles and features from Haiti, derived from a PLAN sponsored children's radio programme in North-East Haiti. Child journalists from other countries are invited to post their media productions as well.

The Country Director of PLAN Haiti, Bruno Oudmayer, said that the main purpose of the site is to facilitate the wide national and international dissemination of information produced by child reporters, in particular those from Central America and the Caribbean. Additionally, it gives them a forum for collaboration and exchange of opinions and information.

"We work to help children to be agents of change and fully participate in the development process. Children have fresh views and often hold different perspectives from adults. They can be experts on those issues which affect them directly, such as education, violence or entertainment. We believe that communities would benefit from adding children's own voice to the development debate," Bruno Oudmayer said.

The web site features press articles, photos, information on the home towns of child journalists, and a discussion forum. Some media materials by adult journalists, which relate to children's rights and their participation in development, have also been included.

"The web site is a communication and information tool for children and communities who never before had such a tool. Although the power of the media varies enormously from place to place, it is clear that its influence on human behaviour is growing. We believe that the media is a major resource to help social and economic development in communities," Jan Voordouw said, who is Panos' Regional Director for the Caribbean and Central America.

PLAN Haiti and the Panos Institute have set up this site within the scope of a project which aims to give voice to children, their opinions and their rights by promoting their effective participation in the media. At present, child journalists from El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti and Nicaragua participate. They regularly produce radio magazines which are being broadcast through local radio. Radio Nederland Training Centre (RNTC), based in Costa Rica, is another partner in this initiative.

PLAN International is an international, humanitarian, child-focused development organization without religious, political or governmental affiliation. Child sponsorship is the basic foundation of the organization. Its vision is of a world in which all children realize their full potential in societies which respect people's rights and dignities.

The Panos Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit international organization that works to strengthen civil society in the Caribbean and Central America, as well as other parts of the world, by helping grass roots journalists to cover under-reported and misreported issues responsibly and in depth. Its aim is to broaden participation of all sectors of society in public debate on sustainable development.

For more information, or to contact Childreach, see their website at: www.childreach.org