Editorial

The first cycle of the East4South project starts this Friday in Brussels. The secret EU capital is the place where 10 African journalists and 10 young European journalists meet for the first time.  

Apart from getting to know each other, journalistic skills and intercultural competences are aspects of the first programme cycle. What does being a journalist involve and which responsibilities do journalists have? These and similar questions will be discussed during the 6-day-meeting. Beyond this the group will have an entry to its subject: Development Awareness from the Roots. 

Another aim is to have a closer look on the EU and its work in the Development Cooperation sector. On the “Day of Europe” (9th May) the group gets a first overview during the “Open Doors European Day” where the public is invited to see how the EU is working. During the preparatory seminar the participants gain insight into the EU institutions which are important for Development Cooperation and their media productions: European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), Directorate General for Development (DG Dev), Europe Aid and European Commission Audiovisual Service will be some of the places of interest.

At the end of the week and after team building units, every participant will have one partner from the other continent to work with. The ”African-European Twins” can thus start to prepare the next steps for the second project phase in Africa.