Local Roundtable EQUALITY OF LOCAL AND GLOBAL COMMUNITY

To what extent are local and global communities connected? How to ensure the equality of local and global community? 

Green Liberty invited development cooperation policy makers from Jelgava municipality to the local round table „Equality of Local and Global Community” on November 17, 2015.

The event was opened by a representative of Green Liberty, Lauma Ziemeļniece, who introduced the Sustainable Development Goals. It was followed by the screening of the movie "Ar domu par labāku pasauli" (With a Thought about Better World), then development cooperation story "Me&You" was presented by Madara Mazjāne-Kokina from the organisation ideA. 

The round table was opened by an introduction which was presented by six representatives of stakeholder groups who are responsible for development and development cooperation issues in the local municipality of Jelgava:

• Ginta Avotiņa - Head of  Education department in the municipality of Jelgava,
• Kristīne Kode - Head of youth policy in the municipality of Jelgava,
• Modris Jansons -  deputy of the municipality of Jelgava,
• Uldis Dūmiņš  - chairman of the non-governmental organisation "Zemgale NGO Centre",
• Līva Kaunese - journalist in the municipality of Jelgava,
• Arnita Žukauska - representative of Youth Council in the municipality of Jelgava.

The discussion tackled the issues such as involvement in the development of local municipality, decision making process, collaboration, supported initiatives and cooperation on finding solutions in both the local and global context.

Representatives admitted that the global emerges and results from the local, meaning that everyone expresses their identity in different contexts - local, national, European, global. In their opinion, the equality of local and global community is described by our unity, variety of opinions and experiences. They shared that equality of local and global community results in empathy, feelings of belonging and equality, participation and helping others in the world.

The participants evaluated this event in connection to personal context such as reflections and new conclusions on human safety on various levels, development cooperation and our opportunities to contribute to development of global society and help others. They admitted that from national context Latvia is a small country that can, actually helps and in the future would participate in aiding despite our local issues. The participants were enthusiastic to look into the realities of countries of Global South.         

Participants expressed readiness to watch other movies and participate in discussions on the development cooperation and paradigm changes, where everyone learns from each other. Networking, cooperation and co-creation in this roundtable was recognized as an important initiative for professional activity and development of local community that can provide new non-financial solutions. It was recognized that the current need is the creation of new opportunities for youth, such as a strategically development of voluntary work. Globally, the desirable need is the development of cooperation with Ukraine.

In the participants’ opinion this was a significant event for the community of the municipality of Jelgava. It broadened and changed their perspective on self and the world, developed empathy towards other nations and understanding of developing countries’ peoples’ lives.  The event brought out the importance of local needs and global issues, involved youth as well as the representatives of a local municipality and entrepreneurs in discussions. 

Overall, this event was recognized as a success as it was well organised and met the participants’ expectations. The most meaningful approaches were round table discussion and screening of the movie that represented the period before Latvia joined the European Union. It showed the period when Latvians received help until the period when Latvia helped other countries. The event opened next issues of the same context that could be introduced for upcoming participants of local round tables on local and global communities.      

One kind of development Rwanda is gorilla tourism

Starting from the end of November 2015, a three-membered crew of documentary moviemakers from Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR), author Reimo Sildvee, director Märten Vaher and cinematographer Meelis Kadastik, visited for almost four weeks the Republic of Rwanda with an intention to produce a television documentary.

Our teams goal was to make documentary how people of Rwanda, who about twenty years ago witnessed the rage and brutality of genocide, during which almost 1 million people were killed in one hundred days, have managed to build up and developed their state and communities.

One example of this kind of development is so-called gorilla tourism. Rwanda is one of the three countries, besides DRC and Uganda, where there are living these near extinct mountain gorillas (gorilla beringei beringei). As these great apes, close relatives to our own species, are living in the Volcanoes national park in Virunga volcanic area in Rwanda, our crew headed to Musanze administrative district and stayed there for almost the whole period.

 There, they were looking for the best practices how nature conservation and gorilla tourism have bonded together to help local people to create sustainable livelihoods. They were following the daily lives of people who are gathered into so-called economic co-operatives and are for example making the gorilla-themed and traditional hand-craft items in the hope of selling them to foreign tourist. There are also crop farming and honey collecting and other agricultural activities that benefit greatly from the national park’s official revenue sharing programme, that got our team’s attention.

But the most interesting life changing stories emerged from the conversations and interviews with people who used to be illegal hunters in the national park that is created to protect mountain gorillas. Those ex-poachers were no more than 10 to 5 years ago eager to put on daily bases snares and traps in the forests, that though not meant for hunting gorillas, were very dangerous and could also be fatal for gorillas. ERR’s filming crew wanted to find out how it has been possible to motivate them to stop the illegal hunting and how they are now motivated to work for the cause of conservation. 

As a result, there now many hours of film footage, that needs to form into a documentary movie that portrays the work and life of local people who, through mostly economic means, have now understood the importance of saving critically endangered mountain gorillas, that many consider an iconic animal for all wildlife conservation in the world. 

House of Europe: ending the year with a premier of a documentary

Production of the documentary In an Alien Land

Lithuanian National Television (LRT) film crew went on a field trip to Lebanon in November 2015 to prepare a documentary about the life of Syrian refugees in Lebanon revealing legal and social challenges they face, everyday realities, as well as their personal values and future hopes. In December 2015 - January 2016, the documentary In an Alien Land (Svetimoje žemėje) was twice broadcast on LRT attracting the attention of more than 283 300 viewers.

A TV Advertisement for the documentary, December 2015.

Bulletin on Migration 

In December electronic bulletin on migration was issued and sent out  to policy makers and opinion leaders, in particular, members of the Parliament, public officials, politicians, journalists, representatives of NGO sector and national academia.

The bulletin aimed to address migration crisis and its impact on global development. The issue featured the following topics:

• Migration from Lithuania in the 19th century and the potential of Lithuanian immigration policies after recent amendments (prepared by Lithuanian journalist and migration expert Gintarė Gedrimaitė);
• The importance and lack of enduring immigration strategies in Lithuania (prepared by Reseacher at CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies) Lina Vosyliūtė).
• The tendencies of migration in the Mediterranean analysed (excerpts from International Organization for Migration and the Knoll blog).
• Refugee stories (based on information collected from the Red Cross in Lithuania, „The New York Times“, „Desperate Reasons for a Desperate Journey“ and Human Rights Watch).
  
  

Cover of the Bulletin no 2.

Roundtables with journalists

In December 2015, two roundtable discussions with journalists were organised. The events were open to the public and encouraged an exchange of views between business, media and NGO representatives.

At the first roundtable development and environmental challenges in Nigeria as well as migration and refugee issues in Lebanon were discussed. Journalist Rosita Garškaitė who visited Nigeria shared her insights and presented the current situation in Niger delta after recent oil spillovers. TV Journalist Edvardas Špokas described the TV crew experiences in Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon  and the idea behind the forthcoming documentary In an Alien Land (Svetimoje žemėje).

A Roundtable with Journalists, 3 December 2015.

The second roundtable was addressed the issue of traditional crafts in Kenya. Nanook.lt contributors Berta Tilmantaitė and Karolis Pilypas Liutkevičius who went to Kenya to prepare photo stories and a short documentary about everyday life of local tribes presented their fieldwork experience. A number of questions were raised throughout the discussion concerning the possible role of the global North in fighting the extinction of traditional crafts in developing countries. The similarities between traditional Lithuanian and Kenyan crafts were also discussed there.

A Roundtable with Journalists, 17 December 2015.

Photo exhibition

The photo exhibition The World as You See It is further displayed in different locations. In December 2015, it was on display at the “Swedbank” headquarters in Vilnius. At the end of the year, during the closing national events of the European Year for Development it was exhibited at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Exhibition The World as You See i” at the Lobby of Swedbank, December 2015.