Planning and Implementation: Uganda Study Trip
In December 2016 the M4D steering group gave very positive feedback on the study trips conducted by VIKES. Additionally, it was discussed that the surplus budget from previous years could be used to conduct extra study trips. Mondo proposed to conduct a study trip to Uganda (as we had the experience from August 2016 of arranging a study trip for two young Estonian journalists and one competition winner) and the steering group agreed. In January, partners sent Mondo information about the journalists that would take part of the study trip from their countries. Three partners from NMSs (House of Europe from Lithuania, Green Liberty from Latvia and PMVRO from Slovakia) decided to participate in this action and as PIN from Czech Republic was unable to participate, it gave the opportunity for Green Liberty to choose two journalists to participate.
To prepare for the study trip, Mondo cooperated closely with VIKES to learn from their previous experiences in all practical matters, from budget to motivating the journalists to dig deeper in their preparation process. It was highly helpful that project partners had used Google Drive for previous study trips, as it gave easy access to valuable insights in the preparation process. Additionally the information stored in SurveyMonkey feedback surveys sent out to previous participants was of great help. In Kampala and also during preparation work, Esther Nakazzi – a Ugandan journalist and fixer – was of great help.
To help partners find the most suitable participants and prepare more efficiently, Mondo sent a selection of possible topics that could be covered in Uganda and a preparation timetable to partners. All preparation with partners and participants was done via e-mails, Skype meetings and again through Google Drive.
The participants from each country were the following:
Other Journalist Study TripsFrom January to March, the following study trips also took place:
Planning and Implementation: SDG Awareness Campaign
To raise awareness on the SDGs and generally on sustainable development, Mondo cooperated with several organisations in Estonia to create a joint campaign. The campaign was coordinated by Tallinn Music Week (TMW). Besides Mondo and TMW, the following organisations took part of the campaign:
Additional activities
For activities coming up during the year, we had several planning meetings:
In December 2016 the M4D steering group gave very positive feedback on the study trips conducted by VIKES. Additionally, it was discussed that the surplus budget from previous years could be used to conduct extra study trips. Mondo proposed to conduct a study trip to Uganda (as we had the experience from August 2016 of arranging a study trip for two young Estonian journalists and one competition winner) and the steering group agreed. In January, partners sent Mondo information about the journalists that would take part of the study trip from their countries. Three partners from NMSs (House of Europe from Lithuania, Green Liberty from Latvia and PMVRO from Slovakia) decided to participate in this action and as PIN from Czech Republic was unable to participate, it gave the opportunity for Green Liberty to choose two journalists to participate.
To prepare for the study trip, Mondo cooperated closely with VIKES to learn from their previous experiences in all practical matters, from budget to motivating the journalists to dig deeper in their preparation process. It was highly helpful that project partners had used Google Drive for previous study trips, as it gave easy access to valuable insights in the preparation process. Additionally the information stored in SurveyMonkey feedback surveys sent out to previous participants was of great help. In Kampala and also during preparation work, Esther Nakazzi – a Ugandan journalist and fixer – was of great help.
To help partners find the most suitable participants and prepare more efficiently, Mondo sent a selection of possible topics that could be covered in Uganda and a preparation timetable to partners. All preparation with partners and participants was done via e-mails, Skype meetings and again through Google Drive.
The participants from each country were the following:
- Dannar Leitmaa, Estonia. Journalist at Eesti Ekspress and Raadio 2.
- Sandra Kropa, Latvia. Latvian Public Broadcasting Radio and TV journalist
- Goda Jurevičiūtė, Lithuania. Journalist at daily newspaper Lietuvos žinios.
- Anna Ūdre, Latvia. Freelance journalist, working with Delfi.lv.
- Pavol Štrba, Slovakia. Journalist at daily SME.
The study trip took place in the beginning of March (5.03–15.03). During the study trip, the group had the chance to visit the following organisations and places:
- Refugee Law Project, a Ugandan NGO working with refugee rights.
- Femrite, a publishing house and group of Ugandan writers (mostly female).
- AFIEGO (Africa Institute for Energy Governance), an NGO working with energy issues and human rights.
- YARID (Young African Refugees for Integral Development), an NGO working mostly with urban Congolese refugees and their rights.
- Hope North, a secondary school founded during the civil war by former child soldier Sam Okello to support communities escaping violence in the north.
- Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement: field office of the OPM (Office of the Prime Minister), UNHCR field office, Health Centre Panyadoli III (coordinated by the Real Medicine Foundation).
- BRAC Uganda and it's activities in Bweyale. BRAC is an international NGO working closely with communities (through community health workers and other similar approaches) to empower the poor and alleviate poverty.
- Uganda Wildlife Autority's (UWA) field office in Murchison Falls National Park. Topics discussed ranged from poaching to working with the community and the effects of climate change.
- UNHCR Kampala Office.
- Outbox, a co-working space for Ugandan start-ups.
- Kampala Disabled Initiatives (KDI) sewing workshop.
- The group also visited "Wakaliwood" – a low budget action film production in Wakaliga, Kampala. The contact with Wakaliwood was introduced by one of the participants, who also stayed two days longer in Uganda. That participant also had the possibility to visit:
- Chess class in Kampala School for the Physically Handicapped, headed by Robert Katende (coach of Phiona Mutesi, known from the Disney biopic "Queen of Katwe").
- SMUG, a local NGO working for the human rights of LGBTQ community members.
After the study trip, a survey was conducted among participants. The results were:
- Out of 4 of the participants gave maximum points (labelled as "Great success") to the study trip overall, 1 participant chose "Rather exceeded my expectations" as their rating.
- All five noted that they would be highly likely to recommend the trip to a colleague.
- Most of the feedback from the participants was positive, a very tight schedule was noted as one of the downsides.
- A journalist and operator from the nature show "Osoon" visited Ghana.
- The grant receiver from December 2016 and a photographer visited Southeast Asia to portray issues connected to palm oil.
Discussions with the journalists after their study trips reflected that they learned many new things and were overall satisfied with the opportunity that M4D project had made possible.
Planning and Implementation: SDG Awareness Campaign
To raise awareness on the SDGs and generally on sustainable development, Mondo cooperated with several organisations in Estonia to create a joint campaign. The campaign was coordinated by Tallinn Music Week (TMW). Besides Mondo and TMW, the following organisations took part of the campaign:
- The Ministry of Environment
- Embassy of Sweden
- European Commission Representation in Estonia
- Environmental Investment Centre of Estonia
- The media company Eesti Meedia
- Nordea Bank
- The telecommunications company Telia
The campaign centred on Estonian singers and musicians who spoke about their ways of contributing to the SDGs. The campaign consisted of street posters, newspaper ads, radio ads, online activities (videos, banners, web portal hoolin.ee), a video competition for youth, and the displaying of an SDG-themed photo exhibition made of the photos taken by journalist participants of M4D project. Campaign ads were also reproduced in Russian. Sustainable development was also featured in materials produced for Tallinn Music Week (such as timetables, catalogues, etc) and in the media coverage of the festival.
- There were 50 posters in Tallinn during 27.03-02.04.2017. The visuals were seen at least once by 255,033 people. The newspaper ads had an estimated reach of 176,400 readers.
- Online banners were displayed 1,578,664 times and received 1228 clicks.
- 23 people took part of the video competition.
- The videos received 74,190 views in Facebook and Youtube.
Distribution of posters:
For activities coming up during the year, we had several planning meetings:
- Planning meetings about the upcoming conference on the topic of development and security.
- Planning meetings with ERR about future activities in 2017.
- Planning meeting for a thematic newspaper edition of Müürileht.
In January, Mondo produced SDG-themed sticky notes as a part of raising awareness about SDGs in Estonia.
Also, a youth event on the topic of SDGs and the UN was held in February. Youth from all over Estonia gathered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss and listen to panelists on the topics of SDGs and the UN Security Council. 70 youths from 11 schools participated, 6 foreign diplomats residing in Estonia and 4 officials from the MFA and State Chancellery also took part.
Also, a youth event on the topic of SDGs and the UN was held in February. Youth from all over Estonia gathered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss and listen to panelists on the topics of SDGs and the UN Security Council. 70 youths from 11 schools participated, 6 foreign diplomats residing in Estonia and 4 officials from the MFA and State Chancellery also took part.
