Mondo activities July–December 2017

Work with Journalists

During summer months, work with journalists was quieter. The main activity was joint trip to Afghanistan, for which we had chosen A. Lobjakas to take part. In June he went through a short security training conducted by Mondo's humanitarian and and security expert G. Teder. Additionally, he also took the UN online security course. The joint trip itself was a success and our participant was very pleased with the overall experience.

In autumn, we continued planning the joint study trip to Ghana, of which Latvian and Estonian journalists would take part. From Estonia, we chose H. Tammemäe, the head editor of Müürileht, to participate. She also took part of the autumn training in Helsinki arranged by VIKES. Müürileht is an alternative monthly newspaper, that can be subscribed to but is also distributed for free in some locations. Although it's print numbers are not very big, it has a very specific niche and it's readers are accustomed to reading longer and more thorough articles. There is also a tendency that the topics written about in Müürileht will become popular in other media channels after a few months.

Ghana study trip participants.

The grant competition winner and his colleague visited Mekong river delta in Vietnam in November to research sustainability issues there. A freelance journalist writing mostly for women's magazines, took a trip to Palestine to highlight issues of inequality and development. In the final days of December, a journalist and photographer will visit Bangladesh to research and write about the situation of Rohingyas in refugee camps.

Work with Policy-Makers

In July, we posted bulletins for members of the parliament and MFA officials. Along with the bulletin, invitations to the international roundtable and conference was also sent out to policy makers. The bulletin can be seen here: http://mondo.org.ee/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/mondo-arengupoliitika-teataja-el-eesistumine.pdf

We met and consulted with MFA officials and diplomats to be able to arrange the roundtable as best as possible. To facilitate information exchange between policy makers, we decided to make the roundtable into a two-day event: the first day being a closed, invitation-only roundtable and the second day being an open-to-public conference. The conference was attended by 105 people, the roundtable by 40 people. Both days took place in the conference centre of Swissotel Tallinn. Photos of both days can be seen here, background information and panelists of the conference can been seen here. A very helpful team of international and Estonian volunteers helped us to arrange the events, helping with everything from taking photos to welcoming people at the registering table. All event guests received thematic bulletins, agendas of the event, notebooks, and handicraft conference bags from either Afghanistan or Uganda. Both days were a success thanks to the wonderful participants, panelists, moderators, and their expertise. It was a great honor of receiving the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs who gave the key note address, and also of our high-level panelists.

In autumn, Mondo also arranged a study trip for policy makers to Ghana. An MFA official and a member of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs committee took part.

Work with general audience

In the summer, Mondo arranged an active social media campaign on the myths of development cooperation. The theme was "Real people. Real stories. Real aid.", video clips filmed in Estonia and photos taken in Mondo's partner communities were used to bring development cooperation closer and explain it through clear and concrete examples. The posts were seen 134,756 times.

We also actively advertised the conference "Development and Security: Which Comes First?" on social media, e-mail lists and our website.

In November and December, the second public campaign of this year was conducted. Together with the design and advertising company Velvet we decided to continue with the same "Hoolin" topic as we did for the spring SDG campaign. To make it more concrete, education was chosen as a main theme and the campaign main slogan was chosen as "Hoolin haridusest" or "I care about education". To bring the topic closer to the general audience, we decided to focus on the universal nature of education and the wish to be educated. To do so, a campaign ambassador – the actress Elina Reinold – and her son agreed to visit Ghana. A filmmaker went with them as they visited Richard, a young Ghanian boy who is receiving school support from Elina through Mondo. Photos of Elina and her son in together with Richard and his grandmother became the main visual of the campaign. The campaign was featured on outdoor bus-stop advertising systems, in several magazines, and in social media.

To finish the campaign, an education and development cooperation themed public event was held in the Estonian National Museum in Tartu, under the name of "Hoolin haridusest" or "I care about education". After inspiring talks from Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Tõnis, Lukas Ilmar Raag, Marju Lauristin, Loone Ots, and Mondo's board members and partners, different artists performed and Syrian food and fair trade chocolate cake was eaten. 172 people registered their participation to the event.

Together with Müürileht a newspaper insert on global issues and development cooperation was published in December.

Mondo activities April–June 2017

Work with General Audience

In April we met with all the partners of the SDG campaign "#hoolin" and the video competition winners were announced. After receiving the SDG-themed exhibition from the festival, we decided to make a re-print as the photos were quite damaged from weather and wear from the guerilla pop-up gallery.

A new exhibition was printed on more durable material and from the beginning of June it was shown in the public hall (used often also by policy-makers and NGO workers for events) of the local EU Commission Representation.

Diana, the main character of one of the films made during M4D also visited Latvia to participate in a screening arranged by Green Liberty.

A meeting with the advertising company Velvet was held to discuss the campaign to be held in autumn. Additionally, the World Village Festival was attended in Helsinki to get to know communication and dissemination activities of other NGOs.

Two guerilla actions were also held during spring: global topics quiz during Seto Folk and working with refugees living in Estonia to introduce Syrian and Palestinian dishes to the wider audience during the opening festivities of the Estonian Presidency 2017.

Work with Policy-Makers
To prepare for the policy-makers joint trip to Philippines (organised by PIN), we met with mr Rainer Vakra, a social democrat MP.
During these months, work also continued on preparing the roundtable and conference in September.

In the beginning of May, an inspiring event for general audience and policy makers was held near Mondo's office in Telliskivi – an education seminar called "Education Quality = Sustainable World?". The main topic of the event was global education in the framework of SDGs. Photos of the event can be seen here.
Panelists were given gifts of baskets woven by women in Ghana.

On the topic of SDG 4 (Quality and Global Education) a bulletin for policy makers was also edited and printed: http://www.mondo.org.ee/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/teataja_1_2017_veeb.pdf

For the beginning of Estonia's EU presidency, a second bulletin on EU development policies was also published for policy makers. The bulletin can be seen here: http://mondo.org.ee/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/mondo-arengupoliitika-teataja-el-eesistumine.pdf

In May, the Parliamentary Bureau asked for Mondo's input to send out an information e-mail to all the members of the Parliament celebrating the Parliament's African Day. We encouraged the Bureau to introduce the documentary films made by ERR as a part of M4D. The e-mail was sent to all members of the parliament.

Also in May, the representatives of The Commission's Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) visited Mondo's office along with MFA officials:

Work with Journalists
After a public competetion, a journalist from Postimees (K. Meresma) was chosen to take part of the training to journalists arranged by VIKES. We also met with her to discuss possible future plans and activities after the training.
A journalist (A. Lobjakas) was selected to participate in the joint study trip to Afghanistan arranged by BAAG and the several meetings were held with him.

As a continuation of last year's training directed to journalists, this year we teamed together with the training section of Postimees to arrange an internal seminar for their employees. The seminar took place on the 25th of May under the title of "Press Freedom and Corruption". The main star of the event was Mexican journalist and media expert Elva Narcia, who has worked internationally from Norway and South Sudan to Afghanistan and Ethiopia. 7 journalists attended the discussion with Elva.

The last M4D grant competition was held for experienced journalists. We received 10 very thorough and interesting project ideas. The jury selected L. Tankler and I. Soopan as the winners. The duo proposed an interesting multimedia investigation of the issues social and sustainability issues in the delta of Mekong river in Vietnam.

Mondo activities January–March 2017

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:

• 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.

Other Journalist Study TripsFrom January to March, the following study trips also took place:

• 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:

Additional activities
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.

 

Mondo activities September-December 2016

SEPTEMBER

After the study trip to Uganda, a very interesting and relevant roundtable on SDG implementation was awaiting in Bratislava. Estonia was represented by Sigrid Solnik from the Estonian Roundtable for Development Cooperation, Kaili Terras from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Eili Lepik from the Government Office. All three took part of panel discussions and Ms Lepik also presented on the SDG implementation in Estonia. The roundtable was fruitful and a lot of great connections made. The steering group meeting after the roundtable was also great, with thorough discussions between the partners.

Parallel to the roundtable, Anette Parksepp was in Nepal as a part of a study trip arranged by VIKES. She is also one of the young journalists who participated in the spring training. Although there was difficulties for her to do her work because she was the only TV journalist, she still said in a later meeting that it was an incredible experience for her and great preparation for future work.

Her first clip also aired on TV news in September: http://uudised.err.ee/v/valismaa/04392847-af1b-42c7-b37b-33e83c51d941/nepali-maavarinas-kannatanud-pole-siiani-raha-ega-uusi-maju-saanud

Another activity in September was compiling this years’ newspaper insert. The topic of the insert this year was women’s rights across the globe and it introduced topic such as rights to education, political participation and entrepreneurial skills to a wider audience. The insert was published on the 17^th of October between Eesti Päevaleht with a circulation of 17,330.

In September and October we had post-trip meetings with Piia Osula (Puuraid), Anette Parksepp, Laura Toomlaid, Madle Timm, and Rait Roop; also a pre-trip meeting with Jaanus Piirsalu and Raigo Pajula.

Some of their articles/clips from that time:

• http://uudised.err.ee/v/valismaa/0427e190-6eaa-4c71-9cd5-8eaf7aec57c8/err-nepalis-mullune-maavarin-on-jatnud-inimestele-tugevaid-tervisekahjustusi
• http://reisijuht.delfi.ee/news/reisijutud/tuhkatriinulood-kampala-slummidest?id=75910951
• http://pluss.postimees.ee/3889887/aralsk-ootab-koju-oma-sadat-kalalaeva

OCTOBER

In October, two screening events were also held. One was a screening for school and university students on the 17^th of October, the film being “Sonita” – a documentary about an Afghan refugee in Iran who wants to become a rapper, but her mother wants to marry her off.  In the end of the film, the director decides to secretly buy Sonita flight tickets to the USA where she could continue her studies. We invited four filmmakers for a discussion after the film to talk about the role of the documentary maker – if they can be activists also, or should they avoid influencing their’ subjects’ lives. Riho Västrik, a filmmaker and journalist moderated the conversation; other participants were filmmakers Marje Jurtšenko, Peeter Vihma, and Marianna Kaat. Although the students were rather shy and did not dare to ask too many questions from the panellists, the teachers in the audience immediately had interest in renting the film to show in their school for a larger audience.

Screening of "Sonita" and discussion with documentary makers in the
Baltic Film and Media School (Tallinn University).

The second screening on the 31^st of October was a public premiere for the M4D documentaries made by ERR’s journalists. The two films shown at the screening were Meelis Süld’s and Kalle Käesel’s “Eesti küla Ghanas” and Kristo Elias’ and Mihkel Ulk’s “Turu majandus”. Anna Gavronski (author of “Sädemete jõed”) moderated the evening and a discussion with the audience was also held. Around 50 people attended. See the photo gallery of the event here: http://etv.err.ee/v/dokumentaalfilmid/meie_maailm/uudised/96df0a6e-4eba-46ee-98af-624f012c255d/galerii-dokumentaalsarja-meie-maailm-eellinastus

In October we also had the chance of giving M4D handicraft baskets to policy makers and experts who took part of the “Women in Politics” international seminar in October. The seminar aimed at looking at women’s political involvement on a global level and how we could support the political aspirations of women in developing countries.

Panelists and participants who received gift baskets: moderator Kadi Viik (Expert on Equal Treatment at the Estonian Human Rights Centre),  Helen Biin (Labour & Social Policy Analyst at Praxis, Estonian Socio-Economic Research Centre), Maryan Abdulkarim (Founding member of the new feminist party in Finland), Hanna Rummelhoff (Member of JURK, organization specializing in providing legal aid to women in Norway), Eva Biaudet (Finnish MP, Chairperson of Political Parties of Finland for Democracy – Demo Finland), Birgitta Ohlsson (Swedish MP, former Minister of EU Affairs), Alexandra Rosén (Senior Director, The Women in Parliaments Global Forum), Daniel E. Schaer (Estonian Ambassador to Macedonia), Keit Pentus-Rosimannus (Estonian MP, Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riigikogu), Birgit Keerd-Leppik (Advisor at the the Estonian Parliament's Commission of Foreign Affairs).

Panelists receiving their gift baskets. From right: moderator Kadi Viik (Expert on Equal Treatment at the Estonian Human Rights Centre),  Helen Biin (Labour & Social Policy Analyst at Praxis, Estonian Socio-Economic Research Centre), Maryan Abdulkarim (Founding member of the new feminist party in Finland), Hanna Rummelhoff (Member of JURK, organization specializing in providing legal aid to women in Norway).

NOVEMBER

In November Johanna took part of the group trip arranged by VIKES to Red Nose Day in Finland. Lot of great insight and contacts were made and hopefully the TV producers and journalists who participated will be able to use them in their future projects.

We also produced a new type of publication – namely wall posters on SDGs. The posters were developed to reflect real-life situations of the Sustainable Development Goals. Each poster had a photo and a short introduction about the SDG. An interactive element was added with a QR-code square that leads the audience to an online quiz in the global education portal Maailmakool.ee. The poster sets will be distributed to schools to inform young people about the SDGs and encourage them to make their own contribution to the achievement of these goals.

Wall posters on SDGs for schools – each goal is explained with a picture,
a story and a QR-code that leads to a relevant online exercise. 

A meeting-brainstorm in Mondo was arranged to plan future advocacy activities for the year 2017 in M4D project. On the 23^rd of November, an advocacy mapping exercise was done and possible future activities brainstormed. An activity strategy will be based on this meeting. Related to this, we started preparing a thank-you note for policy makers and politicians who have been active in development cooperation issues. The note will be sent along a small package, consisting of a basket from Ghana, some Fair Trade chocolate and an organic non-alcoholic Christmas glögg.

On the 26^th of November, Mondo arranged a youth seminar on social media and migration issues. A social campaign expert from Finland (Arto Sivonen from one of the best-known agencies in Finland – Måndag) spoke to the youths about how to plan and execute really successful campaigns and the youth had the chance to try out their ideas – after a session of brainstorming, each group presented a possible social campaign and Arto gave feedback to their ideas.

One group's presentation about a
social media campaign idea called "We are all immigrants".

In November, some articles were still published from the journalist's grant trip to the Aral sea:

http://reis.postimees.ee/3898257/kalale-araali-merele-saaki-tuleb-nagu-muda
http://maailm.postimees.ee/3857215/jaanus-piirsalu-kesk-aasia-blogi-araali-mere-aeaeres 

DECEMBER

To celebrate the end of the year holidays and say thank you to the policy makers who have been involved in development cooperation issues, we decided to compile a thank-you basket set for all the "world changers". The basket sets were slightly different depending on the recipient, but generally composed of: handicraft basket from Ghana, Mondo's 2017 calendar that lists all the SDG's and gives some background information about them for each month, the newest Mondo Arengupoliitika Teataja, a personalised card, a non-alcoholic organic glögg made in Estonia and tools made from fair trade chocolate by Chocolala – Estonia's only fair trade chocolate shop. We tried to combine the items in a way that would symbolise SDGs – a need for equality and sustainability both globally and locally.

Year-end SDG baskets :-)

In December, Mondo also held the penultimate grant competition for journalists. We received 7 very interesting proposals and the jury chose the winner based on a very interesting topic – the journalist aims to investigate the effects of palm oil plantations to biodiversity and development issues in Indonesia. The first meeting with the winner will take place in the beginning of January.

As two-thirds of the project is over, a lot of very interesting articles have been published in Estonian media thanks to the study trip and grant possibilities of Media4Development. Also all of the TV journalists from ERR are now ready with all the films and they have been broadcasted on the main national channel. Along with the articles and films, a lot of great photographs from all over the world have been made by the journalists. So we decided to have an additional activity that was not planned in the beginning of the project, but now seems like an excellent idea – we are now composing an exhibition of the photos taken on M4D study trips based on the 17 sustainable development goals. The photos and stories will be sent to print in the end of the year and hopefully by mid-January we will have an excellent exhibition in our hands that could be exhibited in schools, ministries or other places also during the Estonian Presidency. 

Another extra activity will be in the coming year – Mondo will arrange a joint trip to Uganda, as many partners still have the possibility to send journalists but lack the local contacts. To make use of the cooperation and knowledge-sharing between partners, Mondo proposed to take the know-how gained from VIKES and arrange a small group trip to Uganda in March. In December we started to do some planning and contact our partners to look for possible fixers and topics to investigate.

One thing that was postponed in December was the social media campaign – we had actually finished the filming already some time ago but it was necessary to film one clip again as the light had somehow ruined the quality of the clip. The clips will thus be posted on social media in mid-January.

Mondo activities July-August 2016

PUBLIC QUIZ AT VILJANDI MUSIC FESTIVAL

From 28^th to the 31^st of July Mondo was active at one of the biggest music festivals in Estonia – Viljandi Folk Festival. Among other activities it was possible for the festivalgoers to take a Media4Development quiz about women’s rights and development issues. Every day at noon we drew a random name from the lot of the quiz takers and that person received a handicraft basket from Ghana as an award.

Quiz prizes at Viljandi Folk Festival.

OPINION FESTIVAL

August is the month of the Opinion Festival in Estonia. This year Mondo was represented with several topics and we shared the Development Cooperation themed stage with the Estonian Roundtable for Development on Friday. We had the joy of kicking the day off with a idea/coffee morning “What can I do for a better world?”, where people had the chance to mingle with people who have changed the world to the better through their professional life. We had three “thought circles” with Kalle Aasamäe (designer who worked with local women in Shianda, Kenya), Piet Boerefijn (head of the Estonian Food Bank) and Kristina Mänd (Mondo’s expert on sustainable consumption) and everyone in the audience had the chance to switch their circle after 10 minutes or if they wanted, stay where they started off. Towards the end of the day another discussion was led by Mondo, this time on the topic of motherhood across the globe.

Discussion circles at Opinion Festival.

LET'S LOOK EACH OTHER IN THE EYE!

Right after Opinion Festival, we held a Media4Development guerilla action “Let’s look each other in the eye!” in Kunstihoone that was inspired by Amnesty International’s “Look Beyond Borders” campaign. We invited strangers to look each other in the eye for four minutes without saying anything, to see that we are all equal. The introduction to the action:

What happens when you sit down opposite a stranger?

You look into each other's eyes. In silence.

What do you see?
Who do you see? 

Everyone will have a chance to take a seat opposite a person they have never met before and look into each other's eyes for 4 minutes in silence. Let the volunteers know if you would like to participate.

Looking in the eye will give you a chance to think about the person sitting in front of you without any stereotypes, without preconceptions and without the need to dominate the conversation. Treating each other as carte blanche will make a better world possible. Only this way we can see each other as equal partners to fight inequality and change the world.

A video documenting the action:

UGANDA STUDY TRIP

Last year’s photo competition winner Laura Toomlaid had a chance to choose an award trip to Uganda or Ghana. In the spring we met and discussed and it seemed the best option to travel to Uganda. It also gave Mondo a chance to offer a study trip for two young journalists who took part of the spring 2016 training in Helsinki – Madle Timm and Rait Roop. Madle is a freelance journalist who recently graduated and works part-time for the agricultural newspaper Maaleht. Rait is a freelance who writes mostly about sports. During the summer we met with the three to discuss their interests to see what would be the best itinerary that would suit all of them. We also talked briefly about Uganda – it’s history, geography, people and what to expect.

In the beginning of August–beginning of September, the Uganda study trip took place. This was our itinerary:

24.08. Arrival, night in Entebbe

25.08. Visit to Nile Basin Initiatives to learn about environmental and social effects of the pollution in Lake Victoria and hydropower production on the Nile. Lunch and drive to Kampala. Afternoon visit to Sports Outreach chess program in Katwe slum, interviews with coach Robert Katende.

Chess coach Robert Katende. Photo: Laura Toomlaid.

Chess class in Katwe slum. Photo: Laura Toomlaid.

26.08. Visit to Watoto Wasoka football program in Bakuli slum. Meeting and interviews with the leaders of the program, Francis Mugoya, coach Patrick Sonko, and the kids. Football match. Evening program at Ndere Centre.

Patrick and Francis explaining Watoto Wasoka's history. Photo: Laura Toomlaid.

Coach Patrick preparing kids for the match. Photo: Laura Toomlaid.

27.08. Visit to the tailoring shop of Kampala Disabled Initiatives in Namugoona. Talking with the women about issues of people with disabilities. Visit to the Uganda National Mosque (Gaddafi Mosque) and Watoto Church; evening poetry show in the centre.

Kampala view from the National Mosque Minaret. Photo: Laura Toomlaid.

28.08. Visit to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, learning about the re-introduction of southern white rhinos in Uganda. Evening arrival to Murchison Falls National Park.

29.08. Murchison Falls National Park. Conservation and future oil drilling issues.

30.08. Returning to Kampala.

31.08. Visiting Owino Market and a walk around downtown; visiting Hindu temples.

Downtown Kampala. Photo: Laura Toomlaid.

01.09. Visiting the Baha’i temple, flight back.

Mondo activities May-June 2016

MAY

May was a very busy month for Media4Development in Mondo. First, we ordered handicraft baskets from Ghana to use as gifts and awards for different public events and for working with policy makers. It seems that people understand development cooperation through something concrete that they can hold in their hands. What could be better than baskets woven by women in North Ghana where Mondo has helped the local widowers and mothers to create their own basket-weaving and sheabutter-milling cooperatives? The baskets are also co-creation, where the creativity of the women from North Ghana and of Estonian designers are united.

Baskets being made in Kongo village, North Ghana. The women work together as Yen Pang Basket Weavers cooperative.

We also continued preparing for the Opionion Festival coming up in August.

This year’s first Mondo Arvamuspoliitika Teataja (bulletin for policy makers) focussed on humanitarian aid, the World Humanitarian Summit and also gave an overview where Estonia gave humanitarian assistance during 2015. We looked at the underlying principles for the WHS, interviewed Väino Reinart (lead of the Estonian delegation at WHS), asked Estonian organizations working in Ukraine questions about the work done and analysed issues connecting humanitarian aid to climate change and migration. The bulletin can be viewed here: http://mondo.org.ee/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Mondo-Arengupoliitika-Teataja%E2%80%93Humanitaarabi-muutuvas-maailmas.pdf  The bulletin was well received and we decided to print some extra copies in June.

Our humanitarian aid expert Kristi reading the bulletin.

 As partners were interested in using clips made by ERR on development cooperation myths, we had the texts translated to English and shared them with all the partners. On the same myth topic, brainstorming was going on in May to find ways to have a social media campaign on widespread myths on development cooperation without reinforcing them.

On the 26th of May, a idea-sharing morning was held for journalists on the topic of humanitarian aid, crises and migration. Mondo’s humanitarian aid expert Gert Teder spoke about the reality of humanitarian aid through the eyes of a rescue worker. Gert has worked on 14 different international missions and has a day  job in the Estonian Rescue Board as a fire-fighter. Evelyn Kaldoja, a journalist who also took part of the first Media4Development training in Helsinki, spoke about working in a conflict zone as a journalist. She is currently the head of foreign news department in Postimees and has reported from Afghanistan, Central African Republic and Mali. A presentation on the ethics of journalists while reporting on the refugee crisis was done by Eero Janson, head of Eesti Pagulasabi – an organization supporting refugees in Estonia that has also given humanitarian aid in Ukraine, Lebanon and Turkey.

Evelyn Kaldoja making a presentation at the idea-sharing morning for journalists.

 In May we also announced the next journalists’ grant competition. This time we decided to give two grants to a duo of a writing journalist and a photographer.

In May, the last article from Silvia Pärmann’s trip in January was published also: http://epl.delfi.ee/news/lp/seal-kus-buddha-naeratades-valitseb?id=74699091

JUNE

In June, Johanna and Adrian visited a EC meeting-seminar in Milan. We also made preparations for the study trip to Palestine that Piia Puuraid was chosen to take part of. The trip itself was very successful and Piia was happy with the whole experience.

For the preparation of the social media campaign on development cooperation myths, a short questionnaire was posted to Facebook to find out the main myths on the topic in Estonia. The questionnaire was done in SurveyMonkey and a small boost was made on Facebook to make it more widespread. The questionnaire was public for two days and 41 people replied. Among all the people who filled in the questionnaire, one winner was randomly (using Random.Org generator) chosen to receive one of the baskets from Ghana. The winner was Merili A.

Happy winner Merili with her basket from Ghana.

In the end of June we also selected the two journalists who would receive the double grant. There were 6 proposals this time (10 journalists applied in total), all of which were very interesting and strong proposals. After a tough jury meeting, the grant was decided to go to Jaanus Piirsalu and Raigo Pajula who’s proposal was about the countries around the Aral sea – how the ecological catastrophe has affected the communities there and what is being done to improve the situation.