Second Half Year 2017 activities of House of Europe

Articles

Articles were published in a separate column The World as You See It in the national portal www.15min.lt during Autumn. Newest articles covered indigenous people’s everyday life in the villages of South Asia as well as special article series on the occasion of Arab culture days: the variety of Arab culture, Arabic caligraphy and the traditions and cuisine of Oman. Further, article by Goda Jurevičiūtė on the situation of refugees in Uganda was published in printed and online version of Lithuanian daily “Lietuvos žinios”.

Study trips

Afghanistan

The journalist of news portal 15min.lt Paulius Ramanauskas joined the study trip to Afghanistan on 17-26 July. During visit organized by BAAG he visited the province of Daikondi and prepred several reportages on the following: the issues of refugees, higher education and independent media in conflict zone as well as efforts to cope with consequences of climate change in Afghanistan. Also a 360° reportage appeared on news portal 15min.lt covering the role of NGOs in helping locals to develop businesses as well as educational issues in the province of Daikondi.

Mali and Ghana

The journalist of Lithuanian national TV Giedrius Vitkauskas went on a trip to Mali and Ghana 15 to 23 October. The journalist accompanied the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Linas Antanas Linkevičius. Following the trip reportages were aired on national TV station on  the national mission in Mali and security issues in the country as well as current situation in Ghana, its cultural and economical development and the issue of pollution of electronic waste dump in Accra.

Rwanda/Burundi

11 to 22 November, independent journalist Giedre Steikunaite and NGDO platform executive director Justina Kaluinaitė visited Rwanda. During an intensive visit numerous meetings were organised. Various sectors of Rwanda’s contemporary realities were explored with the help of local experts, including the ICT and agricultural sectors, inspiring entrepreneurs, CSOs, modern fashion designers, social music projects, business, the flourishing art scene and the government’s programmes for reconciliation and nation-building two decades after the genocide during which more than 800,000 people were murdered.  Also, interviews with exiled Burundian journalists, Burundian radio stations and the association of journalist who had fled violence in their home country following a violent crackdown on protests against illegal actions by the government. A series of illustrated articles in Lithuanian media are to be published in December.

Ukraine

National TV crew - director Rimantas Bruzas, camerawoman Migle Gaiziute and journarlist Edvardas Spokas - went to Ukraine in October to shoot the second documentary about the frozen conflict in Ukraine, in particular the everyday life of people in the war zone in Eastern Ukraine who got used to the sound of shooting, who on their way to their work run across dangerous streets trying to escape snipers. The documentary Till the End. And Somewhat More is to be aired on 18 December.

Arab Culture Days 2017

On 12-16 September Anna Lindh Foundation in Lithuania organized the Arab Culture Days events in Vilnius, Kaunas, Visaginas and Rukla. The events aimed to raise awareness on the Arab world by Lithuanian public and help them understand the variety and complexity of the Arab culture. The events organised included lectures about Arab culture, performances of artists from Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman and others, photo exhibitions, theatre performances and other. An overview of the events is presented  in this video. Under the project there were organised several events: forum theatre performances. lecture, and a photo exhibition about Palestine and its history, workshop on Arab caligraphy and traditional music concert by Palestinian artist Ahmad Dari as well as the communication of the overall program.

Forum theatre performances

Forum theatre performances were organized to highlight and facilitate discussions on the muslim culture so that local people become better informed  on the variety of muslim countries, identities and people. The performance simulated the situation of a muslim couple from Liberia facing suspicion, ignorance and ungrounded fears of local people while trying to rent an apartment. Each performance was followed by roundtable discussion with experts on Islam and development.

Ten performances and discussions took place in September and October in the following cities and towns: Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Palanga, Marijampolė, Garliava, Kupiškis, Lentvaris and Želva. Overall around 300 people have participated in the events.

Round table discussions

Two public discussions in various public venues in Vilnius about developing countries took place. The presentations were made by project journalists and Lithuanian residents from developing countries.

Uganda’s economical, social and cultural development, success stories of local people coping with challenging situations by Lithuanian daily Lietuvos zinios journalist Goda Jurevičiūtė. During a short visit Goda met a lot of activists, artists and innovators who are brave enough, despite all the difficulties, to change and improve not only their own, but also other people's lives.

Amongst those is a film director, who established a film studio in the slums of Kampala.Or an ex-soldier kid, who opened a free school for those of a similar background. An engineer spreading his passion for chess playing to street kids. An activist fighting the discrimination against LGBTQ community. You will hear these and other stories during the meeting with the journalist.

Social and public safety problems in Honduras by politologist, activist and artist Ian G. Diaz, currently residing in Lithuania. The news received about Honduras in recent years are all about violence and tension. Probably most people heard that Honduras is one of the most dangerous country in the world and that it is a young country in Central America, fighting with various problems, such as corruption and military coups.

How do people live in a country where death from a knife of bullet is an everyday thing? While at the same time people never stop smiling and open their hearts and homes to the tourists. A politologist, activist and artist Ian G. Diaz told us about his homeland and how he discovered himself as an active citizen.

Discussions due in December

A public discussion on current situation in Eastern Ukraine with the national TV journalist Edvardas Spokas and the crew was carried out on 11 December. Though the media coverage might suggest an impression that the conflict is over, unfortunately heavy fighting is still going on every day. The journalists went to the cities of Avdiivka and Marjinka which are close to the main front line to observe the everyday life of people there. Therefore, they shared their observations and experiences as well as announced their documentary Till the End. And Somewhat More to be aired on 18 December.

On 15 December NGDO platform executive director Justina Kaluinaite and freelance journalist Giedre Steikunaite talked about their visit to Rwanda from a different perspective. The general public is still engaged with stereotypical image of poor and traumatized country after massive genocide in mid-nineties. Meanwhile, the real situation is somewhat different. The young generation is keen on developing smart technologies, government strongly supports business start-ups and the country is recognized as one of the best places to do business in Africa region.   

Social media campaign

Social media campaign “Ours” (“Musiskiai”) was continued by posting short photostories about people from developing countries living in Lithuania and relevant issues in their homeland. Photo series’ posting was resumed after summer break again in the autumn. Pictures of the foreigners living in Vilnius and willing to share their thoughts about global issues, experience here in Lithuania and their home countries were posted in several places on Facebook. The main sites were Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OursLT/  and Foreigners in Vilnius group, depending on the content of the posts, sometimes also NGDO’s Platform Facebook page.  Usually it was shared by portrayed foreigners themselves on their personal accounts pages. People from Honduras, Indonesia, Russia, Georgia, Ecuador, Palestine and others were portrayed. The separate Facebook page which was launched in spring currently has more than 400 followers.

SDGs awareness raising campaign

Since March a campaign #PasaulisPo1Stogu aiming to raise awareness on Sustainable Development Goals has been implemented on Facebook and will last till the end of the year and beyond. The campaign promotes all of 17 SDGs introducing the goals and related data, indicators and examples of how both countries and individuals would benefit upon achieving them. Each month is dedicated to one of the SDGs with approximately 8 posts appearing on the particular goal. There have been  presented the following goals until now: good health and well-being, peace, justice and strong institutions, reduction of climate change, affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, partnership for the goals and gender equality.

Also quizzes on regional Alytus and Saulės radijas have taken place on August-November of 2017, casting questions related to SDGs on air thus raising the awareness of people in Šiauliai and Alytus regions of Lithuania about the Sustainable development and the SDGs. Quizzes were organized virtually in Facebook as well.

Closing event

On 30 November a national final roundtable event was organised for Lithuanian journalists and project partners. The photo and video reporter Marketa Kutilova from Czech Republic shared her professional experiences of reporting on in war and conflict countries, focusing on the role of journalists in both informing the public at home and participating in the processes in developing countries, how to make audiences interested in developing world and issues related to countries far away from home; how to find common and cross-cultural means of getting your stories through to different audiences as well as journalism and ethics.

After the presentation a panel discussion with participation of freelance journalist Giedrė Steikūnaitė, Afri/Ko founder Mantė Makauskaitė and official from the MFA Diana Mickevičienė was held to discuss the national capacities to extend  development policy beyond Eastern Partnership countries, how to find a balance between professional reporting and personal views, role of business in development and mutual benefit, etc. The discussion was moderated by the foreign news journalist Vykintas Pugačiauskas from the National TV channel.

An exposition of the best reportages and articles produced under the project was displayed at the venue. Public voting for the best coverage was organised.

E-Bulletin on Global Citizenship Education

Electronic Bulletin on Global Citizenship Education (GCE) due in December will cover the topics such as the concept of and the need for global civic education, global dimension in Lithuania’s educational system, means to foster global consciousness, international and local approaches, trends and practices of GCE. The bulletin will be sent out to over 500 subscribers, including academics, experts, policy makers, activists as well as broader public.

This year so far from Eurohouse - African Days and study trips

Articles

In the beginning of 2017 the article column in Lithuanian daily “Lietuvos žinios” was continued and articles appeared once a week on both printed and electronic versions of the news outlet.

In spring 2017 the new cooperation with Lithuanian second biggest news portal 15min.lt took place and a separate column The World as You See It was initiated in the portal www.15min.lt.

Articles covered the following topics: experiences of Tajik and Pakistani origin people in their native country and Lithuania, political, ecological and religious situation of Ghana, involvement of Afghani youth in film making, elections in Nigeria, traditional Bathika in Indonesia, volunteering in Kenya and Ghana, women’s rights in Mexico and other.    

Study trips

Uganda

5-16 March journalist Goda Jurevičiūtė from the national daily Lietuvos žinios participated in the study trip to Uganda organised by project leading partner Mondo. The trip was followed by the articles published in the above daily on coping with postwar issues and revitaliation of former soldiers in Uganda as well as chess trainer and his work with young people in Uganda. Other articles will be published in the second half of the year as well as informal public discussion will be organised on the journalist’s experience in Uganda.

Philipines

Lithuanian MP Virginijus Sinkevičius participated in the study trip to Philipines for politicians organised by project partner organisation PIN. In cooperation with Lithuania’s MFA meeting with Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania was organised there. As a follow-up of the visit, Mr Sinkevičius organised a briefing to MFA officials so that ensure sustainability and strengthening diplomatic relations with Phillipines. In autumn a number of publicity measures a planned such as public discussion, appearance in electronic and printed national media.

Training in Helsinki

Young freelance journalist Auksė Podolskytė took part in the  training in Helsinki organized by partner organisation VIKES. During the training Auksė has improved her knowledge and skills on reporting on developing countries and issues related to development. Auksė has joined the project team and volunteers as reporter preparing articles for the special column in the national news portal 15min.lt.

African Days’ Events

Number of events were organised on May 22-28 in cooperation with Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other partners and were promoted with the help of outdoor posters, participation in the national radio program, social media. House of Europe implemented  the following events: 3 films’ screenings, forum theatre performance about African immigrant life in Lithuania and the discussion afterwards, slam poetry evening which included competition, discussion on Neoliberal Moral Economy and Africa, public lecture by Elva Narcia “Information saves lives – working on humanitarian news in South Sudan”, public lecture by dr. Jorg Wiegratz “Power and morals: capitalism, fraud & social harm”.

Screening of documentaries

Three documentaries of the project partners, namely  Market economy about Ethiopian market and its daily routine and Conciousness In Mobiles about Kenya and usage of innovative technologies in the development produced by Estonian TV ERR as well as documentary about mountain gorrilas Mountain spirits produced by Latvian producer Woodpecker films. The screening took place in the cinema boutique Pasaka.

Lectures and roundtables

Mexican journalist Elva Narcia gave a lecture and facilitated discussion with journalism students at the Vilnius University institute of Journalism on reporting on development and her personal experience in Afghanistan and South Sudan. The lecture followed by an interview and an article in news portal 15min.lt

Public lecture by Jörg Wiegratz

On the occasion of International Africa Days, dr. Jorg Wiegratz gave a lecture „Power and morals: capitalism, economic fraud and social harm in Africa and beyond“.  Jörg Wiegratz is Lecturer in Political Economy of Global Development at the University of Leeds. He researches the political economy and moral economy of neoliberalism in Africa and elsewhere. In the seminar, he argued that capitalism is a moral order and moral economy, i.e. has a moral grammar. Capitalism’s moral order, together with its political-economic order, has over the last centuries produced vast social harms in numerous places, from large-scale colonial slavery, imperial wars, and workplace injuries and deaths, to climate change effects. J.Wiegratz focused on one particularly relevant case: the massive and increasing levels of economic fraud in many countries across the world, including in sub-Saharan Africa.

Forum theatre performance

Forum theatre performance was organized on the issues of Nigerian newcomer life in Lithuania challenging Lithuanian attitudes towards newcomers and developing countries. After the performance roundtable discussion with migration expert, journalist having experience in Nigeria and Ghana as well  as original Nigerian residing in Lithuania took place. During the discussion experts shared their insights into how developing countries and their inhabitants are seen by Lithuanian population, what could be done in order to change negative attitudes and raise awareness.

Discussion “Neoliberal moral economy: origins and operations”

In the discussion dr. Jorg Wiegratz discussed the neoliberal moral economy and its’ impacts around the world with the Vilnius University academics: dr. Vytautas Kuokštis and dr. Rūta Žiliukaitė. The discussion focused around the topic is it neoliberalism to blame for global social and economic injustice, fraud and power asymmetry.

Discussion “Neoliberal moral economy: origins and operations”

Informal discussions about developing countries

Three informal discussion in the public places of Vilnius about developing countries took place. Journalists who visited it and people representing particular countries: India, Palestine and Nepal made the presentations. Radio and daily delfi.lt journalist Karolis Vyšniauskas talked about Palestine trip in which he took part together with journalists from other Baltic states, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Daily “Verslo zinios” journalist Milda Tarcijonaite told about Nepal and the challenges people face after the earthquake. In the third discussion social media campaign “Ours” participant Kranthi Cumar told about his homeland India, in particular growing IT city Hyderabad and the mix of traditionalism and modernism in the country.

Social media campaign

Social media campaign “Ours” continued to bring the attention to the people from developing countries living in Lithuania and relevant issues in their homeland. Every week the photo story is posted in numeral places on Facebook.  People from Ukraine, Moldova, Pakistan, India and etc. were portrayed. The separate Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Ours.Musiskiai/ was launched and currently it has more than 300 followers.

Green Liberty: Journalist individual trips - Global stories hunt

The first part of the third year of M4D for Green Liberty has been with a huge emphasis on planning and organizing journalist individual trips that we have named Global stories hunt. 

We have started organize the whole process as five events: 

1. journalist training, 
2. competition of applications for individual trips, 
3. networking and individual trip planning, 
4. individual trips, 
5. multimedia festival “Library of global stories” that would serve as a closing even of the project.

During these six months, we have succeeded to organize journalist training, competition of applications for individual trips, and networking and individual trip planning seminar. Also, we are in the process of planning individual trips that will be completed on October. 

Journalist training 

 On March 31, we organized journalist training Global stories hunt strategy development. The training attracted 20 journalists from several publishing houses: internet portals DELFI and TVNET, publishing house LILIT, TV broadcasts VIDES FAKTI and AIZLIEGTAIS PAŅĒMIENS, journal VESELĪBA, and others.  In the training participants discussed the meaning of development journalism, learned from colleagues about experience in developing countries, refreshed their experience in research journalism and connected their experience to UN sustainable development goals.

Participants pointed out that the most meaningful things in the training were: experience exchange, information about SDGs and M4D project, and building bridges between journalists and NGO activists.

Future events that would be interesting to journalists who participated in this training: discussions about global stories, workshops about SDGs and particular issues: eco products and green lifestyle. 

Also, the experience about how to integrate media in development storytelling, different campaigns and communication.

Info about the training in Latvian: Globālo stāstu medības - Ideju koprades seminārs

Journalist networking and individual trip planning seminar

Meeting with journalists whose applications for individual trips were accepted was on June 2, 2017. The aim of this meeting was to network and share plans of individual trips. 

The meeting started with getting to know each other and followed by a discussion about global stories hunt – individual trip plans. 

The invited participants who shared their plans were: Guna Gleizde, DELFI journalist and editor who is planning to go to Haiti;  Ieva Jurevica, LTV journalist who is planning to go to Tanzania and Zanzibar; Anta Blumberga, a journalist from mediahouse “Dienas žurnāli” and journal “Veselība” who is planning to go to Swaziland; Ģirts Strazdiņš and Sandijs Semjonovs, LTV journalists who are planning to go to Indonesia; Andris Kārkluvalks, DELFI journalist who is planning to go to Iraq (Kurdistan region).

After this introduction of plans, we had a conversation about formalities of individual trips, code of ethics, development journalism approach, and SDGs as the wider context for development. 

Eurohouse: second half of the year 2016

Journalists’ Study Trips: Palestine, Nepal, Ghana and Mianmar
In July Lithuanian journalist Karolis Vysniauskas joined an international group in a study trip to Palestine, organized by VIKES. Karolis shared his insights from the study trip the next day upon his return on Lithuanian National Radio program Ryto garsai. Later there appeared his stories on Palestinian media, women’s hip hop band in a refugee camp and the University of Bethlehem. He also developed an article for national newspaper Lietuvos žinios and appeared on National television morning show „Labas rytas, Lietuva“.
In September Lithuanian weekly Verslo žinios journalist Milda Tarcijonaite joined the international group in a trip to Nepal. Until now three articles, namely on uniting of small farmers to promote local products, the attempts to change traditional societal attitudes towards women and the challenges people meet in building new shelters, appeared in the weekly. Two more to come in the printed version of the newspaper and the portal www.vz.lt In November two journalists - freelancer Rosita Garskaite and Lithuanian National Radio journalists Vaida Pilibaityte – went on a study trip to Ghana in November to collect materials on European electronic waste dump, the legacy of the first President of Ghana, the role of the Catholic Church and the 60 years of independence of the country. The materials will be publisized on the National Radio Station and daily Lietuvos zinios.
In November another journalist from the National Radio Station Indrė Anskaitytė visited Mianmar to collect materials for the radio documentaries on economic development and tourism industry as well as remaining drastic social inequalities, political situation and abuse of human rights.

Journalist Vaida Pilibaitytė working in a field in Ghana, November, 2016

Rountables

The Lithuanian group, represented by governmental and non-governmental representatives, Mrs Ruta Avulyte Jelage, Executive Director of Lithuanian NGDO Platform, Mr Saulius Kalvelis, Councelor of Development Cooperation Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms Marija Kazlauskaite, Chief Officer of  Strategic planning division, Department of  Economics and International Relations of the Ministry of Environment, and Mr Kestutis Navickas, Chairman of Lithuanian Environment Coalition, participated at Bratislava International Roundtable: Sustainable Development Goals - Opportunities and Challenges, organized by the Slovak NGDO Platform in the beginning of September. Lithuanian representatives introduced the process of national preparation and organization for the implementation of the SDGs. Highlighting the challenges and  best practices in other countries, the event helped to set up closer cooperation between government institutions and other stakeholders, especially NGOs. Upon return, representatives from NGO umbrella organisations were offered to be members at the National Sustainable Development Commission.

During the electoral campaign to the Seimas (National Parliament), in early October the national roundtable discussion was organised between candidates of the main political parties and NGOs  on the implementation of SDGs in Lithuania, in particular tackling poverty, social inequality, improvement of education and other priority issues. The event was broadcast live on the Seimas internet TV and Facebook live. Following the discussion, several candidates were publicly asked related questions on the online platform www.zinaukarenku.lt about the implementation of SDGs in Lithuania and the role of education in it. In total, 54 responses from politicians were received.

Articles The cooperation with the national daily Lietuvos zinios has been renewed and a new sequence of articles on topical issues in developing countries appears weekly under a separate column The World as You See It from November 2016, both in electronic and printed versions. Three articles on different aspects of life in Malaysia, role of religion in Ghana and role of music and musicians community in Palestine were published. The articles also appear on the internet portal on human rights www.manoteises.lt

Informal discussions

Informal discussions on different developing countries were relaunched and are planned to take place till  summer 2017. Some of them are planned with foreigners residing in Vilnius, who are portrayed in a series of photo stories “Mūsiškiai” (Ours) - project’s social media campaign. The first informal meeting was organized on 24th November on the development and current situation of Ukraine with native Ukrainian living in Lithuania Diane Garlytska and publicist and activist Jonas Ohman. The discussion attracted over 30 participants.

Another discussion was organised on 14 December with journalists Rosita Garskaite and Vaida Pilibaityte on Political situation and elections that took place few weeks ago were discussed. Special attention was paid to environmental issues and technologic waste dump in the capital Accra that harms not only people living and working in the dump but in the other areas of the city as well.  Local efforts to cope these problems through education and other initiatives were also discussed as well as significant role of religion and religious communities.

Social Media Campaign

Social media campaign “Mūsiškiai” (“Ours”) has been launched in October.both in Lithuanian and English. In a series of photo stories posted on Facebook (can be found by hashtag #Ours #Mūsiškiai) we share the insights of the people who came to live in Lithuania from all over the world. They tell about their life both here and there, beautiful and painful things they encounter in Europe, Lithuania, challenges they face and stereotypes they hear. Every Tuesday we post a short photo story which will help Lithuanian public understand better and make these people more welcome. It also boost the awareness on specific country, for example Iran. People respond with comments and discussions takes place, especially in Facebook group “Foreigners in Vilnius”, which has around 6000 followers - both local and not.

So far 8 posts were made with 4 different personalities - people from Iran, Egypt, Nigeria and Ukraine. It reached around 15 000 audience on NGDO Platform alone, but the final number would be double or triple counting its popularity on public “Foreigners in Vilnius” group plus other posting places. The campaign will continue until summer. It has also offline features: informal discussions with the “heroes” of the photo stories are organised in Vilnius cafes, where various issues related to developing countries are discussed. Some of the stories will be developed into the articles and published in daily Lietuvos zinios and human rights portal www.manoteises.lt

Media Research

The qualitative media research was conducted to investigate the appearance of development issues in Lithuanian media. A group discussion and individual interviews were held with eight biggest media houses that publish most information on development issues. Major findings are as follows: (1) editors of media houses can hardly identify clear Lithuanian DC vision and priorities themselves and would like to have a more consistent defining of the national policy, communicated by both NGDOs and state institutions, also they lack information on the assistance transparency and efficiency mechanisms; (2) the content of the news portals is more and more defined by the editors-on-duty, also articles of opinion formers are getting more popular and bigger reach-out, therefore more conditions should be provided for them to gain authentic experience and develop their relevant competences, including practical trainings (3) media houses are looking forward to closer cooperation with field experts and NGOs; (4) considering the high competition between local and development topics, the latter should be presented in innovative, catchy and related to local contexts forms, etc.

The survey results were introduced at the international discussion on contemporary challenges in nowadays media Media Buzz versus quality journalism held on 18 August in Vilnius. The major audience there were Lithuanian journalism students.

The publication of the research can be found here.

Bulletin

The fourth issue of the electronic bulletin addresses the topics of Sustainable Development Agenda and national implementation of Sustainable Development Goals. Based on the interviews made with officials (Ms Raimonda Murmokaite, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the United Nations, Ms Violeta Motulaite, director of the Development Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Kestutis Navickas, Minister of Environment), the articles cover the status quo in preparing to implement SDGs in Lithuania, the global concept of SDGs, the problems related to defining global indicators, best national practices in the preparation for SDG implementation, etc. The publication is sent out in mid-December 2016 to 551 subscribers (decision makers, media, NGO activists and other subscribers of the NGDO Platform  newsletter). It is also publisized on the internet sites of the House of Europe and NGDO Platform (pagalba.org). Later on, it is planned to publish individual articles in the media.

Miscellaneous

10 November project staff met with the representatives of the Africa Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss cooperation possibilities in organising Africa Days events in 2017.

The bulletin and the project was introduced at the national development cooperation conference Sustainable Development Goals 2030: Lithuanian Contribution and Responsibility held on 6 December by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Negotiations are underway with the Institute of Strategic Communications on the joint organisation of the journalists article/photo competition and the study trip of the winners to developing countries in 2017.