The goal of the project is to promote dialogue and cooperation among young people from Armenia and Azerbaijan through use of new media and networking. The project is funded by FCO through British Embassies in Armenia and Azerbaijan and SIDA.
With funding from the FCO, EPF has implemented two projects aimed at increasing the amount of accurate and unbiased reporting of the bilateral relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The current proposal builds upon the achievements and lessons learned from the previous projects. Please read more about our Unbiased E-Media coverage in Armenia and Azerbaijan and Unbiased Media Coverage of Armenia-Azerbaijan Relations
projects on our web site.
As a part of the project 40 young people predominately from the regions of Armenia participated in two 3-day social media and journalism in-country workshops held in Tsakhadzor on August 10-13,2011 and Yerevan on August 26-28,2011. Two highly qualified new media trainers Artur Papyan from Radio Free Europe and Gegham Vardanyan from Internews conducted the workshops.
EPF Armenia Country Director Gevorg Ter-Gabrielyan also conducted sessions on critical thinking and creative text producing. On top of the regular sessions which lasted from 10-18, evening technical Q&A sessions took place for all interested participants.
As a result of the workshops, the participants reported significant improvement not only in their technical skills but also in critical assessment of the text. After the workshops a Facebook group was created to keep in touch and discuss project ideas and Q&As.
During the workshops, cross border issues and online cooperation models were presented and discussed. Cartoons and blogs produced as a part of the e-Media Bias project supported by the FCO in 2010 were presented to the participants. Also www.war documentary which was filmed by Internews Armenia and Azerbaijan as a part of the e-Media Bias project was screened and discussed. The film tells a story of Internet wars between Armenians and Azerbaijanis and is very powerful tool to discuss difficult issues of online war and peace journalism.
By the end of in country trainings all participants were invited to submit feasible online joint Armenia-Azerbaijan projects to EPF. By the end of September, 2011 we received 21 ideas for cooperation projects. After discussions with trainers and donors 13 ideas represented were selected and 15 young people were invited to participate in regional meeting in Tbilisi.
First joint Armenian-Azerbaijani meeting took place in Tbilisi in early October with participation of young people from Armenia and Azerbijan who participated in our in-country trainings and submitted project ideas to EPF Armenia and Azerbaijan correspondingly. The goal of the meeting was to introduce young people to each other and create confident environment for cooperation. During the meeting project idea holders had an opportunity to present their ideas and find partners in neighboring country. As a result, ten joint projects were elaborated and submitted for review to EPF in late October.
Selection committees established in EPF Yerevan and Baku offices evaluated the projects and decided to award small grants (up to $2,000 each party) to eight out of ten projects received. In order to finalize the projects participants were given a chance to meet again in Tbilisi and discuss their projects, budgets and timelines in person again. For that purpose second meeting was organized in Tbilisi on November 13-15, 2011. Also alumni of EPF’s past Armenia-Azerbaijan Media Bias projects participated by sharing their experience of joint project implementation, achievements and difficulties.
Below is a lsit of joint projects approved. All the projects should finish by March 15, 2012.
1. “Okuli Populi”, joint photo-sharing web site
2. Virtual Choir
3. Joint Flesh Mob
4. Joint web site on contemporary Armenian and Azerbaijani literature
5. Armenian-Azerbaijani Facebook conference
6. Joint documentary
7. Joint cartoon
8. Joint PSAs on child rights
Updates to follow !
Five talk-shows covering broad spectrum of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations will be broadcast by Yerkir Media TV as a part of EPF’s “Article 27. Freedom of Expression” talk-show. The average viewership of EPF’s TV talk shows on Yerkir Media TV is about 3,000 per show.
05 February 2012
Please watch an interview conducted by CivilNet with Dafina Gercheva, UN Resident Coordinator on Social Cohesion Survey done by EPF/CRRC
05 February 2012
Turkish and Armenian NGOs and civil society groups continue to pursue «second track diplomacy» to maintain momentum.
23 January 2012
Eurasia Partnership Foundation announces the annual open competition entitled New Content and New Technologies as part of the “Alternative Resources in Media” program. More informataion on proposal requirements and selection criteria can be found below.
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