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Scheduled From September 13 to 23, 2006 & November 17 to 27, 2006.
Shillong, Meghalaya
Internews Europe, the lead partner and Formedia, the implementing partner in India are conducting the two year project, MEDIAIDS. This project is sensitizing and training journalists on HIV & AIDS issues as well as training NGO spokespersons and people living with HIV / AIDS to communicate effectively through the media. It is funded by the European Union-India Economic Cross Cultural Programme and DFID India. In the second year, MEDIAIDS activities are focused on seven states of northeast India.
A pioneering Executive Briefing on July 7, 2006 and two Communication Workshops for NGOs and People Living with HIV & AIDS during August 2006 have been successfully concluded. Inputs from various stakeholders have shown that Radio is powerful tool of communication in northeast India and that news and phone-in programmes are popular among listeners. The electronic media workshops will endeavour to train radio personnel from seven northeastern states to mainstream HIV & AIDS issues in their general programming.
The two Electronic Media Workshops in September and November are designed to give basic information about HIV & AIDS and develop region-specific news and messaging through practical exercises. The objective is to bring HIV & AIDS issues into mainline information dissemination on radio to enable the generation of public debate. Each workshop will be conducted for ten full working days and consist of 12 participants each, training a total of 24 participants during 20 days.
The profile and training of the two workshops will vary since the demands of news and phone-in programmes are different. While the first group will be trained for developing well-researched news stories, the second group will be trained for skilled transmission of subtle, embedded messages through phone-in programmes. The aim is to have a sensitized group of radio personnel who can respond appropriately to the HIV & AIDS challenges of the northeastern region.
The first workshop will be attended by radio journalists who contribute to programme sections like the morning information service of All India Radio. Participants in the second workshop will be anchors and moderators of popular phone-in programmes.
We hope that after the MEDIAIDS Electronic Media Workshops, radio will play an authoritative role for a collective response to the HIV & AIDS epidemic in northeast India.
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