Afghan Youth Voices Festival

KABUL - AUG, 7

Afghanistan’s first Youth Voices Festival has officially been launched across 16 provinces in the lead-up to International Youth Day on August 12. Led by Internews Afghanistan and Nai Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan the Afghan Youth Voices Festival is an opportunity for young people from across the country to express themselves. The Festival is supported by the Ministry of Information and Culture, the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Education.

Found at www.afghanyouthvoices.org the Festival is an ongoing internet-based project with an emphasis on skills development and working with young people and new media. It features a multimedia portal in Dari, Pashto and English, which provides a platform for youth dialogue, exchange and expression. There is an extensive training program providing multi-media literacy education. Mujeeb Khalvatgar Director Nai, Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan, is proud to report that “The Afghan Youth Voices Festival has trained 1,300 young Afghans in blogging, video, photography, and digital storytelling. More than 700 young Afghans have already sent contributions to the Festival and more than 100 radio programs have been produced exploring the opinions, needs, fears and aspirations of Afghanistan’s youth. As more than 62 % of Afghanistan’s population is under twenty five Nai is strongly committed to supporting them in their ongoing development.”

The Afghan Youth Voice Festival is also actively supporting the Ministry of Information and Culture’s National Youth Conference held in Kabul between the 7th and 9th of August. The three-day conference aims to spark a robust discussion about issues facing Afghan youth and progress towards having national youth policy in place soon. It will focus on practical interventions including the establishment of multi-media and other foundations, to support youth development from the national to the district level. Taimoorshah Eshaqzai, Deputy Minister of youth says that the multimedia training will help youths of Afghanistan in interacting with youths of other countries and learn from their experiences. “

Multi-media is a powerful and sustainable way to give voice to young Afghans and enhance their role in Afghanistan’s reconstruction.” said Charmaine Anderson Country Director Internews “

This Festival works closely with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to provide a forum for young people to play an active role in the nation’s development.” Four additional Festival initiatives have engaged youth across Afghanistan. The Festival multi-media bus, a fully equipped mobile media unit, has travelled across the country to collect young people’s opinions and ideas. These are now accessible on the Festival website. Radio Production Unit Salam Watandar is being produced almost entirely by Festival participants for the week August 4th – 10th. A grant program for young people has been inaugurated to support the development of Afghan multimedia talent. The aim is to create a “factory” or center for the development of outstanding youthproduced multi-media content. More than 50 young Afghans media-artists, who were trained as part of the first wave of Afghan Youth Voices Festival, as filmmakers, radio producers, photographers and on-line editors have been given the opportunity to participate. The eight winners of the Festival competition will be provided internships at media partners outlets, TOLO TV, Salam Watandar, Pajhwok Afghan News and 8AM Daily Newspaper. The winners will be announced during the National Youth Conference. The Afghan Youth Voices Festival is also collaborating with existing projects to promote young people in Afghanistan. This includes Youth in Action and Fanoos Magazine. A film written and directed by a young Afghan filmmaker will be presented by the end of August 2010. Two programs from the Festival will be aired on TOLO TV.

Charmaine Anderson from Internews Afghanistan said “The Afghan Youth Voices Festival is testament to the resilience and courage of Afghan youth. The hard work of so many people has made the Festival possible and the dedication of the participants is a beacon of hope for Afghanistan’s future.” Festival organizers will soon begin working on development of the Afghan Youth Voices Festival 2011.

INFO: press@afghanyouthvoices.com

Mobile: +93 (0) 77 15 020 79

Website:
www.afghanyouthvoices.com
www.gap-e-jawan.com
www.de-zawan-khabara.com

Please click on the link:
http://www.afghanyouthvoices.com/en/video/youth-conference-festival-winners