“Migratory Birds” newspaper by Network for Children’s Rights is the result of the teamwork of Young Journalists, a team consisting of teenage and young migrants, refugees and Greeks. The newspaper is multilingual and features articles in Arabic, English, Farsi, Greek and Urdu. It is distributed every two months, free of charge, as a supplement to “EfSyn” (Newspaper of the Editors), a Greek daily newspaper.
The idea for this project was born by the hesitation of people living in refugee camps, to talk to journalists, as they believed that their stories would not be presented as it should. For that reason 15 Afghan teenage girls and a Greek young woman decided to become journalists themselves and be the voices of the refugee population. Since then, the group evolved and is constantly being enriched with a lot of new members from different backgrounds, nationalities and languages. Three years after the first issue of the newspaper was released, the team launched the website of “Migratory Birds”.
The overall aim of the newspaper, as also that of the “Radio Dandelion” podcasts, is to empower the social integration of adolescent and young refugees and fight xenophobia. All articles and podcasts are solely produced by teenage and young migrants, refugees and Greeks.
The “Young Journalists” program has been included as a promising good practise and an example of child participation and peer-to-peer information in a practical handbook for professionals working with children prepared by the Council of Europe Children’s Rights Division. In this context, the EFIVOS project was created, which is an initiative of the Network for the Children’s Rights, with the aim of upgrading the “Young Journalists” program, focusing on the extension of the good practice throughout the EU and further contributing to the acquisition of specialized skills by young people.
In particular, EFIVOS is a European Erasmus + KA3 program promoting inclusive education and common values among young people by raising awareness and enhancing their digital skills in media literacy. Six EU countries (Greece, Italy, Germany, Cyprus, Sweden, Spain) are participating in the project as partners. The main goal of the project is to help young people integrate effectively into society in order to raise their voices and become active citizens. The vision of the programme is to watch young people coming from disadvantaged backgrounds succeeding in and changing their lives, being self-confident, competent, more critically aware, and ready to cope with any challenge they will encounter in the future.
The publication of “Migratory Birds” and the production of the “Radio Dandelion” podcasts are being carried out by the Network for Children’s Rights, with the support of UNHCR, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung – Office in Greece, Open Society Foundations and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Greece.
In the past the programme has also been supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Athens, Unicef, the Foreign Federal Office of Germany, Save the Children and John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation.
With this programme the Network for Children’s Rights aims to convey the principles and values of journalism, promote intercultural dialogue and help children exercise their basic rights, such as the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
