By Bakary Samateh
UNICEF
Deputy Country representative and acting head of office in The Gambia, Rupert
Leighton, has said the Oslo Challenge was put in place in 1999 to seek answers
on how to give children access to the media, how to provide them with media
education and literacy and how to ensure they benefit from full participation
in the media.
Mr. Leighton was speaking at the opening ceremony
of a five-day training on the oneminuteJr workshop on child rights and
protection issues, organised by Young People in the Media, UNICEF and the
Department of Information Services held at Mansakonko, Lower River Region.
The workshop brought together children from all
over the country to participate in the five-day training that would also serve
to empower adolescents on basic skills in the film making conduct interviews
with other children in the various communities to obtain materials for the
development of the 60 seconds videos.
The advancement of the media over the past decades
has not only motivated children to seek out new information and skills relevant
to their development and well-being, it has also provided an opening for
children to contribute and participate more in aspects that concern them, he
said.
“This is why UNICEF believes that by helping
children to take advantage of the media, as well as empowering them to be
responsible users, they will not only be strong and influential advocates for
the promotion of their rights, but also minimize the risk of abuse and
exploitation of children in the media,” he said.
He said that over the last decades in The Gambia,
many children and young people have increasingly enjoyed their rights to go to
school because education is free for all with more opportunity for girls and
children to have access to free health care services and protection from
diseases such as measles and polio through routine immunizations.
The president of young people in the media, Eric
Samuel Ketter, said oneminutejr workshop provides children and adolescent
ranging from 12- to 20-year-old, especially those who are with disabilities the
most underprivileged and marginalized, the opportunity to make their voices
heard through short and powerful videos that focus on issues of concern to all.
Source: http://thepoint.gm
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