"Aswatuna" Media Training



"Aswatuna" Media Training

Palestinian youth gather around the recording equipment at Shoruq’s Media Center and watch closely as Ala’a Al Kurdi, a professional sound engineer, shows them how to conduct and edit their own radio interviews. Today is the 4th workshop of the “Our Voices” program, run by Shoruq Organization with support from the European Union, and the students are learning how to use advanced media tools in order to support their advocacy projects.

“Our Voices” is a three-month program that brings together Palestinian youth, ages 18 – 26, to develop advanced media skills and use media to advocate for issues of concern to the refugee community. Fifteen youth from across Palestine are participating in this program, with the majority coming from refugee camps. Most of the youth are students and young professionals, who are currently either studying media or working in media.

 The program aims to both develop media skills of Palestinian young professionals as well as help them use media for advocacy purposes. The youth focus on using broadcast media to change stereotypes associated with refugees and refugee camps in Palestine as well as raise issues that are important to the refugee community. Because many people locally and internationally look at refugees in a less privileged prospective way. In the program, youth study and dialogue about advocacy messages as well as learn advanced media skills through theoretical and practical workshops. These workshops train participants on topics ranging from writing and recording programs to editing and managing sound to designing community advocacy. At the end of the program, Palestinian participants will produce pieces for local radio programs.

In today’s workshop, the youth spent six hours learning about advanced media tools, including recording equipment, media studio, and sound mixer, from their trainer and professional sound engineer, Ala’a Al Kurdi. After gaining the technical knowledge, the youth quickly applied it to their own projects, conducting interviews and editing them in the workshop. From within Shoruq’s Media Center and beyond, these Palestinian youths are raising their voices to effect change in their community.

Shoruq Organization was founded in 2012 based on the values and principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and The Convention on the Rights of a Child. Shoruq aims to support refugees to strive individually and collectively to achieve and exercise their rights, including the right of return to their lands of origin and the right to live in dignity. Shuroq’s Media Centers organizes trainings each year in different areas of the media.