Rights Reframed: Media Advocacy Mentorship Program
— 2018 Call for Applications —
Duration of program: September 2018 — July 2019
ссылка на заявку на русском языке
New Media Advocacy Project (NMAP) and the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) invite applications for a 10-month mentorship program designed to support activists in creating and distributing media advocacy projects that challenge the way human rights are framed in countries of the former Soviet Union. Over the course of the program, participants will produce short media works for distribution in their own countries.
The media produced may be in any format that can be shared with the public (e.g. short-form video, web-docs, interactive or multimedia installation, AR/VR, animation, crowd-sourced community storytelling, photography, etc.) and should aim to support a larger, ongoing campaign or advocacy goal.
In many parts of the world, human rights struggle to overcome a negative public image. This is partly because states have sought to suppress support for human rights by controlling its image on mainstream media outlets, but also because positive counter messaging struggles to engage audiences, and forms of alternative distribution are under explored.
This program proposes to influence attitudes towards human rights issues by experimenting with new approaches to storytelling and exploring more creative forms of audience engagement. This program is open to participants affiliated with human rights organizations or individual activists, who are passionate about human rights issues and want to positively influence attitudes towards these issues by experimenting with new narratives that go beyond traditional approaches.
Over the course of the program, participants will:
❖ Produce and distribute one media-based advocacy piece on a human rights issue of their choosing
❖ Receive in-depth mentoring on media advocacy and production from NMAP
❖ Form focus groups and conduct guided research on local media landscapes and current biases that discredit human rights issues
❖ Participate in one to two-hour remote meetings twice a month with a New York-based media production mentor, who will support participants in the conception, production, and distribution of their media.
❖ Receive a small production grant to produce their projects
The mentorship program will begin with a regional kick-off meeting in mid-September 2018, followed by a regional mid-program meeting focused on screening rough cuts and planning distribution in March 2019, and culminate in a public screening of produced works in New York City in July 2019. Travel expenses to these meetings will be covered by the program. Participants will be expected to commit an average of 10–15 hours per week for online meetings with mentors and independent production work during the course of the program. Production hours are flexible and may be worked around the participants individual schedule. No relocation is required to participate in the program.
Selection criteria:
The program is seeking 10 participants from the following former Soviet countries: Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.
Preference will be given to maintaining a geographical and gender balance among participants as well as covering a wide range of human rights issues.
Applicants should be able to demonstrate:
❖ An awareness of the human rights situation in their county and the current negative messaging around human rights issues
❖ A creative project idea that addresses a specific human rights issue or case, including both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights
❖ A capacity for and openness to reframing current human rights messaging in their country
❖ A commitment to human rights work/issues; participants with an established network in the human rights space and/or contacts in local or national media are strongly preferred.
❖ Some knowledge of media production is preferred though strong project concepts are the most important factor
❖ Working knowledge of English language is a strong asset, but not required
Applicants representing ethnic, religious, linguistic, and/or sexual minorities are strongly encouraged to apply.
Application deadline: August 13, 2018 at midnight EST
Those accepted to the program will be notified by August 29, 2018. Please send applications to info@newmediaadvocacy.org with the subject line “Application for Rights Reframed 2018”
ссылка на заявку на русском языке
NMAP is a nonprofit organization based in New York City that advances human rights by merging law with multimedia storytelling to bring the voices of people who have suffered violations into the halls of power. In partnership with human rights defenders, we produce media advocacy designed to win cases and campaigns, influence policy, mobilize communities, and make the technical language of policy and law more accessible. NMAP was founded in 2009 based on the idea that combining savvy legal advocacy with the visual and social power of new media creates a potent force for advancing justice.
IPHR is an independent, non-governmental organization founded in 2008. Based in Brussels, IPHR works closely together with civil society groups from different countries to raise human rights concerns at the international level and promote respect for the rights of vulnerable communities.
