CECIP invited to participate in the 5th World Summit on Media for Children, in South Africa

“No rubber, no way!”, a CECIP´s production for street children on HIV/AIDS prevention will be presented to the Summit that happens in South Africa from March 23rd to 28th.

The 5th World Summit on Media for Children will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the end of March (24th to 28th), expressing the increasing awareness of people around the world about the importance of having quality and ethical principles in the creation and dissemination of programmes directed to children.

In a time of globalization, the media for children plays an ever more important role. This raises questions that must be addressed to, such as the value and the cultural content of the products disseminated internationally. While it is welcomed that children around the world have access to outstanding examples of the world’s best literature and of good quality video and film production, the fact is that these examples remain exceptions. The rule is mass-produced films and animations that are based on a shallow set of values (so as to be “accepted” everywhere) or simply sheer violence, be it based on the use of weapons, or subliminarly imposing points of view, behaviours and ways of living that express values that are in conflict with what a socially concerned society must struggle for, like solidarity, justice, peace and understanding in solving conflicts.

One of the Summit’s main themes of discussion is how to overcome this situation, encouraging continental and global collaboration on programme contents and production partnerships. The immense cultural wealth that exists in countries referred to as “poor”, “underdeveloped” or “from the South” is largely ignored by the world’s main centers of media for children production.

Another important issue that stems from the fact that the Summit is happening in Africa, is the rare opportunity to attract the world’s attention to questions that have been left so far more or less under the carpet. One of them is that HIV/AIDS is ridding the African continent. To control and overcome the present situation is a huge challenge that asks for political vision, cultural sensitiveness, active solidarity, considerable resources and a serious effort on information and education. Isn’t this a role for the Media?

On the third day of the event, CECIP will show some of the educational toolkits that it has produced on the subject. It will share the methodology that was developed to accomplish with sensitivity this difficult challenge and discuss some of the findings of its experience in Brazil. One of the videos to be screened is No Rubber, No Way!, produced with the purpose of informing street children about how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. This 25 minutes’ video that uses plenty of humour to deliver its message on such a serious matter, is considered to be one of the best examples of successful communication with a young audience. It is presently being distributed nationally by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, through its Programme to Combat HIV/AIDS, and Spanish and English versions are distributed internationally by the Pan American Health Organisation, based in Washington, DC, USA, which provided the funds to produce it.

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