Towards a media free from stereotypes.
Our international exchange workshops bring together participants from different countries and professional settings within journalism/writing and civil society. These workshops are longer, spanning a week or more, and take place on several occasions with the same participants. Those taking part get the chance to learn new things in blocs: first participating in an initial session, then spend time back in their own countries and workplaces, letting it all sink in before doing the second and third phases. We always spend one session in each country, in order for people to work in various contexts and learn from a range of local actors and initiatives. It also allows for participants to be “at home” at least once, which allows for a horizontal relationship and learning exchange between everyone taking part.
Our international workshops typically start with introductory sessions on stereotypes, representation and power dynamics, allowing participants to become familiar with how they function. At the beginning, we also establish the self-reflexive approach which forms the basis for how we observe the experiences and ideas we bring with us, and shape us as professionals.
Participants get to know the topic of migration in the context of each country where the workshop takes place, including socio-cultural and historical aspects of why people have migrated, and continue to migrate, to or from these different places. We meet with individuals and organisations working on issues related to migration, including refugees and migrants’ rights; media projects on migration, culture and art; civil initiatives of different kinds, and local institutions.
Week-long workshops, bringing together participants across countries and professions.
Roughly half of the workshop is specifically related to journalistic work. Sessions focus on writing, research and structuring of articles, on how to act in interview and other settings, and on the process of how to turn ideas into stories. Part of the time is dedicated to individual or collaborative journalistic production, with mentorship and feedback sessions.
During these workshop weeks, we stay together and share things like meals, accommodation and a common space. This is an integral part of the concept behind this project: it lets the group build confidence and a sense of belonging, and allows for an environment where discussions and interactions can start one day, continue during the next, and eventually turn into new collaborations.
Self-reflection, critical inquiry. How stereotypes take form, how they are reproduced. How to write to break that pattern.
Past international workshops:
Zahle 2017
The first round of workshops was organised as a partnership between Mashallah News from Beirut, Tabadol from Lyon and Bapob from Berlin.
Berlin 2017
The three sessions gathered participants from media and civil society, living and working in Lebanon, Germany and France.
Lyon 2018
Trainers included people from Mashallah, Tabadol and Bapob, as well as colleagues from Deutsche Welle and Reporter Citoyen, a citizen media in the suburbs of Paris.
Berlin 2018
The second round of workshops, organised the same partners, brought together a new group of studens and professionals for another set of week-long sessions.
Zahle 2018
In Berlin, we collaborated with different local media initiatives and platforms writing about migration and culture, including Fann Magazine and Amal Berlin; in Zahle, we met with migrant workers and refugee journalists, and people collaborating to save agricultural knowledge and seeds from Syria.
Lyon 2018
In Lyon, the last part of the three-week workshop was dedicated to finishing the stories participants began working on in Zahle and Berlin.
