Project Ethiopia

Media Working Group and Community Media Center Grand Rapids Reaches Out to Ethiopia

Greater Cincinnati's own Media Working Group was recently invited to join Michigan's Grand Rapids Community Media Center in training 20 Ethiopian educators and producers of educational television. Both media groups were invited by UNESCO- International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa, an organization geared toward helping educators develop their professional capacity and upgrade their skills to a more globally-competitive level. Producer and trainer Jean Donohue, partnered with Jason Michael Crow of the Grand Rapids Community Media Center, spent a three-week period in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this fall representing MWG.

Because 15% of the population in Africa is currently infected with HIV (and that percentage is expected to double), educating the populace about the virus has become a national necessity, with that agenda being incorporated into everything. Donohue explained that the training they offered, with their emphasis on video for television production, was tailored specifically to integrate HIV education across the curriculum. She said they considered the curriculum from a cultural point-of-view, and attempted to identify which cultural traditions helped to prevent HIV, and which actually contributed to risky behavior. They then moved to teaching digital video techniques and editing. According to Donohue, the indigenous production community is working with antiquated equipment and their newfound digital skills catapulted them 30 years forward in a matter of days. The group produced two video shorts addressing HIV-AIDS prevention, which can be seen on the MWG web site www.mwg.org.

The International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa is focused on teacher education, long distance learning, as well as health and economic issues. In undeveloped nations, Donohue explained, the three are consistently intertwined.