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2m-euro project to support Arab youth media skills

By Camille Dupire - Feb 14,2018 - Last updated at Feb 14,2018

AMMAN — The media cooperation agency of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (CFI) has announced the launch of "Youthroom", a 2 million-euro project aimed at empowering the Arab world's youth through digital media.

Funded by the European Commission, Youthroom will accompany 20 initiatives from Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon over the course of four years.

"Youth is at the heart of France's cooperation and development activities, which is reflected in CFI's ambition, through Youthroom, to offer young people from 9 countries in the Arab world the opportunity, means and training support to create and produce digital content for new generations," Jean Emmanuel Casalta, CFI chairman and managing director said in a statement. 

Divided into four phases, the project will start with a call for applications launched in March, during which 30 of the best projects dedicated to digital content will be selected, CFI regional coordinator, Louis Meunier, explained, stressing that the projects need to enable young people to "become involved in public and local life".

A hackathon step will follow, bringing the selected teams together around projects to develop innovative digital programmes in short periods of time ranging from one to a few hours.

Out of the 30 proposals, 10 will be awarded a grant of 60,000 euros and provided with personalised support from media professionals, which will help them incubate their invention, Meunier told The Jordan Times, noting that a second call for applications will be launched eight months later with the aim of retaining 10 additional projects following the same scheme.

 “The programme, during which young people will receive personalised coaching by media professionals, will also offer three thematic working sessions during which laureates will 'incubate' their project ideas," Meunier continued, noting that this will help in fostering a regional group dynamic in the field of media and development.

Later on, he explained that they will be invited to take part in a variety of events in the field including a conference dedicated to "Media and Youth".

"This initiative is part of our goal to strengthen young initiatives in the Arab world," the Youthroom statement said, citing the SafirLab project co-organised with the French Institute since 2012, which supports 20 young project leaders working on issues of civil society and the media.

The EU funded Ebticar project also contributed in supporting 20 innovative digital media projects in the Arab world between 2014 and 2016, to promote exchange and debate within societies and contribute to the economic development of the Southern Mediterranean, according to the CFI website.

Alongside local actors from the media industry, CFI works to strengthen the modernisation and democratisation processes in developing countries, according to its website, which noted that some 30 projects in the fields of pluralism, enterprise, development and human resources are currently ongoing.

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