TAWASOL

Forum of Young Palestinian Journalists

 

 

The Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership And Rights Activation (PYALARA) carried out the first “Media for the Future” conference in October 2004, in cooperation with a number of academic and media organization in the West Bank. In addition to analyzing the Palestinian media scene, international coverage of the Palestinian cause, media education in Palestine, and the social responsibility of media, the conference came out of several recommendations regarding the development of Palestinian media.

 

Throughout the different discussions taking place within the conference, the young participants and journalists have expressed their discontent about the existing Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. However, young people wanted to grasp responsibility of the future of Palestinian media, instead of setting back and only  criticizing.

 

The young participants recommended the formation of a special forum for young Palestinian journalists, between the ages of 14 and 25 years old. 

 

Deriving from this, PYALARA has started with formulating the notion of TAWASOL: Forum of Young Palestinian Journalists. Furthermore, a brainstorming and establishing conference was carried out in March 2005. Throughout the conference, young people expressed their expectations from such a forum, stemming out from the needs, issues and problems they are facing.

 

 

Throughout summer 2005, TAWASOL is put into action. Different training programs are held with the participation of young journalists. The scope of these training programs is to enhance the skills and abilities of the young journalists to further develop youth media, and generally Palestinian media.

 

A career day will be held during the upcoming months, where the a network of media organizations in Palestine would be able to employ the trained journalists.