Between 26th and 30th of October 2011, the European Youth Parliament Finland hosts MEdiT’11 – a convention gathering over 30 young committed individuals for five days to discuss, experience, and shape future ideas about using media in intercultural youth dialogue and the role of the media in non-formal learning. The aim of MEdiT’11 is to gather, revise, and disseminate knowledge and best practices in the this field.
Why is the MEdiT’11 a convention and not a training?
The MEdiT’11 is designed as an open space event, as we believe in the potential and the capabilities of each individual participant. Gathering a group of people with experience and willingness to invest in and use media as a vehicle to support cultural exchange, we believe that knowledge comes by practice.
Sharing made first-hand-experiences, from various perspectives and backgrounds, will be more beneficial for the participants that the one-way direction of traditional training. Aiming to think the usage of media further, each contribution will be necessary. Therefore each participants will be a trainer at the same time. MEdiT’11 is seeking for exchange rather than training.
Why should you apply for MEdiT’11?
Working where young people with different backgrounds meet, the channels used for interaction and understanding are constantly changing. The ways how we understand each other and make us understood become more and more inclusive. Cultural exchange is a constant process that has gone beyond the simple meeting-up.
Media, both digital and analogue, prior and beyond an actual event, have transformed from simple documentation to a sphere for actual support and independent story telling. We do have the possibilities to foster and make exchange happen through media with the recipients being away from each other.
If you are interested in understanding the possibilities that all sorts of media, may it be print, video, photography or the subsuming internet offer, and would like to think further about the aims and ways we can use them for, you should join us in Helsinki.
What will you learn?
As the MEdiT’11 is an open space programme, a clear projection of what will happen is hardly possible. The participants make the programme, and not vice versa. Therefore we concentrate on gathering interesting and inspiring, as well as hungry and dedicated people.
The process will be facilitated to ensure a collective progress of the convention, as well as the fulfilment of individual learning points. MEdiT’11 will provide space for experiments, for fail and success, and thus for personal development by its meaning.
What is the outcome?
The participants of MEdiT’11 will come from all sorts of organisations dealing with intercultural exchange among young people. All of them are active assets of their organisations, with the aim to develop both themselves and their organisations. Therefore we will focus on learning points that go beyond the personal horizon.
Setting up learning points and leading questions, facilitating the action and learning process constantly, will enable the participants to supervise their progress. While working on practical projects during the convention, the aim of the MEdiT’11 is to formulate outcome and action plans for implementing new ideas of media usage into the organisational reality and by this making intercultural exchange more successful.
Who can apply?
Interested applicants
- are involved in an European youth organisation,
- you are between 16 and 30 years old,
- have collected first experiences in the usage of media and non-formal learning in intercultural youth dialogue (more experienced applicants are highly welcome too),
- are motivated to participate in the preparations of the convention,
- are willing to share knowledge and ideas,
- are available between the 26th and 30th of October (Arrivals on the 25th, departures earliest at the evening of the 30th).
Members from non-EU youth organisations can also apply, but only a limited amount of these applicants can be selected due to funding restrictions.
To apply for MEdiT’11, please fill out the application form here http://bit.ly/l5jbff. The deadline for application is the 7th of August 2011, 23.59 CET. The selection of the participants will be completed within 2 weeks time.
Download the call for MEdiT’11 here!
