ISSUES pertaining to children's rights and protection is a matter that concerns the global community, regardless of age.
Established to make children's voices be heard on issues that are affecting their well-being, the Mongolian Child’s Journalist Club based in Baganuur, Mongolia aims to encourage its members to experience a glimpse of journalism done through media activities by influencing policy formulation and implementation around ending violence against children.
The children-friendly journalism activities are done four times a week, tackling different community-level topics of concern with interview opportunities that gather personnel from the local government and NGOs representing the locals.
Working in groups to develop content such as writing articles, producing videos, and surveys are among the undertakings.
The club representative shared that among the learned challenges from the sessions conducted included the follow-through of a plan because of weather conditions.
“Mongolia is high altitude and is far from any sea. It has an extreme continental climate where people experience very cold winters and hot summers.
“In addition, the current Covid-19 situation makes it harder for the members to reach out to people and complete their tasks when most of the organisations are closed and fewer people are at work due to the pandemic.
“Some adults ignore them as well because they are children and do not believe that children can be change agents for child-related issues.
That said, the aspiring young journalists did not stop their efforts in fulfilling their commitment of raising awareness among the community – specifically on child-related issues.
The Vibes recently got in contact with some of the members of the club to understand the passion behind the program better.
Underlying issues highlighted by children
“Teamwork is very essential for the students as they work together to develop content – photography, videos and writings. Hence, they all play different roles in the execution,” shared the club’s teacher, Soyolerdene E, leading the sharing session with us.
Among the role models that the students look up to in the field are Mongolian journalists Myagmarjav Batbileg, Unurtsetseg Naran and Odzaya Deremchimed.
Student Khongorzul B notes, “Batbileg highlights modern and social economic issues in the country as well as day-to-day happenings in the community and Odzaya is a female journalist and news anchor on Mongolian National Broadcast that has a huge social media following”.
“What I like about Naran specifically is that she has no fear in questioning politicians and governors in Mongolia. She is very transparent to the public, and this is what motivates me to be like her,” added Khongo’s fellow 15-year-old club member, Bekhbat M.
Bekhbat’s goal of pursuing journalism is to be part of a media organisation in the future where he is able to “… deliver the voices of children especially the disabled children as the community does not have equal participation in their social life as well as in school.
“I find this important, and I would like to do my part in being a voice for them.”
“By participating in the club, I wish to change people's attitude and behaviours, as most of the people do not pay attention to child protection and child rights issues. I hope to break the stereotype that children cannot be good journalists, by proving my abilities,” expressed Khongor.
So far, the 17-year-old has learned basic video production and content development skills after only three-months of being in the club.
Joining in on the sharing is 16-year-old Suraazi Kh, who aims to highlight ongoing issues happening in the local schools.
“Students faces discrimination even by teachers that judge them based on their family background,” she said.
“Poor quality of teaching is a common problem in Mongolia, but officials are not doing enough to address this issue and safeguard the rights of children.
“I hope to use the opportunity as a member of the club to let the schools and the community as a whole look at teaching plan and behaviour more seriously,” she added.
Empower and equip
The Mongolian Child’s Journalist Club is a project under World Vision’s Area Programme in Baganuur, Mongolia.
The humanitarian organisation’s goal is to sustain the well-being of children within families and communities, especially the most vulnerable. To date, 2,787 children in Bagannur have been sponsored by Malaysian sponsors.
World Vision Malaysia CEO Daniel Boey said: “In all the work that we do, we involve the beneficiary children, families and communities so that we can effectively tackle the root causes of poverty.
“Similarly, to raise awareness about child rights and protect children from child protection issues, we need to involve children themselves.
“Our role in it is to empower and equip children, then provide them with a platform to make sure their voices are heard on issues that affect their well-being.
“The Child’s Journalist’s Club is an effective way as the children are also able to pick up communication and interpersonal skills that builds their self-confidence,” he added.
Focusing on how the learning environment can be a more secure and safer space for youth, the students touched on the qualities they adhere to in terms of ensuring they persevere in the journalism field and shared that being consistent is essential to be a journalist, regardless of the conditions of social behaviour from the staff.
“Being positive is also one of the keys to achieve goals as the issues can be solved easier when we take everything in a positive manner,“ shared Khongor about the time she has learned so far with the club.
“Respecting each other is very important. The main element is to communicate with each other without any judgement or discrimination.
“One must go through the suffering you don’t want for the happiness you want,” she advised. – The Vibes, June 12, 2021
