Shishu Prakash (Children's Express)

The Shishu Prakash (Children's Express) news agency combines strategies to increase the quality and quantity of reporting related to children, with strategies to increase the participation and access of children to media. The pilot phase of the programme was one year, ending at the end of 2005.

The project included the following components.

• Child Reporters - Ten children (five boys and five girls) in each of the 64 districts throughout Bangladesh were trained to identify and write news stories. These stories were sent to the Dhaka-based Child Rights Desk set up at MMC to provide editorial oversight before the stories are published in ten selected national Bangla and English dailies. In the first year of the pilot phase, the young journalists completed about 300 reports which highlight right-deprived children, working children, school drop outs, acid victims, child labours as well as issues like children health, entertainment, education etc. Many have been published in renowned English and Bangla mainstream national dailies.
• Training Journalists - As a pilot activity MMC also brought selected journalists from each of the 64 districts to participate in an orientation workshop. This aimed to develop skills in rights-based journalism, especially in child rights journalism, to enhance their ability to professionally address children's issues more qualitatively and in-depth from their own region.
• Seminars/ Exchanges - The project also aimed to use seminars and exchanges as a component to create a healthy network and environment of co-operation among the media and activists. The media personnel can benefit from information from the activists and the activists have an opportunity to address their views and activities to the media.
• Data Bank Development - The planned databank would provide necessary information to support to the journalists, researchers, activists to prepare their reports, papers, and articles.

Shishu Prakash used global standard guidelines and checklists in reporting children's issues.

Children