About the project

Balkan Youth Newsroom – BYN
Empowering discussion through information
 
Balkan Youth Newsroom – BYN is a regional project that will be implemented in Stip, Macedonia, Nis, Serbia and in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Hercegovina in the period between January and December 2015. The Foundation IDEA Southeast Europe from Skopje, Macedonia is the leading partner in the project. The student radio UGD FM from the Statećs University Goce Delcev from Stip, the newsroom Juzne vesti from Nis and Karike, the youth magazine of Youth Association in Bosnia and Hercegovina are the three partner organizations involved in the activities of the Balkan Youth Newsroom project.
The BYN project includes 60 young people from these three Balkan countries. There will be 20 participants from each of the three countries, divided in at least four groups, depending on the newsrooms’ availability in Stip, Nis and Sarajevo. All participants will be working in local media newsrooms - partners of the project. Each group will work in the newsroom at least two days a week during at least one whole month.
Those who will directly participate in the project and being beneficiaries will be 18-28 years of age from different socio-economic status, level of education and ethnic background. Activists, NGO workers and students that are studying journalism will be the narrowed target group that we want to focus on with this project. Through constant publishing investigative stories, good quality articles and multimedia stories those articles and stories will be offered for republishing or reworking by media partners and other media that are in search for good journalism.
They will be trained in the art of Journalism, video editing, photography, investigative journalism, digital storytelling, online writing and creating and maintaining a website that as an outcome will offer stories using various kinds of media coverage of issues from all main and important priority policy areas.
By giving them the tools and the knowledge through the Balkan Youth Newsroom, these young people will be able not only to gain skills and experience that will make them more competitive on the labor market, but also to send their message and voice to the decision makers in the region. Especially after the fall of the most of the youth media, which were active during the time of former Yugoslavia.
Our Balkan Youth Newsroom project aims to reach at least 600 stories or media products during the project period that will be published on the newsroom platform, at least 100 stories or media published in other media besides the Balkan Youth Newsroom, at least 15 trained participants engaged in media work with the local media partners and working on the platform in the future and giving an opportunity for young journalists, media enthusiasts and youth workers to contribute for the Balkan Youth Newsroom in the future.
The Balkan Youth Newsroom – BYN is funded by Open Society Youth Initiatives program.