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African children win international radio awards
Children in West Africa can create high quality radio programs to promote the rights of the child.
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| Children participants from Mali |
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"I am a child but I have my rights too!" produced by Plan in West Africa with close to 100 radio stations won the finalist award in the "best children programs" category at the International New York festivals 2003. It also won the finalist award at the UNICEF/OneWorld radio contest.
Antoinette, 12, is very proud. “This experience allowed me to see that it was possible to have a voice as a child”, she says. It overcomes the “African perception that the child should only obey and never be listened to”.
700 children participated in the radio productions. Thousands listen to the shows. They want to take part in the active promotion of their rights. “Children don’t even know that they have rights here!”, says a girl from Senegal. “I think the campaign can make people change. Maybe it can give them the idea to send their girls to school”, says a boy from Burkina Faso.
Founded in 1957, the International New York Festivals ranks among the most prestigious awards shows worldwide. Participants from all over the world competed in the first ever UNICEF/One World radio contest to have their shows recognized as creative, educational and fun.
Plan congratulates all West African children involved in the radio shows and is proud to continue producing high quality programs with and for children in collaboration with radio partners from Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal and Togo. “Listen up”, children say. It is an invitation. It is a demand!
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