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HasNa Inc. headed by Mrs. Nevzer Stacy has funded an exchange program for your journalists between 1 June, 2002 and the 31 May, 2003. Five Turkish Cypriots and five Greek Cypriots had the opportunity to enjoy a short-term scholarship and spend a couple of weeks in Washington DC, hosted by American Families. [[Yiannis Laouros from the Cyprus Neuroscience and Technology Institute together with his peace friend Huseyin Gursan of the Youth Centre coordinated the project.
Members of the Advisory Board
The project was monitored and supervised by an Advisory Committee which also served as ad-hoc selection committee. The following served as members of the Advisory Board:
- Yiannis Laouris, President of the Technology for Peace initiative
- Hayatin Hayat, President of Olive Branch
- Devrim Hayat, Secretary of Olive Branch
- Maria Hadjipavlou, President of Peace Centre Cyprus
- Harry Anastasiou, Professor of Peace Studies, Portland State University
- Romina Laouri, political science student
The Parties have agreed to collaborate to promote peace and reconciliation in Cyprus through the introduction and initiation of a series of specific collaborative projects for young Turkish and Greek Cypriots living in the Southern and Northern part of the island. This Memorandum covered project-related activities that would take place in the United States and Cyprus, including:
- Setting up a Communal Office to coordinate activities across the Green Line, promote the specific proposed projects by Cypriots in the South and North, and provide needed staff and logistical support to these professionals in developing, implementing and evaluating projects. One Greek Cypriot coordinator will staff the Office.
- Formation of a Bi-communal Advisory Board that will work together, with equal Turkish and Greek representation, to supervise projects and provide guidance
- Establishing a series of training programs in conflict resolution and professional skills for young adults, with equal representation from both Turkish and Greek communities, with the ultimate goal of instituting joint projects.
- Working together with the scholars for a period of 1 year supporting them in their bicommunal meetings.
- Organization of a journalists' peace conference.
George Tziapouras and Synthia Pavlou coordinated a number of activities.
Outcomes of the young journalists activities
As part of the process of organizing the Young Journalists Project (June 2002-May 2003), HasNa sought to learn from similar programs that were organized by others in the past. In 1995, the Fulbright Commission, in collaboration with the Senior Trainers Group, organized and funded a U.S.-based training program for about twenty young journalists from both communities in Cyprus. In 1996, the U.S. Embassy funded a one-day trip to Brussels for prominent chief editors from various Cypriot media organizations, where they received up-to-date information regarding EU regulations, challenges and opportunities in the field of journalism. While both of these projects helped to form linkages and friendships between colleagues working across the Green Line, neither included any defined structures or follow-up activities to support continued interaction and collaboration among the journalists after their return to Cyprus.
In the summer of 2002, HasNa, in cooperation with two Cypriot NGOs - CNTI and the Youth Centre, organized a training program for young journalists (five Greek Cypriots and five Turkish Cypriots). HasNa provided funding to CNTI and the Youth Centre to manage components of the Young Journalists Project, including participant selection, logistics management in Cyprus and post-training follow-up activities. Participants spent two weeks in Washington learning and practicing effective communication skills, conflict resolution and modern journalism. The group made a commitment to continue to meet regularly once they returned to Cyprus, to form an electronic discussion group to support one another and to organize small bicommunal activities. HasNa provided funding for two project coordinators, one in the North and one in the South, for a period of nine months (through May 2003) to support the follow-up activities. During this period, the members of the group:
- Wrote and published articles describing how their HasNa training experience had changed their perceptions;
- Created a “friendly”, bicommunal network of contacts and cooperation;
- Launched the first, on-line bicommunal journal (www.hasnajournal.org)
- Helped organize the first HasNa Media Symposium in May 2003, bringing together senior journalists from the Greek Cypriot media for a provocative discussion of ethics and objectivity in journalism, and the role of the media in reconciliation. A second Media Symposium is being planned for Turkish Cypriot journalists in fall 2003.
Thus, the HasNa Young Journalists Project was specifically designed to put a more defined post-training structure in place than had earlier projects targeting journalists. This follow-up phase was critical to sustaining the "transformation" of the participants and their regular interaction, evidenced by the regular bicommunal meetings, the publication of the HasNa journal, and a very active online discussion group.