MAGIC Online Initiative - Global

Available in Spanish, French, and English, the MAGIC site features the MAGIC Bank, a searchable, expandable database of information, advice, and best practices. Visitors may either browse an A-Z listing of all entries, each accompanied by a short summary, or search by age group, media activity, location, or theme. According to Marjorie Newman-Williams, UNICEF's Director of Communication, the Bank "highlights media efforts that involve, inform, and empower children and young people". Examples of projects include:

• A network of child journalists in Haiti, trained in media skills and child rights issues, who produce radio programmes, a website, and a magazine;
• A community-based human rights and media project by and for girls and young women in Egypt;
• A training programme that helps children affected by war, exploitation, poverty, and abuse in Eastern Europe use the media to voice their ideas, needs, and opinions;
• A musical production in the Philippines that enables children living or working on the streets to discover and cultivate their talents.

In addition, the MAGIC site offers separate informational pages meant for children, parents, the media, the government, teachers, and groups working for children. Information provided on these pages includes a full briefing on the Oslo Challenge; an examination of the relationship between children and the media; codes of conduct for media organisations; and links and contacts.

Children, Youth, Rights.

UNICEF developed MAGIC, with funding from the Norwegian Government, in response to the Oslo Challenge of 1999. Young people involved in media projects, media professionals, and child rights experts gathered in Oslo to discuss the role the media can play in the development of children's rights throughout the world. They called on media professionals, educators, governments, organisations, parents, children, and young people to recognise the media's potential to make the world a better place for children. The purpose of the website is to translate this challenge into practical action.

Child participation is an integral component of the MAGIC project and UNICEF's other initiatives. Child participation is the theme of this year's State of the World's Children Report, which will be released on December 11, 2002; it is also the basis of The International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB), which will celebrate its tenth anniversary on December 8, 2002.