Our Everyday Lives TV (OELTV)

As part of this project, 20 young people from Bethlehem and London met starting in October 2010 in their respective countries to explore the impact of conflict on their lives and communities. The videos they produced in the framework of the project informed a live debate show launched in the UK on November 18 2010. The debate brought diverse groups of young people together to discuss the conflict in their lives - asking what future they see for themselves and whether they believe there can be peace in their time. Click here to view a video of the 35-minute-long debate.

Beyond that experience, OELTV is an online channel dedicated to enabling young people to share their lives from their perspective, with the wider community. All the films are designed, filmed, and directed by young people. For example, one film features Hackney (UK) young people expressing their views regarding the events (riots) that happened in Hackney on August 8 2011. [For one article providing background on these events, click here.]

Children, Youth, Conflict.

OELTV was motivated by this conviction, as expressed in Article 17, The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: "Children should have access to the media, children’s voices need to be heard in the media, but children also need protection from the media’s harmful influences. There needs to be respect for the integrity of the child in media reporting. Media portrayal of children has a profound impact on attitudes to children and childhood, which also affects the way adults behave. Even the images children themselves see influence their expectation of their roles in life."

MTR was set up in 1998 with the purpose of providing video production training to marginalised young people who would not normally have access to media resources.