• Project: The Right to Education through Photography
  Project Partner: Birzeit University
  Date & Place: February – October 2005, Ramallah/West Bank
  The Right to Education Campaign seeks to raise awareness both locally and internationally about the range of obstacles that students at all levels of the education sector are facing in order to simply continue their education. At their extreme these obstacles have included the closure of educational institutions, their physical destruction and the injury or arrest of students and academic staff by the Israeli Security Forces. Through the ongoing documentation and building an international network of support among the academics, students and campaigners the Right to Education Campaign seeks to bring pressure to bear on governments, decision-makers and the Israeli authorities to guarantee safe and free access of all Palestinians to their educational institutions. At the end of the 2004 a group of student photographers at Birzeit University came together to work on a Right to Education Photography Project. Motivated by the continuing success of the Right to Education Campaign documentary film “A Caged Bird’s Song” the students wanted to capture in images the obstruction and attacks on Palestinian students and education, while also giving artistic expression to their own ideas and experiences.

Birzeit University decided to conduct an advanced training workshop for ten students (six from Birzeit University and four from other universities), which is facilitated by a professional photographer with 30 years experience in the field of human rights issues in July 2005. The advanced training should enable the students to document daily life experience related to their right of education. At the end of the project period an exhibition will be held in Birzeit and will later tour different locations in the Palestinian territories. A selection of the best photographs will be selected and produced in a book that documents the achievements of the students. The book will include Arabic and English comments.

• Project: Capacity Building for Environmental Journalists
  Project Partner: MAAN Development Center
  Date & Place: April – November 2005, Ramallah, West Bank
  Palestine is approaching a critical point in the protection and management of its natural resources. The fragile Palestinian environment, consisting mostly of dry land areas, is burdened with a unique array of problems. Increased industrialization, Israeli occupation including confiscation, and mismanagement of resources through Palestinians has led to serious environmental problems. To properly address these issues, education is fundamental. That is why the MAAN Development Center wants to bridge the gap between information dissemination and the general public on environmental issues. To achieve this, MAAN aims to increase the capacities of journalists to provide effective and compelling environmental media coverage to the public through their chosen medium.

The aim of this project is to develop the competencies of eighteen journalists to provide effective media coverage of environmental issues in the media. Parts of the project are also components such as discussions and debates with experts to gain more information about environmental problems. The program of the project consists of five main activities: The first module is a five day workshop focusing on innovative writing skills. The second module is a three day workshop which focuses on research techniques. A series of twenty four one day technical workshop is designed to increase journalist's knowledge of environmental issues. To complement this project, MAAN will also host four panel discussions. These debates will allow journalists to participate in the dialogue with experts in the field of environment and building their knowledge of important issues. MAAN expects that the debates will produce the basis for six articles to be published in the monthly environmental newspaper supplement produced by the MAAN Development Center. This supplement, currently printed at 25,000 copies per month in local newspapers, is widely read throughout Palestine. A total of eighteen pieces of journalism will be produced and all will be showcased in the media conference also sponsored by the project.
In order to ensure the professional support of the project participants, an external expert in journalism will be contracted after the debates and discussions to mentor the creative process. With the assistance of the expert it can be assured that the reports and articles are of high quality and the content of the project will be integrated into the final products.

• Project: Al-Hal Newspaper Supplement
  Project Partner: Media Institute Birzeit University
  Date & Place: June – September 2005, Ramallah/West Bank
  Under the auspices of the Media Institute of the Birzeit University students of journalism produce a monthly supplement for Al-Ayyam newspaper called “Al-Hal”. Al-Hal is a suitable space for practical training of students. It enhances freedom of press, gives more opportunities for young journalists to escape self censorship and raise the quality of professional journalism in Palestine. This project will support two issues of Al-Hal, therefore promoting in addition to freedom of expression, respect of human rights and gender equality.

• Project: World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) –  Regional Strategy Meeting (and  Participation in WSIS in Tunis in November 2005)
  Project Partner: hbf Beirut / Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND)
  Date & Place: July 2005, Beirut
  A number of Arab civil society groups are active to participate in the process leading up to the second WSIS. Several regional meetings have led to the adoption of a number of common platforms and declarations, mostly concerned with the freedom of access to information and the a resistance against censorship. The strategy meeting is aimed at a further coordination of these approaches, and intends to work out a common strategy for the presentation of these demands in Tunis, against the attempts of most Arab governments to restrict international coordination to purely technical matters, and keep information and communication technology under strict domestic control.