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Early Childhood Development and the Brazilian Media

Organization

ANDI - News Agency for children's Rights

Contact details
Veet Vivarta or Camila Melo
SDS Edifício Boulevard Center - bloco A - sala 101
Brasilia-DF 70391-900
Tel: +55 61 322 6508
Fax: +55 61 322 4973
Email: vivarta@andi.org.br or camila@andi.org.br
Website: www.andi.org.br

Imprensa magazine
Website: www.revistaimprensa.com.br
Email: redacao@revistaimprensa.com.br

Project partners

Ayrton Senna Institute
UNICEF

Location

Brazil

Background

ANDI was founded in 1992 by journalist Âmbar de Barros and her journalist husband Gilberto Dimenstein. Brazil had emerged from a 16-year military dictatorship six years earlier, and in the early 1990s was experiencing a growth in social movements. Âmbar, who was active as a volunteer with the newly created National Movement of Street Children, saw a need to improve dialogue between nascent social movements and the media, which was perceived as insensitive and ill-informed about human rights issues, particularly those dealing with children and youth. ANDI has grown into a leading news agency in Brazil, and is nationally and internationally recognized for improving the quality and quantity of coverage of children's issues.

ANDI has set a national standard for excellent journalistic performance in issues involving children and youth. The only news service of its kind, it can serve as a model for other countries.

The mission of the agency is to create a media culture that gives priority to promoting the rights of children and adolescents, chiefly those at risk of exclusion.

To do this, ANDI:

• defines and suggests specific themes and provides information on them to journalists;

• disseminates the main news about children and youth published in the country;

• provides quantitative and qualitative analyses of the journalistic treatment of children and youth in the Brazilian media;

• disseminates information on challenges and successful experiences;

• recognizes professionals whose work is an example of socially responsible journalism;

• trains young communication professionals and students.

In March 2000 the ANDI Network was created, consisting today of six communication agencies from different Brazilian states.

ANDI's work has been acknowledged by many Brazilian and international organizations including the Abrinq Foundation (Children's Award), Imprensa magazine (Líbero Badaró Award) the Brazilian Government (Honourable Mention for the National Human Rights Award), Ayrton Senna Institute (tribute for services rendered to the Ayrton Senna Journalism Award), UNICEF (Children and Peace Award), the Bahá'i Community in Brazil (World Citizenship Award), and the Brazilian UN Association (Human Rights Award), Ibero American Communication Prizes (Special Award 2001) Unicef (Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean) and EFE News Agency, and the Unesco 2001 Award (Communication Award) Unesco /Brazil

Aims and objectives

To improve the quality and quantity of reporting by the media and other means of communication on the development of children from 0-6 years old, with specific emphasis on education (as opposed to health).

We also want to ensure that our comprehensive analysis of print media coverage of early childhood development reaches the principal editors, reporters, chiefs and owners of the Brazilian media - radio, television, newspapers and magazines - through the 11th edition (September 2001) of the Children in the Media Report (produced by ANDI, Ayrton Senna Institute and UNICEF).

Participants

Journalists and experts.

Target audience

Journalists.

Wider beneficiaries

Children and people involved with children and children's rights.

Involvement of children

None.

Summary of project

The project began in March 2000 and will be completed by the end of 2002. The first step was to identify every article, report and editorial devoted to early childhood development/education between 1 January and 31 December 2000. A group of 10 specialists conducted a thorough qualitative and quantitative analysis of the 769 reports and produced a report on how the media covered the main theme and related themes plus recommendations for how journalists could cover these issues in the future.

To achieve the project's objective of improving the media's attention to and reporting on the development of young children, a workshop with 40 journalists was organised in September 2001 to present the material and produce a final document detailing the entire process and identifying priorities for the Brazilian media. A Resource Guide on Early Childhood Development (Education) will be launched in October 2002. And a book focused on the same themes - including a version of the print media analysis, the recommendations for journalists built during the workshop and several articles written by experts - is being produced as part of ANDI's new book series on media and children's rights, to be launched on December 2002.

Funders

See 'Partners' above.

Costs

From ANDI's inception, UNICEF has provided vital technical, financial and moral support.

In 1992, UNICEF contributed US$ 3,167 (39.5 per cent of ANDI's annual budget). By 1996, this had grown to US$ 428,670 or 74 per cent of ANDI's budget. However, in the late 1990s, national demand for ANDI's services and support led to a rapid growth in ANDI's staff, services and budget. In 2000, ANDI had a staff of 21 professionals, 15 interns and 10 volunteers. In 2001, UNICEF's contribution of US$ 142,389 was only about 16 per cent of ANDI's total budget.

Strengths of project

This is one of many projects implemented by ANDI. It is part of a bigger campaign to sensitize media professionals to children's rights and child-related issues.

Other projects include:

• Jornalista amigo da criança (Journalist Friend of Children Network);

• Rede Andi (ANDI Network);

• Mídia Jovem (Media for adolescents).

Examples

We will have three publications:

• a qualitative analysis was published in the 11th edition (September 2001) of the Children in the Media Report (ANDI, Ayrton Senna Institute, with technical support from UNICEF);

• The Resource Guide on Early Childhood Development (Education) to be published in October 2002.

• Book with recommendations from the final workshop with journalists and articles written by experts, to be published in December 2002.

See the Children in Media Report for details.

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