Summary

The project aims to develop the Indian media’s capacity to cover environmental issues in an informed and accessible way. This will be achieved by giving 108 TV and print journalists in nine Indian states the opportunity to produce documentary films and newspaper campaigns in collaboration with international trainers.

The journalists will also take part in classroom-based training as well as awareness-raising seminars hosted by local NGOs. Building media skills for NGO workers is a key output of the project and is aimed at improving the flow of information between the two sectors. For this project, the BBC World Service Trust has joined forces with a leading environmental agency, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), based in Delhi, as well as the Television Trust for the Environment and the Stockholm Environment Institute.

In addition the training programme, the European partners will work to strengthen TERI’s capacity to offer specialised training in environmental reporting; to support country-wide awareness initiatives and to disseminate programmes and research materials.

The states covered by the project are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, New Delhi, Uttaranchal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. Funded by the EU’s Economic Cross-Cultural Programme, the project will run for 24 months, ending in December 2006.