Face to Face: Archives: March 2005

March 2005
Building Consensus, Coalitions and Capacity

Women and Youth in the New Millennium

Building Consensus

Ensuring access reproductive healthcare is essential for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

WOMEN AND YOUTH IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Jeffrey Sachs, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General on the MDGs and director of the Millennium Project, has said “Reproductive health services … are absolutely critical tools for alleviating poverty, and in particular for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.”

Women and Youth in the New Millennium is a pan-European public/private advocacy initiative designed to:

Build public awareness of the link between reproductive healthcare and the Millennium Development Goals.
Provide the media with reproductive healthcare and Millennium Development Goal-related information and communication materials.
Recruit and train young adult activists as “reproductive healthcare and MDG” Champions.
Directly inform parliamentarians and other policymakers about the link between reproductive healthcare and Millennium Development Goals.

Highlights of the Women and Youth in the New Millennium initiative:

Conceived by three European Union celebrity advocates.
Developed by award-winning European writers, filmmakers and directors.
Sponsored in part by European commercial broadcasters (private sector).
Endorsed by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Chaired by former Irish MEP Mary Banotti.
Advised by the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA).
Managed by Magic Path Entertainment (Finland) and Face to Face International.

All elements and activities of the Women and Youth in the New Millennium initiative work to reinforce and support one another:

TV Documentaries. The initiative kicks off with made-for-TV documentaries that dramatize the true stories of women, youth and grassroots organizations that, largely unaware of the MDGs, work against great odds to help realize similar goals. The documentaries illustrate the connection between reproductive healthcare, gender equality and the Millennium Development Goals. In each EU donor country, a celebrity spokes-person will narrate the documentaries in his/her native language.

The Women and Youth in the New Millennium documentaries will be co-produced by Medicine Man Productions and Magic Path Entertainment. Medicine Man Productions is Finnish singer/songwriter Mikko Kuustonen’s production company. Mikko is the originator of and driving force behind the TV documentaries. Magic Path Entertainment is a Helsinki-based production company that is also responsible for the sale and distribution of the TV documentaries. In Finland, the YLE TV network is committed to the project. Magic Path is also in discussions with AVEK, ZDF-ARTE (Germany), Europe Images International (France), the Scottish production company Tern TV, and BBC and Channel 4 in the U.K. Broadcast distribution of the documentaries will be through pre-sales in Finland, France, Germany, the U.K., Sweden, Norway, and the U.S., and after-sales in Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan.

The TV documentaries will be directed by Sweden-based Jerzy Sladkowski. Sladkowski has strong international credentials and credibility. His most recent documentary production, Noble Virgins, won a special Prix Europa in 2003.

The TV documentaries will feature women and youth interviewed in the recently released book by best-selling Danish author, Hanne-Vibeke Holst (see below).

The Book. A central component of the initiative is best-selling Danish author Hanne-Vibeke Holst’s recent book When I Got Angry. Development funding provided by Face to Face International, the book contains 15 portraits of women and youth from developing countries who represent the kind of catalytic individuals instrumental in bringing about the realization of the MDGs in their respective communities. In Denmark, Gyldendal published the book and distributes it through retail/commercial channels and venues. Publishers in other European countries are now being signed up.

Engaging Young Adult Activists. On a single county pilot basis, the Irish Family Planning Association has applied for an EU grant to recruit and train young adults (who are already active in social, environmental, trade, labour, political, media, and development affairs youth councils) as Women and Youth in the New Millennium “Champions” or spokespersons. These Champions will first learn by studying the initiative’s TV documentary and book portraits, then inform others about the link between women and youth, reproductive healthcare and the achievement of the MDGs as well as the relevance of development assistance to donor countries.

Informing Policymakers. Former MEP Mary Banotti and Catherine Heaney of DHR Communications (Dublin) will brief MPs and MEPs throughout the European Union on the link between reproductive healthcare and the Millennium Development Goals. On a case-by-case basis, they will involve certain MPs and MEPs in the Women and Youth in the New Millennium initiative as spokespersons, informing other MPs, journalists and young adult activists.

The Web Site. The TV documentaries will direct viewers and readers respectively to the Women and Youth in the New Millennium Web site. The site will feature the women and youth portraits contained in the TV documentaries and the book. The portraits will be accompanied by study guides for the media, teachers, activists and policy-makers.

Status: In the fundraising stage.