What are the MID Video Awards?
The Voice of Youth Project is an initiative of We Love Mauritius. We are seeking to embed the production of internet-based video in the education and development of the nation's youth. The MID Video Awards recognise the best short films that explore any aspect of "Maurice Ile Durable" (MID).
In 2009, we ran a pilot project targeting tertiary institutions that run media courses and some private schools. Although initial enthusiasm was high, we didn't receive quite as many entries as we had expected. So for 2010, we are expanding the project and working with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Human Resources and the National Productivity and Competitiveness Council. Together they implement a number of programmes in schools that contribute to the realisation of MID. Internet-based video provides an added dimension to showcasing students' achievements.
In addition, we are inviting local businesses to provide volunteers and equipment to enable children from disadvantaged backgrounds to cross the digital divide and participate in the awards. We believe that this section of young people have perspectives on environmental stewardship and particularly social justice that we need to hear. Of course, all young Mauritians are encouraged to produce and enter videos for the awards by simply uploading them to YouTube and filling in an online form.
The public vote to nominate their favourite videos by viewing and rating them. A shortlist will be drawn up of the most popular films and the winners will be selected by a panel of judges. The criteria will be the power of the video's message and the quality of it's production, while taking account of the ages of the film-makers.
Why are we doing this?
It is highly likely that in the next few decades, today's youth will be overwhelmed by a conjunction of issues that are not of their making. The objective of the Voice of Youth project is to raise awareness about these threats and initiate channels of peer-to-peer communication to enable collective responses.
The most obvious threats are:
Climate change and sea level rise.
Scarcity of extractable natural resources, especially fossil fuels.
Degradation of ecosystems and disruption of environmental services.
Perturbation of global trade and financial systems.
Dislocation within fragile societies due to increasingly evident inequalities.
In September 2009, an article appeared in the UK press about ex-Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott:
He is convinced the use of new media is a key way to reach out to young people who may be bored by conventional politics, and that it is vital to reach them over the issue of climate change.
"There won't be any party politics in it," he said of his forthcoming schools tour. "The essential message is this: the decision taken at Copenhagen will be the most important decision affecting your lives, so understand it and participate.
"Children have a powerful influence on their parents and they are more sensitive about the environment than their parents are, and an important force in wanting change. And, of course, they will be the politicians of the future."
Copenhagen failed to deliver an enforceable climate treaty. It also demonstrated the inability of national and global systems of governance to deal with long term issues. All the more reason for initiatives like the Voice of Youth Project to lead the way in preparing young people for the future and empowering them to influence decisions made in the present.