A workshop for communication with journalists has been held for local coordinators.

„Migrants in Serbia and media - what is the subject of their interest and how to communicate” is the title of this workshop that we organized at the end of March, 2018, within project activities, for seven Local migrant integration support network representatives, which are operating within the project “Building together”.

Media is often interested in migrants, but migrants, their status and life in Serbia, hence their problems are being covered differently. There is a small number of media that covers this subject, by respecting professional code of ethics and ensuring the integrity and dignity of migrants. 

On the other hand, our Local network coordinators are often in position to talk about migrant issue in their environment.  The aim of this workshop was to support coordinators to understand the way media operates, to offer advice how to communicate to journalists in the best interest for both parties, and to indicate to them what they can do themselves to contribute to better informing public on this matter.

As the level of local media interest for migrants in this environments depends on what the current issue of that environment is, the experiences of our coordinators vary. During the workshop we managed to identify current top issues concerning migrants in every environment and to provide public answer to those issues (through media).

The workshop was held by communication expert Suzana Milicic, who has been engaged in the project “Building together”.

The project “Building Together – Community Monitoring and Advocacy” is aimed at improving the position of migrants and refugees in Serbia and Macedonia, especially women and children among them. In six municipalities in Serbia - Subotica, Sid, Sremska Mitrovica, Belgrade, Presevo and Vranje, and four municipalities in Macedonia - Kumanovo, Gevgelija, and two municipalities in Skopje - in cooperation with state institutions, local governments and civil society, we are improving the quality of coexistence between the local population and migrants. The project is being implemented by Konrad Adenauer Foundation, in cooperation with Citizens’ Association “Atina” and NGO Macedonian Lawyers Association, with the financial support of European Union.