Project V's Bird Flu Reporting Initiative

Country

Great Britain & Northern Ireland (UK)

Region

Western Europe

Programme Summary

Project V is a United Kingdom (UK)-based initiative centring around an audio website through which students aged 9-15 broadcast and listen to their own radio programmes. As part of this project, children and youth from one school carried out interviews with their peers and experts, and conducted other types of research, to produce an audio programme to raise awareness about the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus.

Communication Strategies

This project draws on information and communication technologies (ICTs) to educate and engage students in a participatory media project: "As soon as we know that a pandemic is starting, then we will tell people via news reports..." Visitors to the Bird Flu page on the Project V website may listen to a radio programme (available as an MP3
file) produced by the group of students.

As part of this programme, the students identified bird flu as an issue of importance to them, and then carried out interviews - first with their peers (to assess whether they are concerned about a possible UK outbreak among humans), and then with a number of experts to understand the causes, preventative strategies (e.g., vaccination), modes of transmission (animal-to-animal, animal-to-human, and human-to-human), symptoms, and treatment options. For example, they speak with Joanna Ellis, a virologist with the Health Protection Agency, Dr Alan Hay, Director World Influenza Center, and a general practitioner. Click here to listen.

Development Issues

Health, Natural Resource Management.

Key Points

Created by 2 UK-based organisations (YourVoices and Dream Mill), Project V is designed to be an interactive learning experience that provides a platform for young citizens' voices to learn about - and to lend their voices on - a variety of social and developmental issues, including health issues. It is also designed to be a tool for teachers, parents, politicians, and policymakers to listen to the issues children care about.