CASE CLOSED?The Mundo Project’s Final Testament – Summary in English

Preface……………………………………………. 2

1. The Mundo project……………………………. 31.1. Organisation and staff 51.2. The students 81.3. Training 111.4. Work placement training 111.5. Summary of the project 14

2. Ghetto Love…………………………………….. 152.1. Language 152.2. Is it because I’m black? 162.3. Group belonging and 17 commitment2.4. Ghetto 19

3. Press coverage and mainstreaming……………. 20

4. International Co-operation ……………………. 224.1. International partners and cooperation 224.2. Further international cooperation 244.3. International applause 25

5. Results……………………………………………. 265.1. Qualifications 265.2. TV Programmes 265.3. Magazine articles and radio 27 programmes5..4 Working events 28

Case: Carlos Marroquin's work placement 29

6. Good Practises…………………………………… 306.1 The tutoring format 306.2 Work learning format 316.3 DigiTales 336.4 Media education format 356.5 The new Basaari programme format386.6 Diversity Toolkit 38

7. Rooting…………………………………………… 407.1 Getting rooted? 407.2 Case closed? 42

Preface

In the spring of 2004, when the Mundo project proposal was being drafted for the European Social Fund (ESF), Finland was rapidly growing more international. The number of immigrants arriving in Finland had increased. Meanwhile, as the aging population and low birth-rate of the European population foretold of a labour shortage in the coming years, Finns were observing from a distance the unfolding of worrying incidents of intercultural clashes elsewhere in the world.

The media presence of immigrants and ethnic minorities was limited, and the ways in which they were being represented in the media conveyed a very one-sided and negative picture of the greater situation. Official authorities viewed and handled the affairs of these new groups of people largely in terms of the problems they posed, while immigration and refugee issues were considered a threat to society at large. Yet Finland was not exceptional in this. The mainstream media of other European countries were working in a similar way.

The number of people from minority backgrounds working in the Finnish media was next to nothing in the early years of the new millennium. Although there were dozens of experienced media professionals residing in Finland at the time, few of them had succeeded in finding employment in their new home country. Nor was there any broad programme for further education and training available.

In a situation like this, the only way to bring more equality to the handling of minority affairs in the media was to give those concerned the chance to work within and influence the media.

Thus, in the spring of 2004, there was clearly a societal need for a project such as Mundo, aimed at education, training and work placements in the media for people from immigrant and ethnic minority backgrounds living in Finland.

This book takes a closer look at the goals, the work and the results of the Mundo project.

Have an inspiring read!

The Mundo project staff

1. The Mundo project

What?The Mundo project was a three-year media training and work placement project, which was aimed at people from immigrant and ethnic minority backgrounds living in Finland.

Why?The purpose of the Mundo project was to create new cultural know-how in the field of media, to promote tolerance and multicultural understanding among employers and employees as well as the greater public, and to improve the opportunities of minority-based media professionals, immigrants, and people from ethnic minorities to work in their own field as independent producers, rather than subjects, of media productions.

When?The project began in November 2004 and ended in October 2007.

Who?The national cooperating partners of the project were the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia, and Dream Catcher. The project also had five international cooperating partners from the UK, the Netherlands, Greece, Germany, and Slovakia.

The Mundo project was funded mainly by the European Social Fund Equal Program. Funding from the municipality came from the City of Helsinki. The representative of the funding agency was the Employment and Economic Development Centre. The overall budget for the project was 1,5 million euros.

For Whom?24 students of different ages from 18 countries participated in the project. Some of the students already had extensive experience in various media; others were just getting started with their careers.

How?Mundo students began a programme of further education and training at Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia in May 2005, and completed their diplomas during the spring and autumn of 2007. Work placements in YLE's Basaari: Mundo-staff and Dream Catcher's SixDegrees-staff began in August 2005. Over the course of their two-year media training the students supplemented their training in accordance with their individual learning programmes and worked in different media, television, radio and print newspapers, in addition to creating web-based services.

Besides training and learning through work placements, the project offered students a great deal of visible presence in different media along with opportunities for networking and cooperative association both in Finland and abroad.

What came of it?As a result of the project students were presented with numerous opportunities for independent work within YLE and in independent production companies.

What else?The project included the production of a weekly ten minute Mundo programme for television, which, from the start, became a permanent feature of the Basaari television series. The programme aired short documentaries, directed by Mundo students, who chose the varying topics, perspectives and modes of presentation for the documentaries.

From autumn 2007 the programme will be aired in a new programming slot on YLE TV1 on Wednesdays at 18:30.

Organisational plan

MINISTRY OF EMPLOYMENT / EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CENTRERepresentatives of the funding agency

THE EXECUTIVE TEAMRepresentatives of the national cooperation partners

SUPERVISORSBoard of experts, which directed and oversaw the operation and expenditures in accordance with the plan of the project

THE FINNISH BROADCASTING COMPANY (YLE) (juridical responsibility)National cooperating partnerAdministration, work placement (television), communications, international cooperation, mainstreaming

DREAM CATCHER LTDNational cooperating partner: work placements (print newspapers, radio, internet)

HELSINKI POLYTECHNIC STADIANational cooperating partner: education and training

INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSMira Media, The NetherlandsHi8us, United KingdomBGZ, GermanyACEC, SlovakiaDimitra, Greece

TARGET GROUPMundo students

EXTERNAL AFFILIATESincluding communications media, funding agencies, potential employers, public audience, organisations

1.1. Organisation and staff

Of the appointed tasks among the cooperating partners, YLE's Basaari: Mundo editorial staff was responsible for the administration and coordination of the project, television work training placements in the Basaari: Mundo staff, communications involved with the project and mainstreaming as well as international cooperation. Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia provided the media education and training which gave the students basic technical and production skills in different areas of audiovisual and other media production. Dream Catcher was responsible for the newspaper, radio and internet related work training placements.

THE FINNISH NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY (YLE)

The Basaari staff of the YLE documentaries section has worked for several years in multicultural programming with directors, speakers and reporters from other countries, arranged training programmes and participated in international cooperative productions.

During its eleven year run, the Basaari programme series has changed its format, but continues to be the only Finnish television series that focuses on productions documenting the lives of immigrants. As a result of the Mundo project a new ten minute Mundo programme, showing short documentaries directed by Mundo participants on a weekly basis, became a part of the Basaari series.

Www.yle.fi/mundowww.yle.fi/basaari

Marita RainbirdProject ManagerProject administration and finance, coordination of the work of national partners and students' work training placements, design and implementation of initiatives to broadcast and mainstream the project in cooperation with the press secretary, coordination of activities aimed at creating and maintaining a sense of belonging among the students and commitment as a group, and international cooperation.

Taisto LapilaHead InstructorThe direction and execution of work training placements in the Basaari: Mundo staff, subediting of Mundo television programmes.

Linda LappalainenPress SecretaryDesign and implementation of communications related to the project and television programming and of mainstreaming initiatives in cooperation with the Project Manager, creation and management communications among the network of affiliates, design and editing of printed materials, production and updating of web pages.

Helga KaisloProject and Programming AssistantPractical arrangements related to production of Mundo television programmes, and familiarising the students with YLE's programming practices.

Elina PaloheimoProject OfficerManaging Editor of YLE's multicultural programming. Management of legal, financial and staff-related affairs of the project; part-time.

Terhi KoivistoCamerawoman/EditorYLE appointed for programming production, responsible for filming and editing Mundo television programmes

Michael Hutchinson-ReisInternational ConsultantAssisting the Project Manager with international affairs, part-time

HELSINKI POLYTECHNIC STADIA

Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia is one of the largest polytechnics in the country, with over 9300 diploma candidates. Stadia has 31 professional training programmes in the diverse fields of culture, services, social work and healthcare, technology and transportation. Graduates are experts in their respective fields.

Www.stadia.fi

Satu HallenbergHead of Vocational and Adult Education

Anitta PankkonenHead of Vocational and Adult Education

Matti RantalaProject Officer

Eeva JahkonenProject Secretary, until spring 2006

Pauliina ShilongoProject Secretary from May 2006, coordinator of the project for media upbringing

Birgitta LaitinenFinancial Secretary

Taku KaskelaCollege Tutor; supervisor for education, thesis work and employment

Lasse KesoCollege Tutor; supervisor for education, thesis work and employment

Anja RouhuvirtaEmployment Tutor; supervisor for education, thesis work and employment

Miikka Lyytikäinen

Subsitute Employment Tutor, spring 2006

Leena KajánProduction Tutor, advice on student productions

DREAM CATCHER LTD.

Dream Catcher is a media production company founded in 1998. The company has produced numerous high quality documentaries, short fictional films and series for television.

Since 2003 Dream Catcher has published a free English-language magazine, SixDegrees. SixDegrees is a monthly multicultural publication, with a print edition of 48 000, and about 500 distribution outlets.

Alexis KourosProject Officer, in charge of the project at Dream Catcher Ltd.

Laura SeppäläMain Instructor, supervision of students in work placement training, operative work, administration and finance

Sami Sallinen, Matleena Välinoro, Nina Toukoluoto, Kirby Wilson and Mahmoud Assiabi served as Work Placement Assistants during the project, which involved practical tutoring and special supervision for students in work placement training.

INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS

The Mundo project had five international partners: Mira Media from the Netherlands, Hi8us from the United Kingdom, BGZ from Germany, ACEC from Slovakia and DIMITRA from Greece. The purpose of the international partnerships was to enhance diversity in the field of European media.

1.2 The students

”I have a Finnish wife and we live in Länsi-Pasila. One day when we were out walking with my wife we passed YLE and she said: ”Look, there's the Finnish Broadcasting Company.” ”I'll tell you what,” I said, ”I'm going to work there some day.” I was joking, but guess what, soon I was a Mundo student and working for YLE. - Elihú Galván -

26 students of different ages from 20 countries were chosen for the programme on the basis of prior assignments and two-day entrance exams. Some of them already had experience working in media, others were just getting started with their careers.

There were 84 applicants in all, 42 of whom were chosen for the entrance examination. The tasks in the exam were devised in cooperation with international partners, taking into account the diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the applicants. The tasks could be completed in Finnish, English, German, French, Spanish or Russian. The most important criteria were the prior educational background and media experience of the applicant, an at least passable knowledge of Finnish and the motivation to study media in Finnish.

Of the 26 students chosen for the project, four gave up their place before the programme actually began in autumn 2005. Two of them gained places in higher education, one found permanent employment and one died of a sudden illness. They were replaced by new students on the basis of their scores in the application process.

In 2006 two students dropped out of the project, one after being accepted to study at a polytechnic in another city and one for personal reasons.

24 students took part in the project’s two-year training programme. Two student’s standard of participation was poor, one was prevented from attending by illness, and the other due to the compulsory Finnish language courses and studies in the familiarisation programme.

Student backgrounds33 of the 42 applicants who took the entrance exam chose to participate in the optional background survey. 20 of those who did became Mundo students.

The typical applicant who was accepted was a 21-41 year old male, who described his ethnic background as white European and/or Latino. He spoke about three or more languages. He had earlier work experience in media, and hoped to find employment in television as a documentary film maker. His partner or spouse was usually born in Finland. He had a valid passport and an internet connection at home.

The greatest differences among accepted and rejected applicants: rejected applicants were usually older than those who were accepted rejected applicants were mostly male rejected applicants usually had a higher level of education rejected applicants were usually unemployed or part-time students

The majority of those chosen for the Mundo programme had the following things in common: two

thirds of them had lived in Finland for 1-5 years; most of them planned on working part-time during their studies; one in four was the custodian of a child at the start of the programme; and most of them had a prior university or polytechnic degree.

The languages used during the training were Finnish and English. In addition to these the most common languages of chosen applicants were Spanish and Russian.

”When I received the letter saying I had been accepted to Mundo, I thought, ”Could this be true?” Usually only young people are accepted in places. Young people are favored. Only here in Finland society has accepted that people can learn new things and educate themselves throughout their lives. In Russia they would almost certainly have said to someone my age, ”what are you trying to do, old lady? It's time to think about death, not new education.” When I came to the first Mundo meeting at Basaari I was feeling very emotional, it was a big moment for me.”

- Nadezda Pojasnik -

Statistics on the students

MARITAL STATUS EMPLOYMENT STATUSMarried or in a long-term relationship 85% Employed in the open market 23,1%Married to a Finnish person 72% Employed elsewhere 11,5%

Elsewhere 7,7%Entrepreneurs 3,8%

Gender parity: 58% male, 42% female Unemployed 53,9%

AGE GROUPS:Of the applicants chosen for the course four withdrew their participation and one died of a sudden illness before the programme began. New students were chosen to replace them on the basis of their entrance exam scores. During 2006 two students left the course for personal reasons.

15-19-years 120-29-years 10 (9)30-39-years 840-49-years 4 (3)50+-years 3

The numbers in parentheses indicate the situation at the end of the course.

Students in a list

Pedro Beltrán Herrera, Cuba

Tahir Aliyev, Azerbaijan

Richard Cohen, USA

Anna Kulicka-Soisalon-Soininen, Poland

Pia Barclay, Finland, Jamaica

Diana Carolina Bermúdez Parra, Colombia

Carlos Marroquin, Mexico

Elihú Galván, Mexico

Fernando Colombo, Angola

Wenndell Allysson Coelho, Brazil

Gustavo Alavedra, Peru

Juliana Elo, Brazil

Tiina Madisson, Estonia

Maria Friman, Finland

Benjam Åkerlund, Finland

Victor Belousov, Russia

Nadezda Pojasnik, Russia

Tonislav Hristov, Bulgaria

Thu Nga Vu-Lilja, Vietnam

Mohamed El Aboudi, Morocco

Shukri Omar Ahmed, Somalia

Abdi Salah, Somalia

Samuel Abaijón-Nurmisuo, Spain, Finland

Davide Pavone, Italy

1.3. Training

The basic training part of the Mundo project was within the Stadia communications and education teaching programme. Part of the training involved personal study programmes individually tailored for the students.

The two year course in Stadia began with an orientation period in August 2005. The individual study programmes were devised to address the participants' needs to develop adequate professional skills and educational learning levels considering their earlier education and experience from the media field. The main focus of study was to learn the skills required for planning, production and development of tasks in television, radio, network communications, sound engineering, media education and the work of production companies.

Teaching of professional skills and practice also included the history and culture of the media, applied media analysis, communications in society and media literacy. The course also familiarised students with communications legislation and regulations.

The teaching methods included a combination of lectures, literature, individual and group exercises, research assignments, project work and workshops. After the two year training period, students had the option of passing competence tests for the professional degrees "Further Qualification in Audiovisual Communication" or "Specialist Qualification in Audiovisual Communication" in the spring and autumn of 2007.

1.4. Work placement training

The purpose of the work placements was to familiarise Mundo students with Finnish working life and culture, to give their productions a national audience and to establish relationships with various media agents through working with them. During work placements, students also had the opportunity to produce the necessary work samples for job applications in media. The work placements consisted of two periods of work in accordance with Stadia learning schedules, which lasted a total of four months.

During the training, 17 students in all completed eight week work placements on YLE's Basaari: Mundo staff and 10 students on Dream Catcher's SixDegrees staff. In both cases their work was supervised by a head instructor. Six students also completed work placements or internships elsewhere.

The supervision of students on work placement was more challenging than expected, both at YLE and at Dream Catcher. The hopes and expectations of the students had also changed since the application process in spring 2005, and as the course progressed more and more students expressed their wish to specialise in television, rather than their earlier choices. The students' attitudes and financial and personal situations also affected the finding of work placements and the need to search for extra internship places.

The general trend towards work as a director caused problems in the distribution of work placements, as YLE's Basaari: Mundo seemed to be more popular among the students than the newspaper, radio and internet focused work placements offered by Dream Catcher. One reason for this may have been lack of language skills; another, the students' unrealistic view of employment

opportunities in the media. Problems related to work placements were resolved in meetings among partners and through motivating and informing the students.

YLE – work training

”I remember coming from my first day of work at YLE. My eyes were jittering uneasily after 12 hours of intensive work. I wrote eight pages of ideas for programmes, but Taisto, the main instructor, didn't like a single one of them. The first day crushed my ego, thanks to Taisto. Of course, now I see it was for the best. It made me into a professional, with a professional attitude.”

- Samuel Abaijon-Nurmisuo -

In the television production work, training the students' particular focus was on content production and idea refinement. They also worked in depth on camera and audio recording skills and practised using editing equipment more competently. Besides technical skills, the different phases of the production process were honed, from planning to script-writing, booking cameramen to securing filming permits, from editing and arranging for translations to receiving critical input.

In the 2005 work placements, every student trainee produced a weekly short documentary. The knowledge and skills gained at a hectic pace were tested – programming work required flexibility and journalistic and artistic input. However, the pace of work was considered too stressful for students, so in the spring of 2006 the arrangements for work training were made less burdensome for students. For the rest of the duration of the project each director produced one programme in two weeks. Most of them worked through the training twice. About 200 programmes were produced.

During the work placements, students were supported by the main instructor as well as the cameraman/editor and the project and programming assistant. There were clear improvements in the students' technical and expressive skills between 2005 and 2007. The students were motivated and persistent workers, and the work produced enhanced their self-confidence.

Dream Catcher Ltd – work training

In the work placements arranged by Dream Catcher, the students worked on improving their skills in newspaper and radio work and became acquainted with producing web pages. The trainees designed and produced a weekly SixDegrees/Mundo radioshow on the Lähiradio frequency 100,3 Mhz and participated in the content production of the English-language magazine SixDegrees.

Over the course of the project there were 10 work trainees in all at Dream Catcher, four of whom completed the work placement twice to either deepen or broaden their skills in the areas of print, radio, or internet media. Most of the work trainees focused on print journalism, writing stories and drawing together various columns. Some students also focused on photography and became familiar with graphic production.

The trainees were less experienced than presumed at the start of the project, and continuous and efficient supervision was essential. The radio broadcasts were carried out on Lähiradio, where the available technology was not exactly cutting edge. Getting to know more recent radio technology was not possible in the studio, so its use was covered in depth at the Dream Catcher office.

The students' personal life situations caused occasional problems for the follow through of work

placements. All students were not able to complete a normal, continuous work placement due to personal reasons, employment or compulsory courses familiarising students with Finland. With approval from the Employment and Economic Development Centre, these students were given the chance to complete their work placements in parts, over a longer period and partly as distance learning.

”I came to Mundo with the notion that it's a project meant for journalists. I had experience working as a journalist in radio and television from my home country, Cuba. Mundo turned out to be mostly for audiovisual media professionals, namely directors, cameramen and documentary editors.”

- Pedro Beltrán Herrera -

”I thought Mundo worked well. We were given the opportunity to learn through practice. We were given the appropriate tools and a professional learning environment. Mundo was a good start. During the project it became clear to people what they really wanted to do. The next step after Mundo could be creative development.” - Tonislav Hristov -

”Mundo was some kind of saviour for me, even if the idea sounds a bit lame. In Finland no one takes you for a loser if you work in the media. In Mundo my creative side got the chance to blossom.” - Carlos Marroquin -

”It was tough combining work, family, other responsibilities and Mundo. I didn't want to miss Mundo learning periods. Even so, I had to trade off most of my time for this or that for Mundo, or vice versa.” - Pedro Beltrán Herrera -

”I thought Mundo didn't have enough Finnish language courses. If you don't know the language, you can't understand the culture. So you don't know what kind of programmes would work well here. If people don't understand your shows, they won't trust immigrants.”

- Wenndell Allyson Coelho -

1.5 Summary

The Mundo project began in November 2004. The actual Mundo training and work placement periods began in August 2005 and ended in May 2007. During the spring and summer of 2007, 21 students completed diplomas from the Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia, three of which were partial degrees.

A total of 10 work placement periods were organised from autumn 2005 to spring 2007. 17 students took part in those at YLE's Basaari: Mundo, 10 in work placements organised by Dream Catcher. Six students completed work placements or internships elsewhere. Every student was meant to complete an eight week work placement twice during the two-year training.

Between the autumn of 2005 and the summer of 2007 YLE's Basaari: Mundo produced and aired over 50 hours of Mundo programming. YLE's tv-channels also featured Basaari’s and Mundo’s shared TV-spots. YLE TV1 Morning-tv also broadcast a series of Mundo short documentaries as reruns during the summer of 2006, and Mundo short documentaries were seen as reruns between other programming on YLE TV1 through the years. Mundo directors were among the first ones on location to give reports of many current events such as the railway ware house fire and the memorial of Anna Politkovskaya. They also produced backgrounded short documentaries on the war in Lebanon and the fate of the United Paper Mills Voikkaa factory, and interviewed presidential candidates ahead of the elections.

Dream Catcher's SixDegrees magazine published numerous Mundo students' productions. On Lähiradio's frequency, almost two hours of Mundo programming was aired weekly.

The project offered students broad media visibility and networking opportunities in the field. Mundo organised three seminars, three training sessions, twelve of its own events, and met all of the key people responsible for employment at YLE. In addition, the project took part in several film festivals, fairs and several other events for media and other organisations, and organised a photography contest for Basaari: Mundo, as a result of which, an exhibit was displayed at the Helsinki railway station.

The Mundo project also played an active part in international cooperation and the European Broadcasting Union Eurovision conferences. The DigiTales-programme created with international partners during the Mundo project was launched also in Finland in autumn 2006. Mundo was also involved in developing the Diversity Toolkit – programme for national broadcasting companies.

2. GHETTO LOVE

2.1 Language

The languages used most in the project were Finnish, English, Spanish, and Russian. Communication, especially among Russian and Spanish-speaking students, was almost totally absent at the start of the project. Through initiatives promoting a sense of group identity, the projects done at Stadia and the work placement periods, these language groups found one another through the medium of Finnish.

”If there hadn't been Russians in the group, I would not have learned to speak Finnish. Russians and Latinos have that in common, we don't speak English. So the only common language was Finnish. When I was directing a documentary with a Russian cameraman I had no choice but to learn Finnish. The Russians were good for me!” - Gustavo Alavedra -

Some of the students devoted themselves to studying Finnish in their free time. The role of Finnish speaking spouses was also important in the learning process of some of the students.

Students were always informed of the project's events in both Finnish and English. All possible languages were used during the work placements, as the production of the weekly television programme was fast paced and required efficient group communication. The writing of articles, commentaries and hosting radio programmes demanded at least as much care in scheduling.

”We understand one another better even with bad Finnish than speaking with native Finnish speakers. I speak Finnish, Finns speak something else... Colloquial language, slang, is hard to understand, but we who don't speak Finnish natively share all the same experience and problems with Finnish. We understand from half a word what the other means.”

- Diana Carolina Bermúdez Parra -

In Stadia, by contrast, the principle of using only Finnish in training was adopted already during planning. During the first two semesters in particular, the students felt lack of facility with the language the greatest obstacle to integration in the school. The students were unacquainted with the Finnish education system, so they should have been familiarised with it in other languages as well. Study motivation was also reduced by compulsory theoretical studies carried out in Finnish at the start of the training.

Participating in the project, the safety net it provided and achievements at work enhanced the students' self-confidence and thus helped them to learn Finnish. The mutual communication among students from different cultures came along well after some initial problems, and the group became united. Successful communication seems to be very much a question of motivation.

”If you ask me, Mundo did not have enough Finnish language courses on offer. The first half a year went to waste simply because I did not understand what people were talking about. And yet, bit by bit, I began to understand Finnish better. - Anna Kulicka-Soisalon-Soininen -”I didn't completely understand the meaning of the word 'salarakas', when I was working on a

programme named Kioski. Thus I did not edit it out, so it happened that the wife of the man we were filming found out through the tv-programme that her husband sometimes dreamt of having a 'salarakas.' That's what the man said, but I ignored the meaning because of the language. The decision spiced up the show, but I can only guess what happened to the man after the show. In any case, I try to make tv-programmes in Finnish. I think they reach Finnish people better that way.

-Gustavo Alavedra –

”I became a Mundo student after I had been living in Finland for two years. How did I feel before I found out about Mundo? How can one feel when moving with one's children into one's husband's home country and not being welcome there? Back home in Poland I was well employed. I worked as a journalist both in television and for newspapers and magazines. When I moved to Finland, that was all gone. In our profession verbal ability is very significant. Without a perfect knowledge of Finnish I had no chance of working in Finland as a journalist.”

- Anna Kulicka-Soisalon-Soininen -

2.2. Is it because I'm black?

”When dark-skinned Michael heard afterwards about an event that he had not been invited to, he asked the others jokingly: ”Is it because I'm black?”The phrase became a standing joke. Because it came from a black man, it freed everyone else too. We used humour to sort out communally those problems, which might have caused misunderstandings otherwise. These same kind of sometimes rather rough jokes were made during the project about such things as different religions and sexual minorities – and Finns!”

- Linda Lappalainen, Press Secretary and Marita Rainbird, Project Manager

The only great obstacle of the meeting of cultures was the Finnish work culture. During the project some students, though to be honest not all, had problems understanding the meaning of schedules, work morality and the meaning of work Finnish work communities. As a very holistic project, Mundo offered the students a network of professional contacts and friends, but it also took away from the time the students spent at home with their families. The same was true for the YLE staff working on the Mundo project.

The age spectrum of the project's students was 17-57 years, while for the staff it was 23-60 years. At the start of the project the students formed groups largely of older Russian speaking students and younger students of a Latino background. Gradually the importance of language and age diminished and partly even disappeared – groups started to be formed on the basis of personal chemistry.

Gender was the cause of even more confusion than age and language. The students were received in the project by a veritable army of Finnish women. Especially male students from countries where masculinity is prominent had trouble relating to women as authorities and co-workers. Often the confusion manifested itself as over-polite behavior, flirting or cautiousness. In many countries flirting is a learned pattern of behavior for daily life, but it is out of place in a Finnish workplace. Even so, humorous flirtation served to break the ice in becoming accustomed to the model of the workplace.

The dilemma of the black man and the white woman arose especially when the project staff and students appeared together at various events and festivals. The group was noticed for its diversity everywhere it went, but reactions were not always positive.

Despite all efforts to the contrary, even the project's own field of operation displays prejudicial attitudes between immigrant status and international expertise. International experts are invited to Finland to lecture, teach, and guide, but the professionals who have immigrated to the country do not receive the respect they deserve. Supporting employment based immigration often ignores the fact the country already has some educated and professional, but unused workers.

”In communication between cultures, humour is the most difficult thing, but at a hectic work pace humour became, in the end, an important survival tool for all who took part in Mundo.

- Marita Rainbird, Project Manager -

”We don't have immigrants on the project, we have friends and colleagues. Skin tone, language and nationality have lost their meaning. I no longer see differences between people based on external features.” - Linda Lappalainen, Press Secretary -

”International events, politics and world crises feel closer having been with these people, and I see them in an altogether different light now. Working in a multicultural community has changed me as a person.” - Marita Rainbird, Project Manager -

”At first I was staggered by the manner in which Latin American students greet people. They're always hugging and kissing people, which is not customary in my home country. I even asked them, are you so desperate for romance there in South America. They said, that it's just a part of the culture and there's nothing impolite about it. After that I calmed down. I've learned to hug people myself whenever I meet them at Mundo, and I actually enjoy it!” - Nadezda Pojasnik -

”One time we went to the storage room with Mundo secretaries Helga and Anni. I was wearing a black Romani woman's dress. A man came out of the storage room, and he was so astonished about ”some blackie going into our storage room” that he stopped in his tracks and his jaw dropped. When we came back out again he was still standing there, right where we left him, frozen stiff.”

- Maria Friman -

”The problem was that the car, for example, was not returned on time. In this instance the director did not return the car and just said, ”Hey, I needed it. What's one day!” despite the fact that another yle person’s filming schedules went out the window. When the mobile phone reserved for the freelancers stopped working, the explanation was: ”It was in the car, and then, it just stopped working.” At maintenance they said the reason was that the phone got wet. But the behaviour got better over time.” - Helga Kaislo, Project and Programming Assistant -

2.3. Group belonging and commitment

All 26 students chosen for the project were interviewed in May-June 2005. The interviews were conducted by the project manager partly in the presence of the national partners in cooperation. Knowing the students, charting their problems and potential and establishing trust in those running the project was very important for the overall success of the project.

The project manager charted the life situations of the students in another set of interviews in the

autumn of 2006 and noticed, to her delight, how much the students had changed during the year that had passed. For many of them, taking part in the Mundo project had had a very positive effect on their lives. It was also clear from the interviews that the students had started to worry about the ending of the project and their own chances of employment after the project.

Establishing a group identity among the students was a procedure to commit them to the project. Day to day group support was important. The following informal procedures were carried out to this end: a trip to Suomusjärvi in May 2005, a theatre outing to Lahti in October 2005, football games at the Parainen school on Mondays, meetings at the Tapanila station in autumn 2005, monthly bowling nights in 2006 and 2007 and annual pre-Christmas celebrations.

Similar but more formal events were the large group meetings arranged at Stadia at the end of every training period, in which the project workers of Stadia, YLE and Dream Catcher and Mundo students all participated. These gatherings informed the participants about upcoming project events, training related issues and, with the help of experts, analysed the sample work produced during work placements.

The cultural intelligence of Mundo students and staff was developed in two weekend seminars. In addition to the training organised by Stadia, YLE arranged the Deconstructing Identity seminar for students, project workers and teachers in August 2005. The seminar, convened by Michael Hutchinson-Reis, was about the identities of people coming from different cultures and how this affects the worldview of the individual and the group.

The weekend seminar for Mundo students and staff, which took place in Furuvik in February 2006, discussed cultural difference, the meaning of group work and the expression of opinions and feelings. Group work was used to try to work through conflict situations among the students. The training was lead by the project manager, Mundo student Carlos Marraquin and intercultural communication trainer Nihayla Cijntje.

The YLE funded Mundo group visit to St. Petersburg in the summer of 2006 to get to know its media companies and the immigrant situation in Russia, was also an excellent way to cement the group identity. During the journey, the attitudes of the other students to those coming from Russia changed entirely. The free time spent together with project workers enriched the coming work together at YLE.

Students were also involved in other functions of the project and their design: the students hosted events such as the Media & Message event and the Book Fair in the autumn of 2006 and the Long Live Diversity mainstreaming seminar in the spring of 2007. In 2007 student representatives participated in seminars arranged in Basel, Berlin, and Liverpool.

”Mundo was important to me also in the sense that I met people I could be close to also after Mundo. In the past two years we have learned to know one another so well, that many will certainly work together also in the future; which is great.” - Tonislav Hristov -

”For me Mundo was also an escape. The long Finnish winter is depressing, but being busy with Mundo, I made it through the winter more easily. Mundo gave me energy and I had other things to think about.” - Perdo Beltrán Herrera -

”I remember our trips, companionship and that we talked a lot. That's how we got to know one another better.” - Gustavo Alavedra -

”Mundo's importance lies also in that there one could get to know people from different cultures, who share similar views about many things. People you can really connect with. They form their own network in Finland and give you strength. Sometimes the group is almost therapeutic. Before Mundo we were all somehow lonely in Finland, just some foreigner.” - Mohamed El Aboudi -

2.4. Ghetto

”Yes, I believe Mundo is a ghetto, but a good one. Don't get me wrong. I'm proud to be a part of it.”

- Pedro Beltrán Herrera -

For many students the project meant more than just professional training. In their home countries, the community was formed by the familiar and possibly some other community, family, or parish. In Finnish society, communities are not so embracing and most of the contacts immigrants form come from their spouses or their own nationality. Mundo gave students the chance to create their own network, a community apart from their spouse or their nationality. In other words, for many, Mundo replaced an absent family, and formed its own tribe which brought with it friends, support, and familiar routines.

The project became a place in YLE's Basaari/Mundo where one could escape loneliness and the dark seasons. At the same time it formed a work community, where one could safely develop professional know-how, make mistakes and learn from them. As the project drew to a close many Mundo students started to wonder about the disintegration of this safety network.

Ghetto vs. Integration

The Mundo project operated from YLE's Basaari/Mundo, which was located in the old broadcast centre, separate from the rest of the company. In terms of television programming and work placements, the space was excellent. The group spirit at work was exceptional and creative and made it possible to focus on independent project work. On the other hand, working in a place separate from the rest, cut off the Mundo project staff and trainees from YLE's usual operation and interaction.

The integrated training at Stadia was more popular among Mundo students than their individually tailored training, which set a good precedent for future cooperation with the Finns graduating into the field.

Although the Mundo project, due to its temporary nature, could not get involved in common programmes with other media agencies, the project gave the students the opportunity to find employment and integrate into the field of media as individuals.

”I was quite apprehensive about Mundo at first. I didn't like the ghetto. Later I understood that it was the only way along which an immigrant could get to work in Finnish professional media at this time. A few years ago immigrants did not work in YLE as media professionals. That's changing

now, and Mundo came along at the right time. - Samuel Abaijon-Nurmisuo -

3. Press coverage and mainstreaming

Press coverage strategy

Target groupsMainstreaming and press coverage are a part of all EU projects. Their primary purpose is to share information about the project, shape attitudes and inform about the good practices created by the projects. The target groups of the Mundo project's internal press coverage were the project's students, the project staff, Stadia teachers and the partners' own organisations. External affiliates included funding agencies, potential employers, various media businesses and production companies as well as interest groups, the media, the city of Helsinki, ministries, the commissions of various film and media festivals, researchers and other immigration agencies, and the public at large.

Press coverage aimsThe aims of the Mundo project's press coverage and mainstreaming were multilayered. On the one hand they included the familiarity of the project and the trainees; on the other hand the project attempted to further cultural understanding and alter attitudes and prejudices in all target groups.

The primary aim of the press coverage was to make the Mundo project seen, heard and known by all target groups and keep all external affiliates up to date on the progress of the project. The main objective of both the press coverage and mainstreaming were to bring to the fore the students taking part in the training as versatile media professionals, who also had particular cultural know-how and to whom immigrant or other ethnic backgrounds were strengths, rather than causes for dissimilarity.

The students were made familiar with the greater audience and various employers both as individuals and through their work. To the greater public the students were introduced as professionals settled in Finland who enrich Finnish culture, and who are capable of producing interesting programmes and quality journalism. The greater audience was reached by means of television and radio programmes, magazine articles, public events and web pages.

The students were introduced to employers as professional workers, who are capable of work that enriches the internal culture of the business and its external profile. Employers were reached by means of television and radio programmes, email, notices, seminars, networking events and other personal meetings. In terms of attitudes familiarity and professional respect diminish the tensions and prejudices between immigrants and the main population.

Press coverage implementationThe press coverage proceeded at a weekly pace as well as an eight week cycle in accordance with the work placement and studying periods and on a seasonal basis. The weekly press coverage included information about project related current affairs and events on the web pages and about the Mundo television programme through television channel publishing and personal contacts.

Project events were related through electronic seasonal letters in accordance with study and work placement periods, and whenever necessary formal or extra notifications were made and invitations sent out. In addition, informative materials were mailed to the representatives of various affiliates at least once or twice a year.

Seasonally, in autumn and spring, seminars and training and networking events were organised for students, partners and potential employers. Informative internal meetings at YLE were also arranged as well as personal meetings with press representatives and other partners. The Mundo project was also involved in other media events, fairs and film festivals.

In the press, the Mundo project, the Mundo television programme and Mundo students received much attention – press visibility was good throughout the project. Articles were written about the project from both a purely educational standpoint as well as a journalistic one (Helsingin Sanomat and Monitori). Biographical pieces were also written about the students (Journalisti and the Helsingin Sanomat weekly NYT). Considering its ten minute length and early evening slot, the Mundo television programme received an exceptional amount of column space thanks to the contacts maintained with regular press and television journalists. This cooperation was crowned in autumn 2006 by the seven page article series commissioned by Yhteishyvä-magazine from Mundo students about life in Finland. The progress of the project was also reported in radio and television in various ways.

Mundo television programmes were publicised on YLE channels through routine trailers and campaigns at agreed intervals. Mundo short documentaries have also been shown in all events arranged by Mundo and by the partners, as front pieces for the DocPoint and Love & Anarchy festivals and through the foreign ministry in the Africa on the Move film event. The Mundo project was also visible during the reporting season in various international events, by way of Mundo short documentaries and brochures. These included the Creative Clusters in Newcastle 5.-8.11.06, the Diversity Youth Forum in Budapest 24.-29.10.06, and the Basel Karlsruhe Forum in Basel 28.-31.1.07, which brought together the producers of educational and science programmes from many different countries.

Public meetings were one of the Mundo project's ways to reach a large audience. In addition to big mainstreaming events, the project staff met with the students and representatives of organisations during public meetings, which took place at the staff headquarters. During the project such meetings were organised, for instance, in association with the parent organisation, Promenion; the students of intercultural communication at the University of Helsinki, Laurea student groups and the Deaf People's Institute.

DURING THE MUNDO PROJECT:• 15 of the project's own meetings and three training weekends were arranged• two Mundomania film theatre showings were arranged• the Mundo web pages had over 370 000 visitors• 3000 Mundo brochures were distributed• over 50 hours of Mundo programming was broadcast• 500 Mundo t-shirts and 1000 Mundo cotton bags were distributed• an electronic notice registry was created that included over 3000 representatives of different fields

4. International co-operation

”The search for international partnerships took place in the busiest phase of planning the project. Finding a partner for a new project through the ESR web pages is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The pages opened up for use by international projects at too late a time and the schedule was tight. Partners were sought out by two people and negotiations were done virtually. Just when you thought you had found a good partner, they did not want to cooperate with the partners you had already found or insisted on bringing along a partner from Portugal due to personal preferences. At this stage we had to say, ”No thank you” to Portuguese agricultural programmes and Italian pharmacy operations.

As a result of several weeks of work and negotiation, partners were found for the project, most of which had already taken part in earlier EU-funded projects. Most importantly, most of these projects were in the field of media.

The decision to cooperate was reached via phone conversations and project descriptions. The first meeting among international partners was arranged in Amsterdam in early March 2005. The negotiations went on throughout spring 2005. The DigiTales cooperation contract was signed just before the end of the planning phase in April 2005.” - Marita Rainbird, Project Manager -

4.1 International partners and cooperation

The Mundo project had five international partners in cooperation. The aim of the cooperation was to enhance diversity in the field of European media. Strong ties to the European Broadcasting Union, now known as Eurovision, can be mentioned as the common factor among all the partners.

As a state institution and national television company, YLE cannot participate very flexibly in international projects outside television production. Whereas, the international network developed for Stadia by way of Mundo, has brought many new partnerships and cooperative programmes.

The Netherlands, Mira MediaMira Media is a Dutch organisation that focuses on media and immigrant issues. Mira Media organised the Kiezen voor je leven (Learning for life) – project in schools to guide young people to make the right decisions in life. Mira Media was also the coordinator of the DigiTales partnership and played an active part as an expert liaison for Eurovision.

The Netherlands, De BalieDe Balie is an Amsterdam based political cultural centre which organised the Zina project working together with Muslim women.

The United Kingdom, Hi8usHi8us gives youths living in the UK the chance to tell stories and gain experience in innovative media projects. Hi8us projects are societal, and they help young people improve their quality of life through creativity and media. Hi8us' operation is based on intense cooperation in the entire field of British media and funding agencies. Hi8us was responsible for developing and managing the content of the DigiTales.org web pages created through international partnership and distributed the DigiTales stories internationally.

Greece, DIMITRA

The target group of Dimitra's Community Net project were immigrant journalists from the Soviet Union as well as Europe, Australia and Africa. The aim of the project was to generate new training and employment opportunities for reporters in the Greek media.

Germany, BGZThe BGZ directs international projects with the objective of integrating immigrants in German working life. These consist of such things as a web-based German language course and tailored training for working life.

Slovakia, ACECACEC works in part as an advertising agency and partly as a non-profit organisation. The aim of the project was to improve the status of Romani living in Slovakia by means of media visibility.

The local conditions, financial situations and schedules of each partner country varied greatly during the project. The international and national networks of partners were used to further common goals. In the end, the international cooperation broadened to cover all of Europe.

In contrast to several other EU-funded projects, the international cooperation among partners turned out to be very fruitful. All the partners were committed to international cooperation and operated flexibly even in challenging situations. The common meetings became very long due to animated discussion and development work. Mira Media representatives arranged and convened the meetings professionally and with experience. Evenings spent together created a basis for pleasant cooperation.

The most impressive result of the international cooperation was the DigiTales.org internet site, which was produced by Hi8us. The partners' intention was to produce the stories of ordinary citizens for digital video, accessible worldwide through the DigiTales website. DigiTales is based on the BBC Capture Wales and the BBC Video Nation training and production concepts, which were meant to make citizens voices heard in society.

The DigiTales stories – short, about two minute long films about the lives of ordinary people constructed from photographs, animations, drawing or video material – give a voice to many who would not otherwise have one. The name DigiTales derives from the digital production and distribution method. Hi8us is searching for new funding to be able to continue the DigiTales production model and web page maintenance the future. The Stadia communications training programme has been asked to take part in the DigiTales Plus programme. Funding for the programme has been sought from the EU's Leonardo-programme, and it is meant to begin in October 2007.

The DigiTales Plus programme had two organisations from Poland and Lithuania as new partners for Stadia, with or through which new networks and partnerships will probably be formed. In the summer of 2007, YLE became involved in the DigiTales Intercultural Dialogue project application drafted by Hi8us which was intended to make the DigiTales method known in Finland and neighbouring countries.

The DigiTales production method was also furthered by the Videos and Mikromod programmes, which Hi8us is interested in developing. The programmes coordinated by Stadia are building an on-line Fooga editor on a communitarian basis.

Exchange of knowledge and experience, courses for international media trainers in Finland and international lecturers and presenters were an essential part of international cooperation in the Mundo project's seminars. The DigiTales seminars organised in Berlin in March 2007 and in

Liverpool in June the same year brought together a large group of international agencies and decision makers. A representative group from Mundo also took part in the events. The performances of the Mundo students and the DigiTales stories drew great interest among the other participants and led to concrete offers of cooperation from the other partners.

The Dutch Mira Media invited the Stadia communication training programme to be a partner in the Roots & Routes Summer Courses project, which began in November 2006 with support from the EU's Leonardo programme.

Roots & Routes seeks out, inspires and trains talented young musicians, dancers and media producers with different cultural roots who, for this reason, are often left out of official places of study in the cultural and media fields.

Roots & Routes offers new routes into professional cultural circles and training institutions. By way of the courses, new strategies and models for action are created to make it easier for official bodies, such as academic institutions, to approach the new target group and the urban culture they represent.

As a result of the Roots & Routes project, both the Stadia communication and pop/jazz training programmes have already established new partnerships with over ten of the organisations participating in the project.

The Creative Clusters method created in the UK and the inspiration drawn from the Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication conference have formed the basis for the new Urban Creativity programme coordinated by Stadia.

The formation of new international partnerships and projects was significantly affected by the administrative partner's systematic informativeness on the possibilities of international cooperation as well as by the national partners' initiative in creating relationships with the project network.

The cooperation among international partners and Eurovision colleagues working on multicultural affairs also gave new perspectives on envisioning and directing the Mundo project's operations. It helped to understand the right proportions of things Finland. The small number of immigrants and the short history of multiculturalism in our country, along with the fear of what is unfamiliar and over all haste, largely explains the lack of interest among media decision makers and employers

It was of consolation to note, however, that media diversity is not perfectly fulfilled even in the larger European countries, although a great deal has been invested in it. The Mundo project is an investment in the future and an attempt to avoid the intercultural conflicts that have already occurred in other settings.

4.2. Further international cooperation

The Eurovision Intercultural and Diversity Group (IDG)The DigiTales partners worked closely together with their countries' broadcasting companies' diversity liaisons. YLE's Basaari team has been involved with the work of the IDG for over ten years. The Dutch NPS channel, which is part of IDG, is responsible for the annual European City Folk television series, which is aired in Finland every summer. Finland's 2007 City Folk programme was directed by Mundo student Mohamed El Aboudi. He was set to direct the 2008

programme as well, but YLE decided, contrary to its own diversity strategy, to end the City Folk cooperation.

City Folk television programmes are of high quality and affordable international productions for YLE, which tell about European diversity in a humane and touching way. Participation in these cooperative productions would also have given Mundo graduates the chance to cooperate internationally as media professionals. In this kind of projects YLE should be allocating their resources right now.

Diversity ToolkitThe Diversity Toolkit was born as a result of an ESR funded project run by the Swedish television company SVT. Ten Eurovision representatives and the Mundo project were involved in its development. The employment ministries of Ireland and Finland also supported the programme. The subject is looked at more closely in section 9.3.

The Equal Opportunities Network (EON)The Mundo project was also involved in EON cooperation. The EON network consists of employers and programme producers in the Eurovision network. In their meetings the members exchange information and experiences and support one another in developing diversity and media issues in different European countries.

Already at this time new models have arisen from international cooperation which could be applied in the field of media after the Mundo project. Good examples are Belgium's Flemish language television, VRT's investment in young and recently graduated immigrants, Swedish television company SVT's permanent inclusion of diversity issues in its staff and programming policies and the diversity training package meant for UK's BBC staff.

Diverse international cooperation regarding television programme production and staff related issues is important for developing diversity also in Finland. Sufficient resources must be allocated for the development and local application of good practices also in the future.

4.3. International applause

The Mundo project was noted in the international arena: the project was presented as an examplary model for action in many seminars and events. The broadcasting companies of several countries were also interested in copying the project format for their own use.

The project manager was invited to speak about the project at the Eurovision head office in Geneva, the European Media Conference in Essen and the Basel-Karlsruhe Forum and Swedish television. In addition, the CIVIS Media Foundation awarded a special prize to the Mundo short documentaries, media training and work placement projects, and YLE in the 2006 CIVIS ARD – media contest.

In March 2007 the European commission had international consultant, Alan Mercer, put together a success story of the Mundo projects achievements for use by the commission and thus also the larger European community.