We can help others: awareness raising campaign in Lithuania

This autumn the Lithuanian NGO Information and Support Centre conducted the public awareness raising campaign We Can Help Others, with a special focus on the youth in Lithuania. The campaign focused on Lithuania’s neighbourhood countries and the countries of South Caucasus since these are priority countries of the national development cooperation policy and because of historical ties the public has a better knowledge of the political, economic and social systems in these countries. The campaign featured photo exhibitions, discussions with local communities, the production and broadcast of a TV spot, radio spots and programs on national and regional radio stations, advertisements and articles in the press, a journalist competition, inclusion of a development cooperation heading on a national internet portal, launch of a specialised internet site and the production of a brochure.

The photo exhibitions highlighted the everyday life of people in Moldova, Georgia and Tajikistan. The pictures displayed largely reminded of the life in Lithuania twenty years ago and were causing empathy of the viewers. The exhibitions have been shown in all regional public libraries of Lithuania for a whole month. Afterwards, they have been moved to other municipal libraries. In addition, the libraries have been provided with documentaries on development issues in Belarus, Georgia, Tajikistan and other countries for public screenings.

On 17 October – the International Anti-Poverty Day – a screening of films took place in a cinema in Vilnius. The documentaries showed the imprint of the political regime on the lives of circus workers in Azerbaijan, inhuman procedures of issuing visas for Belarussian citizens, migration of men in search of work and the life of deprived women in Tajikistan, schooling and health problems of children in Georgia, imprisonment of opposition leaders and the difficult situation of their families in Belarus. The Stand Up! Take Action! campaign was held to express the solidarity with the people living in poverty all over the world.

Several radio programs and press articles also covered other specific development activities implemented by member organisations of the Lithuanian NGDO Platform, reported about volunteering experiences of young people and provided information on concrete possibilities of giving assistance to developing countries.

The campaign We Can Help Others was part of a project which is supported by the European Commission and the Lithuanian government. More information on the campaign and development cooperation in Lithuania can be found at the recently launched website http://www.pagalba.org/. For further information please contact Martinas Zaltauskas, NGO Information and Support Centre, at info@nisc.lt or martinas@nisc.lt

Photo from the exhibition, A large family in Tajikistan, 2009

Information provided by Olia Zuravliova, NGO Information and Support Centre