Mensagem and Associação Passa Sabi develop a journalism project with young people from the Rego neighborhood

Learn how to tell their own stories and to identify the false stories told by others. This is the next challenge of young people from Rego neighborhood, in Lisbon, who are going to become Neighborhood Correspondentsin an innovative journalism project, developed by Mensagem de Lisboa and the Passa Sabi Association. The sessions on disinformation will be coordinated by journalist Paulo Pena and those on journalism will be held by journalists from Mensagem de Lisboa. The project was presented last October 13, at the Passa Sabi headquarters, amidst cachupa (an African dish) and debates.

“We want these young people to pass on to the neighborhood the idea that there is a power in telling their stories,” says Catarina Carvalho, director of Mensagem de Lisboa and one of the project’s coordinators. Inspired by the trends in community journalism analyzed by Centre for Community Journalism with the goal of listening to those who are not heard, the “Neighborhood Correspondents” project seeks to empower young people under the age of 18 to report on the reality that surrounds them and that generally escapes the media’s lens. All stories will be edited, curated, and later published in Mensagem de Lisboa.

The initiative won a grant from the Cidadãos Ativ@s/EEAGrants Program, managed in Portugal by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Bissaya Barreto Foundation.

Photos by Inês Leote, courtesy of Mensagem de Lisboa