INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

What does it cost to leave the country with the help of a human smuggler, and what are the results of that for the life of the family of the person who leaves? What does it mean for a country when someone who had a good education leaves? Is life in Europe really so much better than in Kurdistan - how much does one earn there, what is the cost of living and what is the comparison with the situation in Kurdistan? All questions that were covered during the one day workshop on the Economics of Illegal Immigration, that IMCK and STATT organised on October 24, 2012 in Duhok. International trainer Maaike Veen talked about the statistics and backgrounds. Goran Sabah gave a briefing for STATT on the statistics of (illegal) immigration. IMCK senior trainer Khidher Domle was the moderator of the day, and he worked with the 18 participants - mostly young journalists - on how to write stories on the subject.

IMCK opened the website Nature Now  for the best stories that were the result of the Environment workshop that took place in October. IMCK trainer and independent journalist Khaled Sulaiman is in charge of the editing. The second part of the workshop will start on November 12, 2012 at Nature Iraq's Eco Camp near Sulaymaniya, with the 15 best participants of the first one. The workshops, which are a cooperation between IMCK and Nature Iraq, are made possible with funding of the American Consulate in Erbil.

What caused the present economic boom in Kurdistan, and how long will it last? That is the main subject of a three day masterclass IMCK organised in the media centre in Sulaymaniya. International trainer Maaike Veen started the course on October 21, 2012, with IMCK trainer Khaled Sulaiman as the co-trainer. She will work with the group of seven experienced Kurdish journalists on getting clear what are the elements of the booming economy in Iraqi Kurdistan, and what are the prospects for the future. Maaike Veen is an independent freelance journalist, specialized in economy, who trained for IMCK in Iraq five times before. More pictures of the workshops can be found on Facebook.

IMCK's female starters returned to the IMCK training hall on October 17, 2012, for a two day intensive workshop on interview. Ten of the thirteen young women who participated in IMCK's women training in the summer took part. Trainer is international trainer Gie Meeuwis, who teaches at the Fontys Journalism College in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Meeuwis has 20 years of experience as a TV-maker. The women will learn how to interview on camera, in such a way that the message of the person that is interviewed gets across best.

IMCK director Judit Neurink and coordinator Saman Penjwini briefed officers of the Erbil police about how to work with media. The briefing was integrated in a two week course by two trainers of the French gendarme, as part of the EUJust Lex Iraq program (the European Union Integrated Rule of Law Mission in Iraq). It rook place in the College of Police in Erbil, on October 14, 2012. During the briefing for some 15 officers from different police departments in Erbil Neurink talked about the rights journalists have under the Kurdistan Press Law, to gather information, and that the law also protects them against violence. She talked about the roles journalists and police both play in a democracy. IMCK regularly conducts these briefings for police and Assaish as part of their training programs.

A group of presentors entered the IMCK building today. The coming three days they will be trained to become trainers themselves. Later this year these journalists and presentors will start training politicians. International trainer Gie Meeuwis is now giving them the information, tips and tricks on how to do so. Gie is an experienced journalist and has been working as trainer of journalists since 1995. More pictures of today's training can be found on Facebook .

When is the last time you read a story on the environment? I bet it is too long ago. This is why IMCK organized two 4 day workshops on environment, in close cooperation with Iraq own Greenpeace, Nature Iraq. There is a need for more journalists who write about the environment in order to create more awareness. Environment is something to treasure, to save and protect for the future. The first workshop started on October 8, 2012 at the IMCK training room in Erbil with a group of over twenty participants. A selection of 15 of them will be invited to also join the second 4 day workshop in November in the Eco Camp of Nature Iraq in Sulaymaniya. The training started with two experts: Lisa Hilleke on water issues, and Azam Alwash, the chairman of Nature Iraq, on the general environmental situation in Iraq. The trainers representing IMCK are international trainer Jan Michael Ihl and our lead trainer Khaled Sulaiman. Translator is Goran Sabah. The workshops are made possible w

The jury has come to a decision; the three teams that are chosen to make their proposed documentaries are: - Birwa Namiq Hassan & Firman Abdul-Rahman (KNN) - Nawa Latif Hama Aziz & Saman Salam Rashid (Kurdsat) - Luqman Sherwany (Speda) Congratulations guys! This competition started after the training on 'Making Documentaries' IMCK gave in cooperation with STATT. The winning documentaries will be on the subject 'illegal immigration' and will be shown on a documentary festival in Erbil on the 18th, 19th and 20th of December, organized by STATT and IMCK in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and the Department of Cinema of Erbil. More pictures can be found on facebook .

Blogs are getting more and more important in today's world. Writing a blog is a modern, fast and easy way to reach people all over the world and therefore more than interesting for journalists and people who fancy a role as civic reporter. IMCK invited bloggers from Erbil and Duhok to join a one day workshop today in Erbil. The workshop is organized together with STATT, an organization that works on the improvement of reporting on illegal immigration. In the morning STATT provides the bloggers with information, in the afternoon IMCK lead trainer Khaled Sulaiman takes over. He will discuss, amongst others, how to improve blogs, how to choose subjects and how to reach a bigger audience. More pictures of today's training can be found on facebook .