NEW SEASON OF LIVE UP: The SHOW
The Maria Holder Memorial Trust is embarking on a new partnership with the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV and AIDS (CBMP) for a new focus and expanded season of LIVE UP:The Show for 2014.
In preparation for this 7th Season that will move beyond the focus of HIV, Barbados’ Attorney-General Hon. Adriel Brathwaite Q.C., M.P. Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs officially opened a three-day workshop for Caribbean broadcasters at the Savannah Hotel, Barbados.
The Opening Ceremony also afforded Dr. Carol Jacobs, Chairman of CBMP to provide the context for the workshop in her opening remarks. While the new partnership between Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV and AIDS and The Maria Holder Memorial Trust for this project was outlined by Jane Armstrong, Chief Project Manager from the Trust. Mr. Bill Conn, PEPFAR Coordinator outlined the importance of Media to Most At Risk Populations (MARP), Gender Based Violence (GBV), Human Trafficking, PEPFAR & HIV in the Caribbean.
“We certainly appreciate this donation from The Maria Holder Memorial Trust because it allows this important television programme to continue in 2014. Our programme reaches millions of people with important information, in a fresh style with hosts Alex Jordan and Reagan Des Vignes. With dwindling funding for HIV, it is indeed laudable that the Trust had the vision to see how these issues all relate to and affect HIV. This workshop is being hosted for ten (10) regional broadcasters to develop their skills and to better train them to provide accurate and sensitive reporting on three key areas of focus:- Gender Based Violence (GBV); Human Trafficking (HT) and Most At Risk Populations (MARPs) and how these issues intersect with HIV. The journalists will be required to produce three features on each of these areas for the CBMP’s flagship Television magazine programme LIVE UP:The Show that is broadcast monthly on our 112 member stations in 24 Caribbean countries,” explained CBMP’s Executive Director, Dr. Allyson Leacock.
Known for their support of valuable community programmes and innovative projects like dance4life, and other projects such as the redevelopment of the Pine Community Centre and the Boys’ Scout Association, The Maria Holder Memorial Trust’s investment in LIVE UP: The Show is timely. Jane Armstrong, Chief Project Manager of the Trust said: “Our goal is to make a difference in communities and this programme has demonstrated its effective reach and impact over the past 6 Seasons. We thought it was therefore an ideal platform to shine a spotlight on these three areas that are confronting the Caribbean region. The media will be a key player in raising the awareness and changing attitudes and we support them as critical change agents in any work being done in the field by Governments and NGOs. The Maria Holder Memorial Trust is pleased to enable this process as a partner.”
During this 3-day workshop, there will be roundtable discussions with experts in these three areas to provide the journalists with perspectives and data on these important issues confronting our Caribbean nations. At the end of the 3-day workshop, it is expected that we will have a cadre of trained regional broadcasters who are equipped with the tools to report on these topics with the requisite skills and competencies to do so effectively. Their reports will be shared with the people of the region and we hope shift attitudes and behaviours to address these lingering concerns that impact our region.