Let’s be honest. Do you know what the carbon footprint of a condom entails? Sarah Abraham from Hyderabad can tell you more about that one. The 26-year-old lifestyle journalist took advantage of her two-month stay in Germany in order to research – among other things – sustainable production methods for this truly “global” product. As a matter of fact, resourceful manufacturers from Germany actually do produce carbon-neutral condoms. The required latex – fairly gained and traded – is supplied by a plantation in India’s Tamil Nadu.

The six visiting journalists from across India brought a variety of perspectives into the multimedia project Grow.Green.India. Whether it was the question of what future organic farming could have in India or the astonishment that Germany’s solar industry is threatening to collapse – the DW Akademie fellows took on a range of sustainability issues.

Ruchika Chitravanshi, 28, works as a senior correspondent for the Business Standard in New Delhi. In addition to her insightful look at the perspectives for “green” tourism in India, she contributed photos to a city portrait of the crisis-ridden solar industry capital Bitterfeld-Wolfen. Together with her colleague Idrees Lone, Ruchika also did a story on the success and perspectives of organic farming in Germany.

Ashish K Mishra, 28, works for Forbes India in Mumbai as their principal correspondent. His specialties are the automobile and alternative energy sectors. He put his affinities into practice here, trying out the electric-car-sharing project “Multicity” in Berlin and analyzing the situation of the German and international solar industry. He captured his impressions of the downfall of the latter sector in Bitterfeld-Wolfen’s so-called “Solar Valley”.

Anjilee Istwal, 33, is a senior special correspondent for New Delhi Television NDTV. While in Germany, she paid a visit to Cologne’s “Repair Café“, which helps people learn to repair broken things themselves – instead of throwing them away. She also got to know a group of grade school children learning to be climate ambassadors.

Idrees Lone, 31, is a freelance print and television journalist based in Srinagar, in India’s crisis region Kashmir – at the same time, home to some of the most beautiful nature in the country. He and his colleague Ruchika pursued the question of whether the German model of organic farming would have a chance with Indian consumers and what possibilities existed for India’s tourism sector to sustainably develop.

Sarah Abraham, 26, is a senior associate editor for the Hyderabad-based lifestyle magazine You & I. She hooked up with design trendsetters who demonstrate that fashion and accessories can be just as chic as they can be fair and ecological. Sarah also did a background report comparing the possibilities of building in an energy-saving matter in Germany and India.

Charu Kartikeya, 27, works both behind and in front of the camera as a political journalist at India’s parliamentary channel Lok Sabha TV in New Delhi. His research while in Germany focused on the history of the country’s anti-nuclear movement and the role of the Green Party in connection with Germany’s energy transition. In Berlin, Charu met with the Green Party’s spokesperson on nuclear policy Sylvia Kotting-Uhl for an extensive interview.

New media pioneer Shahidul Alam

UNESCO has defined digital literacy as “the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers”. With the emergence of social networking, digital literacy has become a major factor in enabling people to raise their voices, communicate, collaborate and pursue wide-scale social and political reforms.

People begin to think digitally when material things are not the only measurable items, Shahidul Alam says. As a promoter of new media, he helped introduce email to Bangladesh in 1994 and set up the first web portal in the country. Alam is also a founding member and advisor in the LEARN Foundation, which is dedicated to information and communication technology (ICT) training in rural regions.Watch the video interview and find out more:

Now it’s your turn. Do you know how digitally literate you really are? The Digital Literacy Survey is a useful and fun self-assessment tool to find out just how computer-savvy you are. It was designed by the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) Foundation. You can measure your own perceived levels of digital literacy against your actual abilities based on common ICT tasks. It’s available in almost 20 different languages, including Cambodian, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese.

by Juan Ju and Thorsten Karg

Rajneesh Bhandari at work

What have you been working on recently?

I am very much interested in multimedia storytelling, so I love experimenting with new tools to tell stories in a compelling way. I have just come up with a multimedia iPad book “Living with Autism“. I chose this topic because mainstream media in Nepal has ignored this issue and the government has not taken any action. Nepal doesn’t have a single autism care center for autistic adults.

Can you apply the knowledge that you learned from DW Akademie to your daily work now?

I still remember these words Thomas Rehman taught me during the Reporting on Television training: “Sound ready? Ready! Camera ready? Ready! Roll! Rolling!”

Though I was doing my masters in journalism and working for a reputable television station in Nepal, I lacked in-depth television reporting training on an international level. That was the reason why I joined the training. I belonged to the first batch of television journalists trained by DW Akademie in Kathmandu. As Nepali televisions were flooded with talking heads, I was trying hard to bring social issues to the screen, to create compelling stories. You can see the video produced by my group.

In my group, news producers, camerapersons and visual editors participated to learn about news production, shooting, editing, writing and sound. I was following the traditional format of television. I used to write my script and then edit the visuals. But Thomas asked me to do the opposite, first edit the visual and then write the story. This way looks more engaging. I am still following this procedure now.

Tell us about your typical work day.

It starts in the morning when I check various news sources. Then I plan my day. My office starts work at 10:45 in the morning with a regular meeting every day. That is when I pitch my stories. I report on security, defense, court and anti-corruption agencies, as well as social stories. As I am covering key beats, there are many important and interesting events. I have to keep my eyes open to the developments, calling the spokespersons and sources regularly. Normally a day ends up with two to three stories, most of the time with news packages.

After coming back from the field, I edit the visual, write the script and give the voiceover. We use VSN news server in our office and Sony Vegas to edit audio and visual. We have news broadcasts every hour so accuracy and speed matter a lot.

After completing my office work, I gear up for other assignments at thinkbrigade.com, where I’m the Multimedia Team Leader. I proof articles from the multimedia perspective with my team, checking if the links are working fine, if the caption is right, if the picture has a good resolution and other multimedia elements.

I get home by around 8 or 9 pm. Then have something to eat and work on the other projects and assignments that I am involved in.

What sort of challenges do you face working as a journalist in Nepal in general?

There are a number of challenges. Society perceives journalists here negatively. We as journalists are truth tellers, we write things because we care about society. Journalists should also be professional in Nepal and not write in favor of certain political parties or groups. Verification, accuracy and fairness should be the fundamentals.

Nepal’s media lacks a good strategy. There is still no social media guideline. Talking heads are still ruling the television screen. We need a good digital strategy, innovative applications to produce good multimedia stories for our readers, viewers and listeners. We need to use the latest technology to tell our stories in a compelling way.

Interview by Juan Ju

The Asian participants came from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines and Mongolia. Besides visiting DW’s facilities and attending the Deutsche Welle Global Media conference ahead of the workshop, their action-packed schedule included a visit to German public broadcaster WDR in Cologne. A lively exchange with that station’s director of human resources topped off the week.

In this video, project manager Patrick Benning takes us inside the week-long workshop that was taught by DW-AKADEMIE trainer Achim Toennes. Participants Sarmad Palijo of Pakistan and Mat Verano Pareja of the Philippines describe their impressions of the visit to Germany.

Thinley Yangchen Dorji, a producer at the Bhutan Broadcasting Service Corporation (BBS), takes us on a tour behind the scenes of Bhutan’s first homegrown TV show for kids. Called “My World”, it’s a 30-minute program for youngsters aged eight to twelve that began airing regularly in January. Welcome to “My World”!

Prior to “My World” there were no Bhutanese television programs for children. Foreign programming available via satellite was entertaining but had little educational value. Pema Choden, BBS’s General Director until the end of March 2011, approached DW-AKADEMIE for support. Her aim was to have a quality program tailored to children in Bhutan.

DW-AKADEMIE trainers Dani Leese and Thomas Rehermann initially flew to Bhutan in May 2010. There they worked together with the group of local television editors to develop the “My World” concept. The first episode was an immediate success.