Children’s television: Is it ok to break things on TV?

Participants from Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia in Munich

Three young Dutch boys dismantle an old industrial scale in a backyard. The kids use dad’s toolbox and take the old potato scale apart, exploring the individual parts and finding out how it works. At the end they leave it and run to play.

The documentary-series Toolbox Kids Uit me kaar on children exploring disused appliances is a success in The Netherlands. However, for television producers from Kenya and Ghana it might be unthinkable to let children “destroy” something that is still working as an idea of educational TV for children.

Successful program from Zambia

The discussion about the Dutch program was one of the moments during this year’s Prix Jeunesse where cultures clashed – in a friendly way. Nearly 500 TV professionals from 67 countries gathered in Munich to watch and discuss children’s television programs from all over the world.

Among them were eight producers from Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania: partners in DW Akademie’s long-term project Looking smart – Children’s TV in East Africa. And some of the programs launched in East Africa with the assistance of DW-Akadamie were submitted to the festival. The program Funatix from Zambia’s Muvi TV even made it into competition. And while it not win an award it received a lot of praise and recognition at the so called Oscars of children’s TV.

Same sense of humor

So what was the conclusion after eight days of screening, discussing, networking and celebrating? “Children are the same all over the world,” said a participant from Afghanistan. And that is true in many ways; surveys showed that children all over the world laugh about the same programs, react the same way regardless of their cultural background. Yet there is also a huge “digital divide” between the countries of the world. While in North America two-year olds are watching TV on tablet computers, children in rural areas of Africa do not even have access to electric power, let alone a TV-set.

DW Akademie's Managing Director Gerda Meuer (left) and Natascha Schwanke

All participants of the DW Akademie training group voted for a stronger representation in the biannual festival. They would like to create awareness for the challenges of producing in third world countries and for the needs of their young audiences. They travelled home with a lot of inspiration and the wish to return with more quality productions “made in Africa” in two years.

DW Akademie’s Managing Director Gerda Meuer promised to support this. As a new member in the advisory board of the Prix Jeunesse she would like to strengthen the ties between the international network and DW Akademie.

During a discussion with the participants of our training she underlined the value of quality programs for children in developing countries and the emphasis DW Akademie placing on this field in media development.

Author: Natascha Schwanke