DW will be presenting its wide-reaching changes and programming highlights for the Arab world  at the 9th Convergence Summit in Amman, Jordan on May 22 and 23. DW’s Social Media Manager Julia Hildebrand will be taking part in the conference that is organized by the Arab Advisors Group.

DW has increased its focus on regional programming and intercultural dialogue in the Middle East with a schedule that offers 10 hours of Arabic programming and a six-hour block during primetime. This new programming line-up is tailored to meet the needs of the region’s broadcasters with a renewed focus on local partner-ships.

The success of “Shababtalk” can already speak for itself. More than 3.6 million viewers were tuning in to each episode in the show’s first three weeks. And the coproduction with Egypt’s market leader Al Hayah has been registering a market share of nearly 15 percent. The talk show brings together young representatives from the democratic movement in Egypt with their German counterparts from youth organizations, political parties and other associations.

DW focused on dialogue again with “On the Pulse”. It’s a talk show that brings Arab and German experts together to discuss issues related to democratization, politics, economics, the role of the government, justice and reli-gion.

Deutsche Welle (DW) is using a contest to develop a new kind of user-generated content for its award-winning radio series Learning by Ear. From now until June 30, young listeners in Africa will be able to submit their story ideas for a chance at having one of them produced and broadcast, as well as being turned into a community play.

So far, Learning by Ear has told the stories of many young Africans, like Jon-athan who dreamt of becoming one of the most successful soccer players in the world. Or 16-year-old Desirée who took care of her little brother follow-ing her mother’s death.

Now, Germany’s international broadcaster wants their listeners in Africa to share the most important lessons they’ve learned in life, or respond about the topics they want to hear more about in the future. The winning story will be turned into a new Learning by Ear series and adapted for the stage in the winner’s hometown, with the winning group in the production. Other prizes include cameras, a CD player plus a Learning by Ear fan package including t-shirts, CDs and much more.

Entries will be accepted until June 30, 2012 and winners will be selected shortly thereafter. The contest is open to young people under the age of 25 and groups need to be made up of at least five people. All participants must be from an African country.

Entries should include a written story no longer than one page; a list of the group members including their names and ages; and a photo of the entire group. All entries should be sent to lbe@dw.de.

Find out more about Learning by Ear or go to the contest website.

Hoping to fill what it views as a missing link in news coverage in the United States, DW has launched WorldLink – a new weekly, sound-rich radio magazine providing coverage of events viewed through the perspective of those whose lives are shaped by the news.

DW will provide an hour-long program (55 minutes running time) fueled by the week’s international news – like the building of democratic movements in the aftermath of the Arab Spring or the economic crises that has shaken the foundations of Europe. The program is produced by DW’s editorial team in Bonn.

“WorldLink is a news magazine with timeliness and urgency that foregoes breaking news coverage and analysis to focus on the impact – often selecting one or two major events and going to the source of the story to find the peo-ple whose lives have been changed by events,” says Sylvia Viljoen, DW’s Head of Distribution America.

WorldLink will be available every Saturday with a rights window of seven days. The program is available via PRSS and from DW’s own AudioDepot file server. WorldLink joins DW’s other weekly news magazine, Inside Europe, which has been on public radio in the U.S. for more than 25 years.

 

DW was once again recognized for outstanding TV production at the World Media Festival in Hamburg, Germany, on Wednesday. “The XX Factor” won the intermedia-Globe Award in (gold) in “Documentaries: Lifestyle” category. The series looks at three women in Europe who have broken into typically male-dominated fields. Euromaxx also received silver in the same category for its feature on adventurous vacations.

DW also picked up two silver awards in the category “Political Documentaries” – one covering the challenges and opportunities that Europe is facing because of the situation in the North Africa, and one covering a center for treatment in Lindau, Germany.

 

Education for all – that is UNESCO’s central aim when it comes to the world’s school systems. But where do we stand today? DW has developed a new multimedia project that examines innovative education initiatives and the areas where the international community still has much work to do. With “Education for all – Five bloggers, five countries, one dialogue”, young people discuss the state of education in their home countries as well as their own experiences in the school system. DW is relying on five bloggers from Iraq, Germany, Argentina, Russia and Kenya to provide discussion points for the online community. Interested? Join the discussion today.