Voices from the margins: diversifying voices in European media

In this increasingly polarised world, its essential that pathways for genuine, empathetic understanding and exchange remain open. Part of the process of understanding and empathising with those who are different is making sure that we are exposed to diverse experiences and backgrounds in our daily lives. Here, media, both traditional and non-traditional (e.g. social media) play a key role. By including and normalising the voices of minority groups, journalists can encourage more open-minded thinking and expose their audiences to diverse opinions and ideas.

We, therefore, come together during the Just Peace Festival with journalists and experts from the MigraVoice* Super Power Community, a community forged via an EU-project to amplify the voices of migrants and refugees in European media spaces. Come join us, break down the silos in your personal and professional life and hear from our fabulous speakers!

• Olivia Vereha: co-founder & director of Commit Global, an organisation that supports digital tools designed to address critical global issues via their tech-for-good portfolio. Ms. Vereha has over a decade of expertise delivering technology in the public sector and is currently pursuing her PhD on digital public services at Universitatea „Babeș-Bolyai” din Cluj-Napoca (RO). She’s delivered keynotes on the role of technology for good at several high-profile conferences like GitHub Universe, the Stockholm Internet Forum, CPDP Brussels and for Google and TEDx events.
• Dr. Malka Older: writer, humanitarian worker, and sociologist. She is also the Executive Director of Global Voices, a community of writers, editors, and translators providing community journalism worldwide and advocating for Indigenous and minority languages, media literacy, digital rights, and online freedom of expression. Dr. Older completed her doctorate in the sociology of organisations at Sciences Po and is a Research Associate at the Crisis Lab there as well as a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University.
• Odilia Abreu: migration, diaspora, and gender expert with a strong focus on policymaking and development cooperation. She’s served as the coordinator of the Migration Policy Platform under the Mediterranean Dialogue project of the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit, bringing together policymakers and experts from Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. In this role, she oversaw the development of policy proposals and publications addressing key migration topics, including climate mobility, the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, and cooperation with third countries.

*This project is co-funded by the European Union (Project number: LC-02408780). Project: ŁC 02408780 — Migrant Voices Matter in the European Media — CNECT/2022/8240201.