On July 1, 2015 Minsk hosted a training seminar on how to cover EU activities in Belarus. Participants of the seminar examined methods and modern strategies of informing the Belarusian public about EU projects in and international technical aid as well as financial support provided to the country. The event was attended by representatives of Belarusian non-profit organizations, offices of international programmes and regional authority structures.
 |
| Photo exhibition "Projects in People" of the EU Delegation to Belarus (Minsk) |
Today the European Union implements international projects in Belarus in various areas of economics and public life. The EU provides international technical aid within the framework of joint projects by Belarusian ministries and agencies, representatives of public organizations and local communities. Currently, traditional Belarusian mass media do not provide enough coverage of the EU financial support provided to the Republic of Belarus: according to the media monitoring performed by the EU Delegation to Belarus, the Belarusian media run on average about 340 publications a year about international technical aid provided by the EU to the republic.
Even though the European Union currently implements about 100 international projects in the country in cooperation with the Belarusian side, the local mass media only cover about 3 activities connected to the provision of international technical aid to Belarus.
Participants of the media training, who included representatives of the Erasmus + programme, UN Development Programme in Belarus, Representation Office of the International Organization for Migration in the Republic of Belarus and other organizations, discussed modern strategies of mass communication, implementation of information campaigns and branding of activities.
Participants of the event gave their consideration to some aspects of working with the traditional media, as well as to the usage of new media and the creation of "non-traditional" channels of communication. According to Mikhail Doroshevich, consultant for the Gemius company, from 2009 to 2014 Belarusian Internet audience grew by 65.5%, with more than half of them (or 74.42%) using social services: VK, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, etc.
Participants of the training examined modern approaches to raising awareness of various social groups about the implementation of international projects and programs. Within the framework of international projects in Belarus, traditionally the European Union not only provides financial support but also helps to introduce new technologies during implementation of government programmes and to modernize the legislation, as well as aims to promote cooperation.