Canadian culture inherently includes being a global citizen. Canada embraces multiculturalism, immigration, and cross-cultural understanding. Canada is recognized internationally as a peace-keeping nation, which undertakes knowledge and cultural exchange to foster increased understanding and cooperation between nations and different ethnocultural communities. 411 diverse youth multimedia team will undertake a journey to explore how Canadian culture and identity contrast with their peers in Ethiopia on the Eve of the Ethiopian New Millennium.

Rationale: Communication is a critical part of everyday life; mass media through the Internet, television, radio waves and newspapers, are important and the predominant channels for communication. Mass media, however, can often be insular, one-sided, hard-hitting and insensitive-continuously releasing images for shock value appeal. Young people in Canada are often influenced by these images.In turn, this develops negative stereotyping, and a one-sided collective conscious can form about developing counties and the young people who live there. Over the past two decades, the famines that have ravaged Ethiopia have created international stereotypes, predisposed notions and negative publicity about the country and its people - while generating little understanding of the larger issues affecting the country.

The images most young Canadians are familiar with are appalling images representing Ethiopia portraying starving children, impoverished communities, barren fields under a searing African sun, deaths in the thousands, and the notion that millions people are threatened with famine. These biased images are further propelled with the widespread emergence of HIV/AIDS and its effects in Ethiopia. Since African nations have little money to invest in promoting understanding of their identities, livelihoods and culture, countries like Ethiopia find themselves defined almost exclusively through the media. The perception of Ethiopia as a country beset by problems is grounded in reality - that of a country wholly lacking in opportunity is not.

It is with this in mind that 411 will used photography and video to reshape the perception of Ethiopia and the issues facing her people among Canadians - by showcasing the stories of young Ethiopians - their efforts, successes, and struggles against poverty and the critical HIV/AIDS epidemic on the eve of the Millennium in Ethiopia. *Ethiopia uses the Julian calendar and will celebrate the year 2000 on September 11, 2007.

This project will equipped Ethiopian children with cameras and basic photography training, allowing them access and opportunity to photograph themselves, their communities and their families from their unique perspectives. This enabled them to capture their realities through their own created media and share these perspectives with their counterpart peers in Canada. The program team visited families and communities across Ethiopia as well as programs run by Ethiopian and international non-governmental organizations.

• Showcase the determination, resilience and ability of young people in Ethiopia who make up a new generation of leaders;
• Provide a venue to document the voices, ideas, experiences and stories of young people in Ethiopia;
• Examine issues facing Ethiopia as it enters the "millennium" including HIV/AIDS, poverty, access to education, gender equality and food security;
• Produce materials which are interesting and engaging to young people in Canada through the use of multimedia and new technologies;
• Increase Canadians' global cultural exchange capacity; and,
• Encourage understanding among the Canadian public (targeting young people) about international development issues facing young people in Ethiopia.