Middle East Voices
In Iraq, the second season of a special television show is about to begin. Salam Shabab – “Peace Youth” in Arabic – brings together teenagers between 14 and 18 from different regions of the country for a reality television show. Based on a curriculum co-designed by the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and Iraqi educators, Salam Shabab is part education, part entertainment. Theo Dolan is the Senior Program Officer at USIP Center for Media, Conflict and Peace building at USIP.
Read MoreSalam Shabab Promo: Season 2
Read MoreMashable
Educational reality TV and social media are the drivers inspiring a group of Iraqi youth demanding a different future — one with peaceful resolutions and equality. Nareen, an 18-year-old Iraqi whose last name has been withheld for safety reasons, starred in Iraq's first youth reality TV show called Salam Shabab to compete for the title of becoming an "Ambassador of Peace" last year. Salam Shabab is a competitive TV show with the ultimate goal of uniting Iraq through peace building.
Read MoreReality Shows Revolutionize Arab TV
This is the true story of seven strangers, picked to live in a house, work together and have their lives taped to find out what happens when Sunnis and Shias, Christians and Jews, boys and girls, 20-somethings from across the Arab world, stop hating each other and learn how to get along.
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