\"I never thought that one day I would become a reporter，\" says Wastara， who is 14. I always believed reporters were adults and not children， because children don't have the skills.

\"But now I know that， when given the opportunity， we are able to report – even better than adults.\"

Wastara is a member of the Young Reporters Network （YRN） of the United Republic of Tanzania. Established in 2011 with support from UNICEF， the network aims to teach young people to use radio and digital and flip camera equipment. The project also aims to increase young people’s active participation in the production of children’s programmes and to develop their capacity to be advocates for child rights.

Through the project， children and young people are also taught skills in reporting and producing quality radio and television programmes for their peers. After they’ve been trained， the young reporters can produce 30- to 60-minute programmes that are aired on community radio stations.

The reporters meet regularly to brainstorm about themes and story ideas for their programmes. The programme formats include audio diaries， commentary， interviews and talk shows. The young reporters are able to share stories about a variety of issues that affect them or are important to them， about living with HIV， living on the streets， about neglect and child rights in general.

To date， more than 200 children， like Wastara， have been trained in Arusha， Dar es Salaam， Morogoro， Shinyanga， Kigoma， Kilimanjaro， Mwanza and Zanzibar.