The Summit (Johannesburg, South Africa, March 2007) welcomed the founders of Whiz Kids Workshop who produce Tsehai Loves Learning, a weekly educational TV show that features Amharic-speaking giraffe puppets. The Ethiopian team presented its work alongside renowned children’s television shows and media productions like Sesame Street, Barney and Walt Disney.

Whiz Kids Workshop’s presentation highlighted plans for addressing HIV/AIDS through the show, and how to cater to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children through this powerful medium. The presentation also covered the personal and social values addressed by Tsehai Loves Learning episodes and how media is being used to impart information about such sensitive topics as HIV to nearly 2.5 million children and their parents.

The World Summit focused on topics related to children’s media such as: quality public broadcasting, the role parents can play in relation to their children’s TV viewing habits, producing television content for toddlers, media’s contribution to peace building, media and children’s health, media and education and a variety of other topics.

"Beyond learning various new production and research methods, and child-psychology tips," said Shane Etzenhouser, the Director of Whiz Kids Workshop, "the Summit provided us with a chance to see many beautiful children’s productions being made around the world, all which served as an inspiration."

Moreover, the meeting was an opportunity for the Ethiopian team to initiate discussion on fostering child media and education in Ethiopia with internationally acknowledged children’s show pioneers. According to Mr Etzenhouser, the Summit was a fertile ground "to network with many key people in the world of educational children’s media including producers, researchers and broadcasters."

UNESCO has sponsored shows of Tsehai Loves Learning on topics related to water conservation and sanitation. Whiz Kids Workshop has also collaborated with UNESCO in its Africa Animated 3.0! event organized in Nairobi, Kenya in late 2006. This UNESCO activity focuses on supporting the establishment of an active continent-wide network of professional African animators that promotes local content creation and fosters creativity.

Whiz Kids Workshop’s participation in the South Africa event is yet another example of the collaborative partnership aimed at using multimedia to promote local content, support access to information and build networks of exchange that contribute to human development efforts on the continent.