"What makes a girl or boy smile or laugh or jump for joy, what makes you happy?" Wendy Cope

The Ragdoll Foundation launches a groundbreaking initiative designed to demonstrate the strength and power that children have when living "against the odds". Broadcasting in the UK on five.

Each programme is based on the experiences of children in very different situations: a housing estate in the United Kindom, a mountain village in Nepal, an industrial city in China, the desert in Ethiopia, a refugee camp in Occupied Palestinian Territories and a post Tsunami village in Sri Lanka.

We are in the process of developing series two with a film completed in South Sudan and are in production with a film in Colombia to be shot October 2008. Countries to be considered are Netherlands, Armenia, Pakistan and Iran.

To give the films honesty and to make the stories as real as possible and as close to the hearts of the communities as possible, we set up workshops in each of the countries. By actively involving a wide group of children within each country to develop the story, we ensure that the films stay true to the children's own experiences and give the children and their communities a stake in the production.

By exploring 'happiness' we create positive energy and ultimately a series of films that have equal status on the broadcast platform. Each film runs approximately 12 minutes with completely diverse and original stories that are both entertaining and informative. There is no need for voice over or sub-titles as each story is easily understood by pictures alone and language is used only as representation of the culture. Target age group is 8 years old.