"MTV Base Meets... Michelle Obama"

MTV Base Meets Michelle Obama will be taped on 29 June during the President and First Lady's visit to South Africa. Mrs Obama will deliver remarks and participate in a discussion with youth at an event being organised in conjunction with African youth and music channel MTV Base and Google+.

The First Lady will be joined at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre by teenagers from across South Africa, as well as students joining virtually in cities around the US via Google+ Hangouts in: Los Angeles, California; Kansas City, Missouri; New York City, New York; and Houston, Texas.

This event will be streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov, the White House Google+ page and www.mtvbase.com.

MTV Base Meets Michelle Obama will premiere to 52 countries across sub-Saharan African on MTV Base (DStv Channel 322) on Friday 19 July at 5PM (repeats Saturday 20 July 13:30 CAT, Sunday 21 July at 10AM CAT, Monday 22 July at 20:30 CAT and Friday 26 July at8PM).

In addition to the live Hangout, 'MTV Base Meets Michelle Obama' will include the First Lady's meeting with a panel of four African youth, in which she will candidly address their questions and exchange views on education.

MTV Base will engage its social media communities in Africa in the project by canvassing questions and discussion topics for Mrs Obama, as well as embedding the Google+ Hangout on the MTV Base website and Facebook pages.

Speaking on behalf of MTV Base, Alex Okosi, senior vice president and managing director, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa commented, "Mrs Obama's involvement in the MTV Base Meets programme reinforces her commitment as an advocate for young people. Her tireless efforts to tackle issues facing the youth - in Africa and around the world - is remarkable, and we are excited to work with her in leveraging our platform to engage with young people on the continent. Her extraordinary career and personal journey will be an insightful and inspiring contribution to the programme."