The Daily Observer (Banjul)
3 November 2008
Young journalists from sixteen Commonwealth African countries will be put through their paces on critical problems facing the planet and its people, during a five-day journalism development workshop for young journalists on development journalism & the MDGs with particular focus on climate change.' This is according to a press release received from the Gambia Press Union (GPU) office in Banjul. The training is being held in Dar es Salam, Tanzania, from Monday 3rd to Friday 7th November, 2008.
According to the release, the 20 participants are print and radio journalists from Botswana, Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The release went on to say that the workshop would be formally opened by Mr Reginald Mengi, Chairman, IPP Media, Tanzania.
The training project is organised by the Commonwealth Press Union, in partnership with the Commonwealth Foundation and in association with the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association and the Commonwealth journalists' Association.
The local partner is REPOA (Research on Poverty Alleviation) in Dar es Salaam.
The release further states that the workshop is directed at helping young journalists to understand the issues that stood in the way of the socio-economic development of their countries with particular focus on climate change. They will be taught how best to use the media to address these issues and help the public and decision-makers reach informed opinions.
An important theme running through the workshop will be the problems raised by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), agreed to in 2000 by nearly 190 world leaders who gave their countries 15 years to try and achieve the eight target goals. The world has now entered the second half of the target period.
So the organisers of this workshop felt the time was appropriate for a new generation of media personnel from Africa to be trained, updated and better equipped to write about issues such as MDGs, climate change, poverty, HIV/Aids and gender inequality, which are of particular concern to the Commonwealth foundation which funded this workshop.
The journalists will be addressed during the five-day sessions by Ms Amy Cunningham, Country Director-International Centre for Aids care and treatment programs, Columbia University, Tanzania; Ms Zuki Mhiyo, Coordinator, Gender Mainstreaming Working Group-Macro policy for Tanzania, REPOA; and Professor Aldolfo Mascarenhas, formerly Director of the Institute of resource assessment, university of Dar es Salaam, now retired.
This workshop underlines the belief that the media have vital role to play in the development process. Equally the Commonwealth Press Union and the Commonwealth Foundation believed that the media have a social responsibility too in educating the public on these critical issues and providing the space for civil society to articulate its views on matters of concern.
The workshop will be led by Rob Jameson, Media Consultant and former Publisher (TBC) of the Chronicle, Malawi.
The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation, resourced by and reporting to Commonwealth governments, and guided by Commonwealth values and priorities. Its mandate is to strengthen civil society in the achievement of Commonwealth priorities-democracy and good governance, respect for human rights and gender equality, poverty eradication and sustainability, people-centred development, and to promote arts and culture.
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