Sierra Leone

UNDP trains 25 key Journalists

08-12-2006

The UNDP awarded certificates to 25 key journalists on Friday, 8 December, who successfully completed a series of four workshops on how the UNDP works towards developing Sierra Leone.

The workshops trained members of the media on various reporting ranging from Poverty Reduction to Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), and from Democracy and Good Governance to reporting on the upcoming elections.

The initiative was necessitated from the fact that the UNDP sees journalists as partners in development and therefore collaborated with the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) to make the course a reality. During the training sessions, journalists were brought closer to the UNDP family and their horizons widen on how the UN system works. Ethnical responsibilities, accurate and balanced reporting on development issues, such as the upcoming elections, were all emphasized.

At the end of the intensive training course, participants were issued certificates by the UNDP Country Director, Nancy Asanga and the President of SLAJ, Ibrahim Ben Kargbo. Nancy Asanga told the group of journalists, ‘We [UNDP] are ready at any time to support and build your capacity… We all have a role to play in development. We should work collectively to have a credible and acceptable election.’

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