ICASA workshop for radio journalists
------------------------------------

A two-day training workshop to prepare African radio journalists for
the XII International Conference on AIDS and STDs (ICASA) will be
held in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso on December 7-8
2001.

Tagged "Local Voices: Covering the ICASA for your listener", the pre-
ICASA journalism workshop aims to increase the quantity and quality
of broadcast coverage in Africa of the ICASA and to leverage greater
HIV/AIDS awareness and activism by participating journalists and me-
dia managers. About a dozen African radio journalists will attend the
workshop which holds on 7-8 December 2001. Thereafter, participants
will also be able to participate in the ICASA, also holding in Ouaga-
dougou 9-13 December.

The workshop is being organised by Internews, a Washington, DC-based
media training organisation, in collaboration with Journalists
Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria and JAAIDS Kenya. Participants will
come from both Nigeria and Kenya and will include reporters as well
as editors and managers.

In keeping with the community-action theme of the XII ICASA, the pro-
gram will help participants to draw on the experience and best prac-
tices of media professionals in Africa who already have joined the
battle against AIDS and have had roles in successful efforts to ele-
vate public awareness of the epidemic. The three-stage design of the
program - pre-conference, conference, and post-conference - will
greatly benefit participants and their communities.

The program will also target management indifference or resistance,
one of the key problems articulated by African journalists covering
HIV/AIDS, and support participating media organizations in planning
ongoing HIV/AIDS coverage in consultation with highly accomplished
journalist-trainers.

Already, participants have commenced an online training on a website
dedicated to the project. Through this pre-conference activity, par-
ticipants will be able to share their work with the trainers and with
each other and be able to assess the strengths and weaknesses of
their individual reporting skills with peers. Working with the theme
of the conference, Community Responses to HIV/AIDS, the training will
then focus on reporters' own local communities' needs and responses
to the epidemic.

Program participants will assemble in Ouagadougou on December 7th
2001, to spend two full days on-site prior to the conference.

Journalists will have opportunity to visit a local community-based
project in Ouagadougou during this period of pre-conference training.
Journalists who have independently registered for the conference will
also be invited to participate in the two days of trainer-moderated
pre-conference sessions, and to the degree possible, in other train-
ing.

Before the opening of the conference, the trainer will also walk par-
ticipants through the conference grounds, and outline the speeches
and working groups planned for the conference. Led by the trainer,
the group will then discuss specific concerns and strategies for cov-
ering the event for each participant's target audience.

As a direct follow-up to the workshop, the trainer will travel to
each of the participating radio stations, spending two days at each
site to follow up with the participating journalists and editors or
managers. By continuing training in each participants' home station,
trainees will be encouraged both to continue the development of their
skills and to share their experiences with colleagues.

For further information about the project, please visit:
http://www.internews.org/local_voices

Omololu Falobi
Nigeria
mailto:[email protected]

--
To send a message to AFRO-NETS, write to: [email protected]
To subscribe or unsubscribe, write to: [email protected]
in the body of the message type: subscribe afro-nets OR unsubscribe
afro-nets
To contact a person, send a message to: [email protected]
Information and archives: http://www.afronets.org