US rows into Ethiopia elections

Donald Trump, President, US
The US Embassy in Addis Ababa has begun nationwide media trainings in Ethiopia that will help empower both state and private media outlets in the lead to elections in 2020. 

The initiative is implemented by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) in partnership with Addis Ababa University School of Journalism and Communications (AAU-SJC).

This project aims to enhance the skill sets of journalists and strengthen the institutional capacity of Ethiopian media organizations with the overarching goal of improving the quality of information available to the Ethiopian public in the lead up to the 2020 elections in Ethiopia. 

A total of twenty-five training sessions are planned throughout the country.  Each session will include 20 to 25 members of the media and social media influencers, ultimately reaching 625 Ethiopian media professionals.  

Speaking at the launch of the initiative, public affairs officer Amanda Jacobsen said, “These media trainings are part of the US Embassy’s efforts to improve media capacity as part of our seven pillars of engagement in support of the incredible reform effort underway here in Ethiopia.”

The US Embassy has invested $450,000 (14,463,000 million birr) in this project which seeks to help the media provide accurate, balanced, and verified information to the public, act as effective observers during the election process, inform the public about their rights and responsibilities during elections, facilitate forums for open debate, and educate the public about the election process.

CCP and AAU-SJC conducted a comprehensive needs assessment and developed the training curriculum based on the findings. A week-long intensive facilitators’ training was provided to 24 trainers who will be deployed nationwide for the trainings.

As part of the overall media capacity initiative, up to six American media professionals will also be embedded in Ethiopian newsrooms to reinforce best practices and conduct needs assessments.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Newell Murder serialization 1