Report on the IFJ/UNESCO Seminar on Curriculum Development and Human Rights Journalism Training in Eastern Africa

The IFJ and UNESCO organised a Seminar on Curriculum Development and Human Rights Journalism Training in Kenya, targeting representatives of training institutions from the whole region. Twenty-seven people participated in the two-day program assembled at Nairobi's Grand Regency Hotel on Monday, October 14 and Tuesday, October 15 2002. The participants included heads of journalism training institutions, journalists, media consultants and journalism students from the East African region.

The primary aim of the seminar was two-fold: to offer the Model Curricula to communication and journalism educators and trainers for their impressions and suggestions; and to discuss the issue of training African journalists in human rights reporting.

The IFJ Media for Democracy programme supports an initiative to promote national structures of journalism training (financed by national governments, publishers and students with initial support from abroad). Such structures should be administered by journalists, media owners and journalism trainers and must provide training in journalism skills while promoting awareness of ethical and professional issues. Training modules covering human rights reporting, investigative journalism, election coverage and media law should be included in the curriculum.

The IFJ has been working in close relations with UNESCO in this regard, as the organisation published a specific comprehensive study and communication on curriculum development issues in Africa: Communication Training in Africa: Model Curricula" (Paris: UNESCO, 2002)

The seminar report is available by clicking on the following link : Regional Seminar Report on Curriculum Development and Human Rights Journalism Training in Eastern Africa, October 2002 (PDF-file).