The president of the Union of African Journalists, UAJ, Mahfouz Elensary has launched the 57th training session of the Young African Journalists Training Programme in Cairo, Egypt.
The official launching ceremony took place at the National Radio and Television broadcasting house of Egypt today September 16, 2023.
The event was also attended by the General Secretary of the Union of African Journalists, Dr Zienab Abass, the first Vice President of the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, Saleh El Sally, journalists from the National Radio and Television broadcasting house of Egypt, as well as trainees.
Chairing the ceremony, the UAJ president informed participants that the training was organised by the Training and Media studies Center in Egypt in collaboration with the Supreme Council for Media Regulation.
The General Secretary of the Union of African Journalists, Dr Zienab welcomed all the participants and told them to make Egypt their second home.
The union it should be noted was established in 1974 with the collaboration of other African Unions and next year it will be celebrating 50years of existence.
“The union has trained about 2,000 journalists from Africa” Dr Zienab noted, adding that it holds two sessions annually with 25 journalists from Africa and 5 from Egypt.
“I regret the fact that due to economic crisis the number of countries have been reduced to 14” she lamented, but however she hopes that the situation will get better so that they can continue training the original number of journalists they started with.
For the 57th training session, the programme will be divided into three; the first being political and economic issues, the second part will X-ray media issues and the third will consist of visiting touristic sites so that the participants can get to know Egypt better.
The Secretary General of the Union of Independent Journalists in Togo, Eli Goka-Adokanu on his part thanked the organisers for the opportunity and efforts done in empowering journalists.
“This training will permit participants to be fully equipped in carrying out their functions effectively” he said.
Highlighting that journalists witness the evolution that is experienced in the world, there is therefore need to empower them so that they can keep up with global trends.
The countries taking part in this edition of the training include; Togo, Senegal, Congo, Kenya, Tunisia, Morroco, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Egypt and Cameroon
With the training session officially launched, the participants are expected to begin classes on Monday September 18, 2023.