Citizen-journalist training course held in Burkina Faso

The three-week course was led by the French journalist Jean-Marie Coat, who passed on his knowledge to the participants and encouraged them to share their own experiences and take part in practical exercises.
" I've greatly appreciated the exchanges that I've had with my colleagues from other countries," underlines Soumaila Rabo, one of the participants from Burkina Faso and the Chief Editor at Radio Savane FM.
" They've given me a new perspective of the events that have taken place here."

The training also covered hosting interactive programmes and debates, political interviews and investigative reports. External contributors, whether university lecturers, journalists or figureheads in civil society, provided their expertise throughout the course, with one notable example being Sam's K Le Jah, one of the founders of the Balai Citoyen (Citizen's Broom) political movement.

Jean-Marie Coat deliberately focused on political journalism from the perspective of news and information being processed by citizens. This approach was appreciated by the participants, including Soumaila.
" In my opinion, this training course is highly original as it tackles political journalism by starting from the needs and expectations of the people, rather than by simply providing coverage of the candidates' campaigns", he says.

The ten professionals taking part in the course were taught about the media's role in raising public awareness concerning matters of general interest, and in taking account of the public's concerns in programmes featuring the politicians in charge.
With their teaching skills and journalism techniques stronger than ever before, they are now in a position where they can return to their respective countries and lead training courses of their own, which they will provide to their colleagues in the media during the upcoming elections.

This training course is just the first step of an ambitious programme, with the next step scheduled to take place in Ouagadougou in February 2015, when a seminar will be held to discuss the media's place in democracy, which will bring together media professionals, traditional authority figures, university lecturers and representatives of civil society.