FESOJ completed training improving the professional skills of twenty young journalists in Garowe city

Mogadishu, Thursday, September 28, 2023: The Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ) has completed 2- two-day training workshop with young newly employed journalists across Somalia on professional skills in Garowe city, Puntland State.

The 2 -day training workshop conducted from 26th to 27th September 2023 at Hotel Dayah in Garowe city held for 20 young journalists drawn from different media outlets including radio stations, Radio/TV stations and freelancers.

The intention of the 2-day training workshop was to improve the professional capacity of the newly employed young journalists, particularly in the ethics of journalism and media law.

In his opening remark, Suleyman Said Haji Nur, Director of Media Department of the Puntland Ministry of Information pointed out FESOJ has brought valuable opportunity for the young journalists in Garowe city to take advantage in improving their skills and serve with their community.

Speaking at the opening session, Farah Omar Nur, Secretary General of FESOJ mentioned similar training has been conducted at other regional states and pointed out this training courses, the fifth of its type, are appropriate for the youth who are new to journalism.

Similar training workshops had previously been conducted in Mogadishu, Kismayo, Baidoa and Dhuusamareeb for eighty young journalists newly hired in those respective areas.

During the 2-day training proceedings, the young journalist participants were taken through the main themes focusing on: Journalism ethics, the media law, gender sensitive reporting, use of social media – roles and critiques and combating disinformation.

In his closing remarks on day 2 Suleiman Said, Director of Media of the Ministry of Information of Puntland State, urged the journalists to serve their community with their increased capacities.

On his part, Farah Omar Nur, Secretary General of FESOJ pointed out that the training will be continued as similar capacity building programs have been held five major cities until now.

Furthermore, FESOJ convened a one – day training session on September 28, 2023 at Hotel Dayah, Garowe city with six trusted individuals from three media houses in Garowe city, Puntland State.

During the training sessions, Farah Omar Niur , FESOJ Secretary General detailed about the labour rights booklet which is summarizing knowledge of the journalists labour rights, and the trade union at workplace that practically unifies journalist workers ,and advised the journalists to enter agreement with the employer , which encourages both parties to respect the rights and obligations written within the agreement.

The six trusted persons were also trained in the tasks of addressing labor rights issues in their workplaces. The participants consisted of three male and three female journalists from Radio Garowe, SBC Radio/TV and Puntland Radio/TV.

The journalists raised some questions with the FESOJ Secretary General after receiving each printed copy of the booklet entitled “Journalist Know Your Rights.”.

The Radio SBC and Radio/TV of Puntland were new stations joining in the membership replacing the previous stations Radio Sahan and Radio PSU that was reported to be off- Air and service.

The training workshop for the young journalists and the trusted persons is part of a series of capacity building program activities funded by the EU, supported by Free Press Unlimited (FPU) and implemented by FESOJ in cooperation with VIKES.