Countdown to New Reporting Project

More than 100 journalists will improve their professional skills with an IWPR mentoring programme and intensive workshops.

In the last few months, IWPR Afghanistan has been busy preparing for a new training and reporting project in the north, after funding was received from the governments of Norway and Sweden.

The IWPR Kabul team has been planning the logistical details of the project that will encompass the provinces of Balkh, Jowzjan, Samangan, Sar-e-Pul, Faryab, Badghis, Herat, Kabul, Wardak, Ghazni, Logar, Kapisa and Parwan.

More than 100 journalists will improve their professional skills with a mentoring programme and intensive workshops set to begin in October.

Another major aim of the project is to report on the northern and western provinces of the country, which are rarely covered by the international media.

Most media attention has been focused in the south, where conflict has raged between insurgents and government and foreign forces for the past two years. 

Issues pertinent in the north are different from those which IWPR encountered in Helmand province, in the south-west of the country. Although there is a growing Taleban presence there, security is far less precarious than it is in the restive south.

Journalists participating in the new project will cover topics, including security, reconstruction, drugs, education, and other issues affecting the north.

In mid-July, IWPR programme director Jean MacKenzie and project manager Abaceen Nasimi travelled to the region to meet potential trainees and to assess the needs of the journalist community there. They toured four provinces, where they presented the project to government officials and media heads, and discussed issues of press freedom and security with journalists.