Asia

Bridging the Divide: A Training Project for Working Journalists in Sri Lanka

This two-year project is working with broadcast and print journalists across Sri Lanka, adopting a multi-layered approach to training and skills transmission. Courses are based around a blended learning cycle, combining online training modules with face-to-face classroom tuition and one-to-one coaching.

This project - funded by FLICT [Facilitating Local Initiatives for Conflict Transformation] which is in turn funded by GTZ [Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit] and DFID [Department for International Development] aims to build a critical mass of professional journalists who can play a leading role in the development of the mass media in Sri Lanka. The BBC, with its local partners, has been running a series of face-to-face and online courses aimed at journalists, editors and journalism trainers.

The first round of training for journalists took place from October to December 2004 in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Ampara, and Negombo. The first round of training for editors took place in Habarana in May 2005.

All participants are being given access to Sinhala, Tamil or English versions of the BBC’s iLearn website. Trainees visit these sites in order to access their online training courses and to find out about workshops and face to face courses in the region.

Useful links

DFID 

Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit

Latest Project News on India  - Key Objectives 

The project is aimed at facilitating professional development in the Indian media by implementing a bespoke blended learning programme in four target regions.

The programme will combine online learning courses and interactive forums with traditional face-to-face tuition, offering a total of 120 working journalists and media managers a sustained development cycle over 12 months.

Training will focus on improving media coverage of social issues and on encouraging participatory programming/reporting which connects with disadvantaged identity groups.

Activities will be channeled through two in-country training centres: the Indian Institute for Journalism and New Media (Bangalore) and the Indian Institute for Mass Communications (Delhi).

By the end of the project, these partners will have gained both the skills and the tools (including local ownership of the BBC’s online learning system, iLearn) to run blended learning programmes of their own.



BBC Launches Environmental Reporting Project

The BBC World Service Trust has joined forces with The Energy and Resources Institute in Delhi to deliver a two-year project aimed at improving media coverage of the environment.

The project’s main objective is to change the way in which the Indian public views environmental issues and responds to existing imperatives, thereby empowering civil society to take action and hold key stakeholders to account.

This will be achieved by training a total of 108 journalists across nine different states in the challenges of reporting on environmental issues. The training will combine face-to-face workshops with online learning and co-production field trips.

In the practical element of the training, BBC mentors will work with teams of local journalists to produce 15-minute documentary films and newspaper campaigns. If you are interested in finding out more about the project, contact sam.miller@bbc.co.uk