Development Journalism

A three month training course on “Development Journalism”, funded by the German government has started here at Journalism and Mass Communication Department University of Peshawar on Thursday. The training course was conducted under the Independent Project Reporting (IPR) implemented by the Fata Secretariat and Deutsche Gesellschaft für InternationaleZusammenarbeit GIZ, funded by the German government.

The University of Peshawar with its JMC is an important partner of the programme from the very beginning in 2010. In this connection, an inaugural function was held to formally initiate a three months certificate course on Development Journalism at the JMC, which could be mainly focused on the applied side of journalism. The students achieving a better understanding on the work of development co-operation and promotes responsible journalism.

The varsity Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Rasul Jan was the chief guest, while the Director General Projects Fata Secretariat Mazhar Ali Shah, Stefan Schmid, Head of Fata Development Program, Dean Faculty of Management and Information Sciences Professor Dr Abdul Qayyum, Chairman Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Professor Dr Shah Jehan Syed also attended the course opening ceremony.

The department has been imparting trainings for capacity building of the journalists for the last 16 years, said chairman Department of JMC in his opening remarks. He added the Independent Project Reporting program started in January 2010 with the support of GIZ to provide hands on experience to media practitioners of KP and Fata. About the certificate course on development journalism he said that the program is initiated with the aim of filling the gap between theory and practical.

“Skill is to me equally important than a degree, said Dr Rasul Jan, while speaking on the occasion. This is because the international companies and enterprises are on the outlook for skilled professionals in the globalised world, he added. Fata is an area of concern for me as a Pashtun, head of this institution and being an inhabitant of this area he said. It’s high time we and the international donors pool our resources together and formulate a long term strategy for the uplift of the underprivileged people of Fata, he opined. Stefan Schmid, of GIZ, Head of the Fata Development Programme stated that IPR is well perceived by the villagers and highlights the role of journalism in the programme supporting transparency, accountability and building trust.

The DG Project Fata Secretariat Mazhar Ali Shah and Training co-ordinator of IPR Naeem Gul described the course content of the program. He said 15 different courses ranging from reporting for print, feature writing, reporting for TV to single camera reporting are part of the, “learning things by doing program.”