Jude
Abanseka
Close to thirty journalists in Bamenda have been drilled on techniques in conflict transformation with the view to foster peace through report writing.
A local NGO, Charmers Media and Communication Consults
aka CHAMECC organized a two-day workshop to that effect Thursday and Friday
December 5-6, 2019. This was within the context of a Canadian sponsored project
on promoting justice, peacebuilding and supporting mediation through media,
CSOs and youth mobilization in Cameroon.
Opening the workshop to train North West media
professionals on peace and justice, the CEO of CHAMECC, Blasius Charles Nji
explained that the workshop was the fourth in a series aimed at bringing back
peace to the troubled Anglophone regions of Cameroon. The media consultant
noted that peace journalism had to do with coverage and report of conflict
issues without bias and non-violent response to conflict. According to him,
media professionals in a crisis zone like the North West Region are expected to
engage in the journalism profession with a craving to promote justice and
peace.
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| Workshop participants |
The two-day workshop had several objectives: to
empower North West media with the confidence to appreciate their capacity to
resilience and their contribution to peacebuilding and conflict transformation
in the media. Another objective was to provide networking opportunities with
the North West media from different backgrounds, media houses and groups and
expand awareness of peacebuilding approaches and strategies. Yet another objective
was to examine the impact of marginalization on North West IDPs and refugee asylum
seeking media. It was equally to develop the issues identified by media into
policy briefs to inform institutional thinking. The workshop was also to
refresh participants on the existence of Sustainable Development Goal No 16 and
to educate participants on the existence of the Canadian Feminist International
Assistance Policy. To empower the media to initiate and sign
a strong protest to the Canadian government to tell the Cameroon government and
the international community to intervene and end the war in the two English
speaking restive regions of Cameroon. Last but not the
least, the workshop equally aimed at briefing the participants on the 17
Sustainable Development Goals.
On hand to facilitate the workshop was John Menkefor
who made the workshop very interactive. Participants took turns in sharing
experiences on how they have been able to promote justice, build peace and
support mediation in their daily task of gathering, processing and
disseminating information. After an elaborate lecture, the facilitator split
participants into different workgroups. He tasked them to brainstorm and
propose practical examples of how journalists could help to broker peace in
either rural or urban areas under certain circumstances. Ideas were shared and
synchronized at the plenary.
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| Award of Attestation of participation |
At the close of the seminar, participants expressed
satisfaction with the comprehensive package they were taking home. This as a
result of the fact that all the objectives were discussed elaborately. The CEO
of CHAMECC awarded attestations to participants as a testimony of having been
trained on how to report with the intention of fostering peace.
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