Strengthening the human and material resources of VGK Radio
VGK FM is one of the rare radio stations in the Plateaux region. It transmits within a very limited broadcast range of 15 km and only covers the town of Palimé, and a few, small, nearby villages. The vast majority of the districts in the coffee and cocoa triangle are therefore not covered by VGK FM and are victims of the decline in coverage that is observed as one moves away from Lomé, the capital, to the north of Togo. To compensate for this lack of technical resources, which limits the range of coverage of the VGK FM station, to strengthen the technical and operational capacity of the personnel.
Prior to the training sessions, several planning meetings were held between journalists, internal and external collaborators, and the project coordination committee. Infrastructure, production equipment, resources were purchased and/or identified to accommodate the various training sessions, training materials were developed and media trainers and resource persons were recruited. Over two weeks, four training sessions were facilitated. During the first week a training lab focused on animation, the holding of the antenna and the mastery of the driver was held on day 1 and 2, while a radio technical workshop was held from day 3 -5. During the second week, three days was focused on radio production training while the last two days involved a practical workshop whereby participants were given the opportunity to put into practice the skills and techniques they had been taught.
Overall, the project was carried out as it was planned. A considerable amount of time was spent in the planning and preparation phase which contributed to being able to effectively facilitate four in-depth training sessions within two weeks. The capacities of beneficiaries are now enhanced to perform optimally on radio production techniques and quality radio programmes are produced by Radio VGK, enabling access for a greater proportion of the Togolese population to the radio station.