Capacity Building for Haitian Media
As part of the effort to foster and promote dialogue among Haitians, the MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) and UNESCO in Haiti have made a network of 9 Multimedia Centres (MMCs) available to civil-society organisations and local authorities. Established in the communities as venues for learning and exchange, the MMCs enable beneficiaries to share information and knowledge as they work together on resolving priority concerns in their regions. Haitian journalists are regular users of the MMCs, where they enjoy free internet access, and technical (raising awareness of new technologies) and thematic (human rights, HIV, etc.) training. Radio in Haiti is a true mass medium, attracting more than 80% of the national listenership. Although very dynamic, the sector suffers severely from the low level of training of its journalists, particularly in the regions. Indeed, despite the existence of a handful of privately owned journalism schools ? 85% the Haitian national education system is privately owned, the level of training of most journalists is such that they are incapable of critical and investigative journalism. Additionally, the radio sector in provincial towns suffers from a cruel shortage of technical resources, and often from a lack audio recoding equipment and appropriate premises. Journalists have to count on their memories and hand-written notes when transcribing statements or interviews. And when they do have the equipment to record their reports, they often have neither the know-how nor the equipment required to edit them. The project aims to provide journalists with the resources they need to record and edit their interviews and reports in professional conditions, before forwarding them to their offices; build journalists' capacity to process information in a professional manner (critical analysis of facts, investigative journalism, etc.); reinforce journalists' know-how in audio processing (mixing, production, editing, etc.); raise media professionals' awareness of journalism ethics and standards; raise the media awareness of the principle of good governance; and restore trust in the relationship between journalists and other sectors of society.
This project, which aimed to build the capacities of Haitian journalists, in particular in the provinces, has fulfilled its objectives. The three-day workshops in nine departments made it possible to reach those journalists in greatest need of training in a country that does not possess a journalism training institution. By equipping the MINUSTAH CMCs with a computer, the project also enabled better access to information by journalists. The activity was completed in 2009 and the final report was submitted to the UNESCO Bureau in Haiti. Above all, this project laid the foundations for other UNESCO-AJH projects that were successfully launched after the earthquake of 12 January 2010.