Organized in cooperation with the Kunene Regional Council, the Kunene Regional Youth Forum and Die Republikein, a three-day workshop will be attended by 18 young volunteers from the Kunene region. By training young people from rural areas on reporting skills, UNESCO expects to enable them to become sources of news on conservation and tourism related issues. More particularly, trainees will acquire the basics of good photography, reporting and news-preparation skills, and will learn how to structure a story and upload information on the web.

In addition to providing participants with new skills and making them ICT-literate, the training in Outjo seeks to increase voices of rural people in the media and diversify the sources of news through the content, generated by the active participation of users.

This pilot project, conceived for being replicated in other regions, is a direct follow-up to the recommendations formulated in the <a target_blank href="http://portal.unesco.org/en/files/48201/12898150031unesco_lowres.pdf/unesco_lowres.pdf">Research into Community Media Centers and Community Radio in Namibia</a>, which was undertaken in partnership with MISA-Namibia in 2009. The paper suggests, among other things, organizing training on ICT in order to ensure the sustainability of community centers.

The upcoming workshop will contribute towards increasing media and information literacy of young people from rural areas in Namibia. This initiative lies within the framework of UNESCO's contribution towards the promotion of community participation in sustainable development through community media. It seeks the realization of Millennium Development Goal 3 on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, with a particular focus on media related issues.