Capacity Building for Journalists

Period: January 2010 to June 2010
Supported by: Free Voice

The six-month long project, aimed to develop a group of journalists and conduct six-month advance training for female journalists, was completed as scheduled successfully. 

Under the project activities New Network organised three different ToT programmes (Training of Trainers) in Bogra, Khulna and Chittagong districts of the country, where 45 journalists were trained. Besides, twenty young women journalists, received six- month long advance training on journalism with three months internship in major national newspapers and TV channels in Dhaka. A two-month journalistic English language development course for female journalists was also held in cooperation of the Department of English Language, University of Dhaka. The Netherlands Ambassador to Bangladesh HE Alphons J.A.J.M.G Hennekens attended closing ceremony of one of the ToT programme as the chief guest. The ambassador distributed certificates among the participants in the programme held in Chittagong.  

 

Fellowship Program for Women Journalists

Supported by: USAID PROGATI
Period: 15 July 2009 – 31 December 2010

The project awarded 40 women journalists for a six-month fellowship on journalism. The fellowship included three-month in-house training and three-month internship in the country’s major national print and electronic media. The fellowship emphasised on improvement of fellows’ capacity on investigative reporting, aimed to promote good governance and combating corruption.  About two third of the fellows are now well set in the field of journalism and doing fine.

During the fellowship several experience sharing and motivating meetings were ’ organised with country’s renowned personalities to enrich their knowledge, outlook and level of confidence. The personals who gave their thoughts and ideas to the fellows were; Professor Muzafar Ahmad, former minister Dr. Mizanur Rahman Shelly, Selina Hossain, Dr. Maleka Begum, Rizwan Hasan, Barrister Muzur Hasan and Khushi Kabir.

As part of the fellowship the fellows prepared seventy-five in-depth reports on various issues. And, those were released to media for publication and media also published the items with due credit.

A certificate giving ceremony was held at Dhaka on December 8, 2010.

Chief Information Commissioner former Ambassador Muhammad Zamir, Chief of Party of USAID Progati Hugh C. Orozco, Samakal Editor Golum Sarwar, CEO and Chief Editor of Boishakhi TV Monjurul Hasan Bulbul, Former BSS Editor Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, International President of Commonwealth Journalists Association(CJA) and former Editor of Daily Sun Hassan Shahriar, trainers and fellows, representatives from various organisation, including USAID Progati and a number of senior journalists of major news media houses were present in the occasion. Media people from newspapers, agencies and TV channels widely covered the event.  

200Capacity Building for Journalist of Three Hill Districts

June 2010- May 2011
Funded by: UNESCO/IPDC

A twelve-month project on capacity building for Journalists was launched in June 1, 2010. Under the project, News Network organised three different one-month long trainings in the hill districts of Khagarachari, Bandarban and Rangamati in Bangladesh. It was the first of its kind to train the journalists in hill districts. Senior journalists, working for international and national media, conducted the courses.

 The project was completed successfully in time. 60 local journalists, including 9 female and 51 males were brought under the skill development training programme of the project. The participants found the programme very effective and useful for their professional development. During the trainings they were given better understanding on various issues, including ethics of journalism, professional duties and responsibilities, social responsibilities of a journalist, human rights, gender equalities, global warming and climate change, journalists’ role for combating corruption.

The progrmme draw attention of various levels, particularly in media houses and different local press bodies of the country. The trained reporters/ correspondents/ stringers, are now doing far better than earlier and more careful about their professional duties and responsibilities. The quality and number of reporting items were reportedly increased during the period following the training programme.

Education Programme for Harijan Children

Supported by: Anne Frank- Fonds 
Project period: July 2008 – 2013

The project was initiated in 2008 under the assistance of Anne Frank-Fonds, a Swiss based donor agency, and completed successfully. News Network started the project with a view to supporting the educational needs of the Harijan Children. Two elementary schools have been set up in Bogra city, a northern district of the country. About 40 children were enrolled in each of the school. Due to lack of funding the school were shut down after five years. But it was very effective to help develop and educate the Harijan children because their access to education were limited in the society.

Harijans are the poorest segment of the poor, deprived of most of the social privileges such as education, healthcare, sanitation and safe water. The exact size of the Harijan population in Bangladesh is not known. But it is likely to be several thousand scattered across the country.

Programme for Promoting Human Rights of Ethnic Minorities

Project Duration: January 2008-June 2009
Supported by: Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD)

Under this project, News Network published a book titled’ ‘Ethnic Minorities in Bangladesh’. The book is comprised of profiles on different minority communities.

The main objective of publishing this book was to highlight the plight of the minority communities as their basic rights are denied in many ways. Frequent arson attacks and land grabbing made life difficult for them. Mahfuzur Rahman and Muhammed Abdur Rahman Jahangir two journalists of Bangladesh authored the book.

Through investigative writing, authors found the sufferings of the minorities were endless.  Literacy rate among the ethnic minorities are very negligible, as poverty keeps their kids away from school. Another barrier to their education is language. As

the ethnic minorities speak their mother tongues and follow their own cultures since birth, their introduction to Bengali and enrolment in schools take place late. That also delays their children’s first visit to school. Since the majority of ethnic minorities are illiterate, they have to work as farm labourers to earn their livelihoods. Poverty, malnutrition and unemployment are the common problems among the indigenous people.

The book mentioned the history of deprivation of the ethnic minorities is long. They suffered at each turn of historic events like British-introduced Permanent Settlement Act, division of India on the basis of two-nation theory, different racial riots, tri-division movement, Indo-Pak war and independence war of Bangladesh. Many of the ethnic minorities became landless during political and social changes brought about by these historical events.

Fellowship Programme for capacity building of young journalists

Support by: UNESCO/IPDC
Project period: October 2007-April 2008 & October 2008 -October 2009

In two phases News Network implemented five different one-month fellowships in five important divisions and districts headquarters, aiming to   capacity development of young journalists. About one hundred and twenty-five (175) journalists, including male and female were benefited from this project. The first phase (October 2007- April 2008) of the training was organised in Khulna divisional headquarter and Bogra district headquarter. In the second phase (October 2008 – October 2009), programmes were held in Barisal, Sylhet and Rajshahi divisional headquarters. Senior journalists from various media houses conducted the courses.

The journalists were also given better understanding about ethics of journalism, human rights and their social responsibilities. They found the training very useful and effective for their professional development.

Development Programme for Female Journalists

Project Period: February 2007 to April 2009
Donor: Free Voice

The project started in February 2007 was aimed to increase the number of skilled female journalists in Bangladesh. During the project period, a six-month fellowship on journalism was provided to 80 female graduates. And some 20 female journalists, working from port city of Chittagong, received weeklong training on reporting skills. The project turned out successful when two third of the trained fellows took journalism as their profession.

Bea ten Tusscher, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Bangladesh and former USA Ambassador to Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Lauren Kaheaokekai Moriarty visited the News Network to meet the fellows and encouraged them. They also appreciated News Network for its activities. 

Bea ten Tusscher visited the News Network office on 19 August 2008 and distributed certificates among a group of fellows who completed their six-month training programme on practical journalism.

Fellows prepared more than two hundred news features/in-depth reports and most of those items were released to the print media, and published with due credit. Books compiled of their items were published in both Bangle and English languages.

Building Teenagers as Good Citizen

Supported by: The Royal Danish Embassy
Period: December 2006 to February 2010

In two phases News Network implemented the project in 72 secondary schools in 18 districts of the country. More than 12 thousand students aged between 14 and 15 participated in the programme. Objectives of the project were to increase the level of awareness of school students on human rights issues, including child and woman rights, and motivating them for promoting peace and tolerance in the society. The project also advocated for incorporating human rights in school curricula. Key activities of project included motivational lectures to the students and participating in an essay completion on How to be a Good Citizen. 

The Danish Ambassador to Bangladesh Einar H Jensen distributed certificates and prize money to 52 winners (students) of the essay completion. Functions were held on February 26, 2008 and February 17, 2010 in Dhaka.

Ambassador appreciated the News Network’s programme for the school student and said, “Children are considered as a long-term resource in the development process of Danish development cooperation policy. The obligation in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a direct point of departure for Denmark’s development efforts.  Denmark’s development policy promotes for the rights of children and young people and ensures them the opportunity for democratic influence”.

He said, “Assistance to the efforts designed to promote respect for human rights and governance is a central and integrated element of Danish development cooperation policy. The promotion of human rights and good governance is an essential part to the advancement of democracy and human rights. Thus the awareness of democratic and governance principles in improving the human rights situation and the overall democratization process is essential”. 

Youth in Good Governance

Supported by: The World Bank
Period: July 2006 to June 2007

“Good Governance in Bangladesh: My thoughts” within collegeNews Network organised a countrywide essay competition on and universities students age in between 20 and 25 years. Hundreds of students participated in the competition. A group of experts, including university teachers, development activists, economist and senior journalist examined the essays and selected best top ten writers.

The award giving ceremony was arranged in Dhaka on Mach 21, 2007. The World Bank Country Director Xian Zhu, Trustee Board Chairman of Transparency International-Bangladesh Chapter Professor Muzaffar Ahmad, university teachers, members of civil society, students and their guardians were present in the occasion. Xian Zhu distributed the certificates and prize money to top ten writers. A report of the programme was published later.    

Development Program for Female Journalists

Funded by: The America Center, Dhaka 
Period: October 2005 – September 2006

One of the main project activities was conducting a four-month skill development programme on journalism for 20 female graduates. The prime aim of the project was to increase the number of female journalists in the country. During the fellowship the female journalists received training on news/feature writing skills as well as photography.

A good number of feature and feature stories were developed by the fellows. They also took part in photo-walks across the country to take photos on various social issues. The news features prepared by the fellows were released to print media for publication and a book was compiled with those items and an album of photographs was published for documentation and disseminated to media houses and national-international organizations.   

The fellows found the training useful and effective. During the project period US officials working in Dhaka and Washington visited News Network and observed the programme activities. The then Charge d’Affairs of the American Embassy in Dhaka Ms. Judith A. Chammas visited News Network Office on March 6, 2006. She exchanged her views with the fellows and distributed certificates among a group of trained fellows.  She highly praised the initiative of News Network to create journalism as a profession for female graduates.