Media Workshop for Jordanian Civil Society Organisations

Wednesday, 24 June 2009 10:10

AFDC recently organised a training workshop in cooperation with the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) in Jordan titled “Media for Civil Society Organisations”
The Arab Foundation for Democracy and Citizenship (AFDC) recently organised a training workshop in cooperation with the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) in Jordan titled “Media for Civil Society Organisations” over a period of three days. This workshop comes as a part of AFDC and MEPI’s mission to empower civil society leaders, enhancing their skills to methodologically manage interaction between their organisation and various media actors.

The workshop started with an opening session by Obaida Fares Director of the Arab Foundation for Development and Citizenship, and Ms Lina Arafat, Director of MEPI’s Jordan Office, in which they stressed the importance of the role that media plays in spreading a culture of strong civil society organisations and the aims of promoting and delivering their messages.

The workshop was aimed at teaching participants a variety of skills to "impress the press." Accordingly, training was given on networking and communication, preparing press releases, news reports, and representing an organization as its spokesperson as well as how to organise a press conference and other needed skills to build good relations with the media.

The workshop included both practical and theoretical aspects, allowing the participants to practice some of the skills discussed during the workshop.

Mr Amer Alsamadi, who is a presenter on Jordanian TV and an experienced trainer in public relations, was the key trainer for the workshop.

The workshop included 18 participants from 8 different Jordanian civil society organisations.

This workshop comes as part of a project AFDC is implementing to empower civil society organisations in the Media field, building their capacity to promote their activities and achieve their goals. AFDC is currently working on a guide for civil society organisations on how to deal with the media. The guide is expected to released in the coming few weeks, after its authors have received the feedback of this workshop's participants.