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Donors to train over 200 journalists for polls
2005-04-21 08:49:05
By Henry Lyimo
About 220 journalists in Tanzania will undergo a donor-funded civic education programme to prepare them to cover the forthcoming general election impartially.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)Resident Representative, John Hendra, said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the British Broadcasting Corporation, Media Council of Tanzania and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), would conduct the training.
This is part of the national training programme for electronic and print media journalists to equip them for impartial election and political reporting to be funded by UNDP and other donors.
The training, to be conducted in Tanzania, will involve 200 reporters and 20 editors, he said.
Like in the 2000 general election, the Media Council will also monitor the coverage of the elections in the print and electronic media, he said.
The Tanzania government, UNDP and the Joint Donor Basket for the 2005 have developed a programme for technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of the National Electoral Commission, civil society, the media and political parties to hold free and fair elections.
The technical assistance is to help in improving participation of the citizens in the electoral process and understanding of their rights and duties.
Eleven donors countries including Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UNDP, and United Kingdom support the Joint Donor Basket for the 2005 elections.
Hendra said the basket has received pledges totalling approximately 10m US dollars.
The joint donor basket supported an initial capacity that needs assessment of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), the UNDP boss said.
According to him, the basket supported preparations of the permanent voters register in terms of logistics support in the establishment of a warehouse and plans for supply and distribution of materials for the registration exercise.
The basket also assisted NEC with the development of a website on which results will ultimately be published, he said, adding that hardware and software have been procured to enable NEC to adequately maintain and update the website.
Tanzania is holding a third multiparty election to elect a successor of President Benjamin Mkapa who winds up his second and last term in office this year.
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