Ground Breaking "Cyber Training" on Reporting on HIV/AIDS in Africa
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Washington, D.C. -- The African Women's Media Center, a project of
the Washington-based International Women's Media Foundation, will
hold a pioneering "cyber training" on reporting on HIV/AIDS over the
Internet for African journalists from Sept. 25 to 29, 2000.
The Internet-based seminar is designed to equip African journalists
with substantive knowledge about the disease and also provide them
with practical tips on reporting on HIV/AIDS in Africa. Particular
emphasis will be given to how the disease touches the lives of women
on the continent.
The Internet will play a key role in the training, which has been de-
signed as distance learning for English speaking journalists. Host
sites throughout English-speaking Africa will offer space and com-
puters to reporters who wish to take the training. Participants will
also be able to log on to the sessions using their own computers. Cy-
ber classes will be conducted by a moderator, with the participation
of trainers and experts on the disease. Participants in the program
will also receive extensive background on HIV/AIDS and review inves-
tigative journalism techniques. There will be opportunities for
online discussions, as well as both classroom and online assignments.
Participants may either work alone or with other journalists at host
sites to complete the exercises.
Sessions will be live for four hours each day for five days, with am-
ple opportunity for interactive chat. A different subject will be ad-
dressed each day, using HIV/AIDS experts and journalists who have
covered the disease in Africa as guest lecturers and resource per-
sons. The program will begin in Washington, D.C. each day at 6 a.m.
and run to 10 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, to allow for time zone
changes in Africa. Anyone who cannot participate during the program's
live hours, can log on to the forum and add comments at the AWMC web
site after each day's discussion.
The training has been designed to make getting information about re-
porting on HIV/AIDS easy. Participants will simply log onto the
AWMC's website, http://www.awmc.com , then follow point and click di-
rections. Following the training, the AWMC will publish "A Resource
Guide for Reporting on HIV/AIDS". Host sites include African-based
U.S. embassies, offices of Chevron and Bristol-Myers; and NGOs in Da-
kar, Senegal; Windhoek, Namibia; Soweto and Johannesburg, South Af-
rica; Lagos, Nigeria; and Nairobi, Kenya.
For Further information, contact:
Gifti Nadi
Project Manager
Tel: +1-202-496-1992
mailto:gnadi@iwmf.org
http://www.awmc.com
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