By Godfrey Ndonye
The Laikipia County UNDP GEF SGP grantees will
have their capacity to gather, organize and dissipate information on
commercially oriented agriculture, livestock production and natural resources
management greatly enhanced. This is after Arid Lands Information Network
(ALIN), with the assistance of UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Global
Environment Facility (GEF) and Small Grants Programme (SGP) organized a
three-day training starting from 22nd July to 24th July
on Citizen Journalism in the Olympia Hotel in Nyahururu, Laikipia West sub-county.
The first day of the training was very interesting. After the usual housekeeping
rituals during such occasions, Mr. Athony Mugo ran the class through what ALIN
is all about and how they relate with their material and moral supporters.
A veteran journalist himself, Mr. Mugo
skillfully steered his class of fourteen ‘students’ through the different tools
ALIN uses to gather, synthesize and dissipate information, among them FARMIS,
And SOKO+ as well as a proud creation of
the group members’ own newsletter, the Laikipia
Maliasili.
Mr. Bob, a young journalist already with a
journalistic achievement award under his belt, relieved the first facilitator
and ably guided the attentive students through the definition of journalism,
its rationale and the challenges attendant to it. Mind mapping exercises were
followed by instructions on how to organize ones ideas, the difference between
news writing and creative writing and, finally, the all-important topic of
information gathering techniques.
Mr. Bob capped the day with giving the class
pleasantly challenging exercises to be completed and emailed to him before the
start of the following day. If the first
day was anything to go by, the training was going to be an attention grabbing
activity that would change the attitude and lives of many.
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