Eco-Journalists Network-Balkh (Mediothek Afghanistan for Development and Peace Organization) with the support of The Liaison Office (TLO) and The Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBS) organized a three-day training workshop under the title ” Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change” in Mazar-e-Sharif on July 29, 2021.
The training workshop was attended by 18 journalists, including five women, representing various local media outlets such as radio, TV and print media. At the beginning of the workshop, Mohammad Saber Naghshbandi, Mediothek Balkh coordinator, spoke about the importance of the work of environmental journalists in the country, saying that this workshop will also lay the foundation of Balkh Environmental Journalists Network and that each member of the network will have heavy responsivities on his and her shoulder.
He expressed hope that the journalists participating in this workshop will be able to work on various issues and subjects related to the environment and environmental challenges, and that what you do will not only lead to improvements in environmental protection and awareness but also contribute to promoting environmental journalism in Balkh and neighboring provinces.
Introducing the project, Shafi Rahimi, a media expert and media coordinator of Mediothek Balkh, described environmental pollution as a silent killer that no one hears it sound. “The fact is that air pollution is way more dangerous that the ongoing war, bloody violence and corona virus,” said Rahimi “air pollution kills way more people than all other phenomenon combined, therefore we must pay attention to it and it starts with your work as you journalists and reporters.”
The workshop was conducted by Shakiba Saeedi, master of Political Science and a senior journalist with leading national newspapers, she completed a weekly long training of trainers (TOT) workshop on same topic in Kabul.
In the course of the three days, the workshop covered a broad range of topics related to natural environment, relationship between environment and journalism, environment and development, sustainability, forests and their importance in the environment, air pollution and climate change, governance and environment in Afghanistan and knowledge and skills of environmental reporting.
The training workshop was designed to maximize learning and encourage participation. A balanced mixed method of theory and practice was combined to engage the participants in discussion and group work.
Fahimeh Sadat, a journalist in Mazar-e-Sharif, says of the importance of the workshop: “environmental training is really important for journalists, the workshop presented topics that we were not aware of before and now we learned how to work on environment issues and as a citizen, in the past I was indifferent to the environment in my country and province, but after this training I will be a responsible citizen and reporter when it comes to natural environment and will do my best to raise awareness among the public through my work.”
Javad Nabizadeh, a reporter of Radio Kilid in Mazar-e-Sharif, also has a positive view of the workshop, saying that he has learned a lot from this workshop about topics that he did not know much about before the training workshop.
Nabizadeh adds “the program was effective and included very good information on the environment, topics that journalists need to know about, and the establishment of the network of environmental journalists is a very big achievement and a positive step, it will bring journalists together to work on environmental topics at local level, we did not have anything like this and am very happy about it.”
The workshop ended with the establishment the Environmental Journalists Network-Blakh and the distribution of certificates of successful compilation to the participants by Meditohek Balkh representatives and Mohammad Bashir Ansari, head of the Afghan Journalists Committee in the north. The –Eco-Journalists Network has also simultaneously conducted similar training workshops in several other provinces across the country.
