By Iliya Kure
A 4-day Training of Trainer (ToT) Media Workshop is underway in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, where select Journalists and Youths advocates are expected to acquire deeper knowledge and strategies of training media reporters on family planning.
The workshop is organised by reproductive health power house, Pathfinder International, under its Advance Family Planning Project, which will come to an end in 2022.
Welcoming participants, Country Director of Pathfinder International, Dr. Amina Aminu Dorayi expressed appreciation to the journalists who over the years have worked with her organisation in media advocacy to draw attention of policymakers to the need for investment in family planning.
She also acknowledged the role of the media in the sensitisation of Nigerians on the benefits of family planning, as well as other related issues in the health sector
Dr. Dorayi expressed optimism that the participants will acquire skills that will be useful to their colleagues, as well as other health projects in Nigeria, especially, reproductive health projects.
“The Advance Family Planning project is gradually coming to an end and we want to ensure sustainability, hence the need for this training. We want you to acquire these skills which will not only help you training other journalists, but will also be useful to train other people in your various states and your organisations,” she said.
Also speaking, Senior Advisor on Reproductive Health and Family Planning in the organisation, Dr. Sakina Bello, urged participants to avail themselves to the opportunity provided to acquire the needed skills that will make them master trainers.
She said during the/at the end of the workshop, participants will develop a training manual that will guide the trainers in the delivery of their various trainings.
“During the course of this workshop, you will develop a training manual, which you will use each time you conduct your trainings. We have a consultant who will guide you through the process of producing it.
“I urge you all to pay attention and acquire the relevant skills needed when carrying out a training,” she said.
In a remark, the Media and Communication Officer of the organisation, Mr. Bayo Ewuola underscored the role of the media advocacy in the successes recorded by the Advance Family Planning Project in Nigeria.
According to him, Pathfinder International has prioritise the training of journalists, hence the various workshops which included ethical journalism, data-driven journalism, investigative reporting and new media, among others.
Speaking on the objective of the training, Ewuola said, “it is now important to have a set of mentors among the journalists that will ensure that the skills exchange and development program for the media is further cascaded within the space. This will in turn sustain family planning advocacy at the subnational and national levels.
“The intensive workshop will further enable trained and mentored journalists under the project in the act of mounting repeater training amongst and for their peers in media advocacy for FP” says the Media and Communication Officer of the organization.
In a paper, the Training Consultant, Mr. Anslem Okolo, describe a training facilitator, as one that has good knowledge of the subject matter, which could be acquired through research, or experience.
“In conducting a successful training on family planning advocacy, you must first identify existing gap and develop materials that will help you work towards filling them”, he said.
Okolo tasked participants be up to date in the area of family planning, saying “you must always be flexible, know the issues, existing efforts and what research has been conducted on the subject, as well as statistics available.
Pathfinder International was founded in 1957, in United States of America and it came to Nigeria in 1965. Its vision is that every person, regardless of where they live, has a right to sexual and reproductive health.
The driving force for Pathfinder International in Nigeria is the large population and inadequately funded healthcare system, where millions in the country lack access to essential health services.
