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The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) is working in collaboration with Senegal’s largest journalists’ union on a program to help media professionals work with greater effectiveness to promote media freedoms and protections.

The 18-month program, which began in October 2009, is called “Strengthening the Truth Tellers: A Multimedia Program to Bolster Media Associations and Protect Media Workers in Senegal.”

Its mission is to enhance the skills of journalists and editors, build a cadre of credible bloggers, increase communication among all of these Senegalese media professionals, and strengthen the associations that represent them and work to protect their rights.

ICFJ is working with the Senegalese Union of Information and Communications Professionals (SYNPICS) as well as smaller associations of journalists and editors to strengthen the management and infrastructure of the organizations and fortify their efforts to promote changes in the punitive media laws. The program combines training in journalistic skills, ethics and management with the array of digital tools. It is designed to bolster media reform in Senegal through capacity-building support for media associations as well as outreach and training on media skills and freedoms. The program has four major components:

• Management consulting for the media associations;
• Legal assistance to the associations to refine their strategies to respond to punitive laws;
• Training for young journalists and bloggers, and skills building for mid-career professionals;
• Improved communication among journalists to strengthen professional networks