Over the month of February, Relief International (RI) has organized a series of Professional Development Workshops (PDW) and Capacity Building trainings for the participants of the programme “Transparency for Human Rights in Bangladesh”. The trainees at these events have been media professionals and members of the National Network of Concerned Journalists (NNCJ), which has been formed as part of the activities of the programme. These trainings have enlightened the participants about various important issues relevant to human rights, laws and acts about reporting, methods of effective reporting, and more such useful topics.  The first day comprised of professional development of 30 journalists, and two more  days comprised of capacity building trainings for members of the National Network of Concerned Journalists. These workshops have been held in Jessore, Bagerhat and Khulna on 14^th February, 19th February and 22^nd February 2011 respectively.

The event at Khulna on 22^nd February was a very successful event, which was inaugurated by Mr. Jamsher Ahmed Khandaker, Deputy Commissioner, Khulna. In the workshop, Mr. Gouranga Nandy, Bureau Chief of Daily Kaler Kantha, Khulna moderated the session of Media and it's relation to protecting human rights while Md. Rahmatullah Faruque, Programme Officer of RI  shared the thematic perspectives of Human Rights and the advocacy mechanisms.

Given the fact that THR programme aims to use ICT and the media to promote respect for human rights in Bangladesh, it has come a long way towards achieving its purpose as various media organizations have taken an interest  in the events hosted by RI and has also communicated its core message to their respective audiences. The satellite channel RTV has covered the workshop held in Khulna, and national and local dailies like the Financial Express, The Independent,  The Daily Purbanchal ,  Jonmobhumi ,  The Daily  Anirban, The Daily Shomoyer Khobor,  and The Daily Probaho (local Bengali newspapers)  have also featured the events . Moreover, the workshops held at Jessore had also been covered by Channel I, another prominent satellite channel in the country.

Another joint training session is scheduled to take place at the end of this month on 27^th of February at Satkhira.

Media coverage on the event held at Khulna can be accessed at :

The Financial Express

The Independent

AmardeshOnline

RTV coverage