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Young Yemeni Journalists trained in Peace journalism

In a context where media is threatened and the information polarized, media can be key to either fuel the conflict or promote an inclusive and peaceful society.
After years of conflict, finding reliable and fact checked information on the peace-building process has become harder. Amidst a divided media landscape, disinformation and misinformation is spreading, further eroding the trust in information and adding to the exclusion of the youth from the peace building process.
To address these challenges, UNESCO, in partnership with Media Association for Peace (MAP), and with the support of RNW Media, organized a 5 days training of trainers on peace journalism in Yemen.
As part of the project "Empowering Yemeni youth towards peace: ensuring access to information and participation", funded by the United Nation Peace Building Fund, this training on peace journalism aimed at developing the skills and capacities of young journalists to provide a balanced coverage of the peace building process, giving them the keys to understand the ongoing negotiations while taking into account the different sensitivities to relay a neutral information.
The ToT focused on media ethics, understanding and analyzing conflict as well as fighting against disinformation and hate speech and practicing peace journalism. In addition, the ToT provided the participants with training techniques tools and methods.
10 young Yemeni journalists (5 women/5 men) coming from each of the five regions covered by the project (Aden, Hadhramout, Hudaida, Sanaa and Taiz) participated to the training.

28 October 2020

Last update:20 April 2023

Journalism can do a lot for Peace; however how would that be in a complicated situation such as the one in Yemen? That’s what we were introduced to in this high-quality training on Peace Journalism in addition to learning how to train trainees. We will strive to practically translate Peace Journalism to our reality.

Participant from Sanaa

The training course was amazing! I benefited a lot from it. I have learned a lot on Peace Journalism, digital media and how to become a trainer. I am surely committed to transfer the knowledge I’ve acquired in this training to other [Yemeni journalists] as well as apply the learning in my journalistic work.

Participant from Taiz

The five best trainees were selected to give a training on peace journalism to 60 journalists in Yemen and produce information materials and content on the peace building process in their country. This activity will contribute to increase the Yemeni youth access to a reliable information and to build a sense of trust and ownership as well as help them taking part in a constructive way to the peace building process.

Training highly motivated and engaged journalists from Yemen was a real pleasure. Participants haven’t only overcome the challenges of online training, but they have also asked for additional time to ask more questions and get more knowledge. The interactive methodology and participatory approach adopted kept their attention and interest during the whole duration of the training and made the learning process very smooth, active, open, inclusive, and comfortable. I’m happy and proud that now 10 new Yemeni journalists are knowledgeable and skillful in Peace Journalism and training methods and techniques and are truly ready and able to contribute to building peace in the torn Yemen.

Vanessa Bassil, Trainer - Founder & President of Media Association for Peace (MAP)

About the project

The UNPBF funded project “Empowering Yemeni youth towards peace: ensuring access to information and participation”, implemented by UNESCO in partnership with RNW Media, through its inclusive and participatory approach, aims to empower youth with the skills, knowledge and tools to create information, content and dialogue in support of the peace-building process. By combining online access to information and media development and assistance, it will be the first youth-led and youth focus initiative in Yemen providing insights into the present-day opinions and concerns of Yemeni youth on peacebuilding while amplifying their freedom of expression and aspirations with decision makers, duty bearers and peace brokers.