By Olimatou Coker
The National Social Protection Secretariat (NSPS), under the Office of the Vice President, Thursday trained 15 media personnel on social protection. The day-long intensive training held at the NSP secretariat in Kololi was meant to raise awareness among journalists about social protection and the role of NSPS, as well as bring together media stakeholders to discuss issues relevant to social protection reporting and messaging.
The training was also designed to help raise awareness about the importance of registering for the Gambia social registry data collection.
Ebrima Njie, the director of the public information campaign (PIC), said the training will introduce journalists to social protection issues in the country.
“We believe that will help them to be able to communicate social protection issues effectively,” he said.
The president of the Gambia Press Union, Muhammed MS Bah, described the session as timely, citing the media’s role in disseminating credible information as critical to the rollout of the project.
Momodou Dibba, the coordinator of the NSPS, said the media plays a key role in informing the public about the objective and importance of social protection issues to national development.
He said journalists should be trained to understand social protection to be able to report on it properly.
“It is essential for journalists to understand the subject matter of what they are reporting on. This is part of the reason why we identified journalists as key partners in this process,” he said.
The NSPS is a coordinating body that works with implementing agencies for efficient social service delivery using a centralised database.
