5 February 2011 - Dozens of media and government officials in the central province of Dai Kundi met this week to discuss how best to relay information about government policies and projects to local residents and across the country.

“I hope that after this workshop, the media will be more pro-active in reporting news and sending messages to the communities, and the government will involve the media more in different processes to strengthen good governance,” said Dai Kundi Governor Qurban Ali Oruzgani.

Initiated by the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan’s Central Highland Region office (UNAMA-CHR), the Media Relation and Messaging Workshop held 1-2 February in the provincial capital of Nili was co-organized by the provincial government, the local office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and the Dai Kundi Journalists Association.

Topics covered included strategies and techniques to better communicate with for better media relations, effective methods of messaging and Afghan media law and ethics.

“Access to information is the constitutional and human right of every citizen of Afghanistan,” said Abdul Samad Faiq, head of the Afghanistan Independents Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) in Dai Kundi.

“During the workshop, the government better understood its responsibility to inform people about the decisions it makes and the work it does,” Faiq added.

By Aurora V Alambra and Jaffar Rahim, UNAMA