The Mayor's offices in Hiré, near Divo (189 km north of Abidjan), hosted a training workshop for radio journalists organized by the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 28 to 31 October 2014. The training sessions were attended by some 15 presenters and journalists from Radio Watta in Hiré and the Regional Radio of Cavally in Guiglo ( 520 km northwest of Abidjan).



Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Sous-prefect of Hiré, Roger Ahui, welcomed the holding of the training session financed by UNDP and a local company and carried out by the UN Mission, which he said would "give the journalists and presenters of the new Radio Watta the skills to fully play their role as guardians of peace in the sous-prefecture of Hiré ». Mr. Ahui said that "in order for local radio stations to play their part well, they need to be professional".



The National Coordinator of UNDP's Poverty Programme, Fatima Silué, expressed her satisfaction at the quality of discussions between the trainer and participants, especially the pertinenc of their choice of modules which were presented by UNOCI, which carried out the entire training. "The ten modules were all linked and responded to the concerns of the presenters and journalists who took part in the training here in Hiré. We are very happy to see that these young people have a great desire to learn what radio journalism is all about. Now the ball is in their court. Listeners are expecting reports which will provided them with useful and credible information," she added.



The spokesperson of the participants, the new director of the Regional Radio of Cavally, Gérard Péhé, highlighted the importance of their radio. "This training workshop has given us the opportunity to learn a lot of things on the work we are doing. Our experience here has really been exceptional. The communication link with the trainer was never broken. He listened constantly to what we had to say. So for us we attained our objective," said Mr. Péhé.



For his part, the forth deputy mayor of Hiré, Jonas Akaffou Ndrin, welcomed what he described as a "good example of collaboration between UNDP and UNOCI, which has obtained results that everyone involved can be proud of".



It should be noted that Radio Watta and the Regional Radio of Cavally were established with the assistance of UNDP.