UNITED NATIONS - 2 November 2005  / www.MaximsNews.com/

RECEPTION FOR FELLOWS OF THE REHAM AL-FARRA MEMORIAL JOURNALISTS’ FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME  

UN Delegates Dining Room, West Terrace

                                           By Gloria Starr Kins

Society & Diplomatic Editor

GloriaStarrKins@MaximsNews.com  

          UNITED NATIONS - October 2005  / www.MaximsNews.com/ Shashi Tharoor United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information gave a splendid verbal send off to the participants of the 2005 Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalists’ Fellowship Programme, on the 25th year of a top training programme for junior media professionals from developing countries. 

Only the third year it bears the name of Reham Al-Farra, a young journalist from Jordan who worked in the Department of Public Information and lost her life in the tragic bombing of United Nations Headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003. 

Shashi noted “Reham was not much older than this programme, and she represented, as so many of you here do, the talent and potential of a dedicated journalist from a developing country.  It is fitting, therefore, that this programme bears her name.”  

He added in addition to experiencing first hand the excitement and drama of the Summit, – these talented young journalists – have for six weeks, been briefed on the work of the United Nations by a wide variety of senior officials, both from the Secretariat and from our Member States.  

The purpose was, of course, to help them better understand our objectives and to assist them – when they return home – to report on global issues.   

This year, we have introduced a number of innovations to the programme to better reflect the UN’s priorities, including our engagement with the non-governmental and educational sectors.  

For example, our 2005 participants – for the first time as part of this programme – met with civil society representatives to hear about their role in the work of our Organization. 

We have also, as an integral part of this year’s programme, tried to learn from the participants – to ask them how they think we can solve the communications challenges the UN faces.

To add additional drama to the 2005 briefings, we introduced a debate into our schedule this year.  This debate, on the impact of the World Summit on the UN’s agenda, was between the Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, Ambassador Munir Akram, and the Director of Communications in the Secretary-General’s office, Mr. Edward Mortimer.    

The Permanent Representative of Lichtenstein to the United Nations, Ambassador Christian Wenaweser, a member of the General Assembly Working Group on Reform of the Security Council, outlined his perspective on the various proposals on council reform.   

In Washington, the journalists had the chance to debate the merits of debt relief programmes and the effects they have on developing countries, with a programme officer at the IMF.  They also had occasion to hear Tharoor’s perspective on the achievements of the 2005 World Summit along with that of one of our key resident correspondents, Colum Lynch of the Washington Post, at a panel discussion held at The New School’s World Policy Institute. 

UNCA President, Jim Wurst, joined a memorable session with our participants, as did the Presidents of the White House Correspondents’ Association and the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.  And DPI’s Outreach Division was able to draw on its network of partners in the world of academia, including Fairleigh Dickinson University, the State University of New York in Rochester and Columbia University. 

The fellows actually put their professional skills to work during the Summit, when they filed reports to their parent organizations.  

This professionalism was evident in the way they quickly adapted to both the rigours and the pleasures of New York life, with the support of members of the advisory board, in particular from UNTV and UN Radio. 

Shashi thanked the UN Correspondents Association, for helping to make the reception possible. He also mentioned that although the team working on the programme this year was wholly new.  

"They managed even the unexpected demands of the programme very well, including instructing novice cab drivers on how to navigate Washington DC!”

Shashi’s “Thank you” was in the form of the award certificates to the participants in the program to Mohamed Abdul Aziz Al-Ansari, Foreign Information Agency of the State of Qatar Shermain Bique, Chronical Newspaper, Dominica Eun Jung Cho, Arirang TV, Republic of Korea Hannah Foullah, Radio Democracy, Sierra Leone Margarita Funes, La Prensa Grafica, El Salvador Tomas Jenik, Lidove Noviny, Czech Republic Cheryl Lim, Mediacorp News, Singapore Carol Maurille, Radio CAPP FM, Benin Maia Metaxa, BBC World Service, Republic of Moldova Tania Sabillon, El Heraldo Newspaper, Hunduras pippin Vuvui Fotu, Radio Tonga and Television, Tonga. 

And we noted always the gung-ho UN PR imparted his message “tell your readers, listeners and viewers that the United Nations is not just an interesting place but one in which a great deal happens of value to the world.  

"I hope that you will all have illustrious and successful careers, and that the knowledge and the insights that you have gained here will inform your journalism”.  

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