DUSHANBE, August 18, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- A series of seminars to discuss issues related to role of media in safeguarding the rights of women and children in Tajikistan are conducted in Dushanbe on August 16-20. 

Nodira Rahmonberdiyeva, training program coordinator, the National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (Nansmit), told Asia-Plus today that the seminars are conducted within the framework of the “Mobilizing the Media in Support of Women’s and Children’s Rights in Central Asia” project, which is implemented under financial support of the European Union.  

The project is supported by the European Union and trains journalists, editors, media managers and NGO workers in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan to produce publications and broadcast programs, including television documentaries, on issues related to women and children.  In addition to harnessing the media’s ability to raise awareness of the situation of women and children in the region and hold policymakers to account, the project is dedicated to build the abilities of civil society organizations to develop and disseminate key messages about vulnerable groups.

The project is designed for two years and its first stage included conducting training for electronic and print media, the second stage includes training seminars for editors and media managers, and the third stage includes training for NGO workers, the training program coordinator said.