Journalists from five of IRIN Radio's partner stations in Somalia spent most of June 2003 at an IRIN Radio Training Workshop in Nairobi.

The trainees flew in from various parts of Somali territory - Hargeisa, Mogadishu, Bossasso, Beletweyne, and Merka. The first week of the workshop was spent in formal training sessions on news report writing, interviewing, and preparing a radio feature programme.

New to all the trainees was learning how to use the latest digital audio technology: Minidisk recorders for gathering interviews and sound effects, and Cool Edit Pro software for editing their material on computer, and mixing voices and sounds into radio programmes ready for broadcast.

In the second week of the workshop, the trainees and IRIN Radio staff went together to the venue of the Somali Peace Conference, held at Mbagathi on the outskirts of Nairobi. This was a chance for the Somali journalists to put some of their newly learned skills in radio reporting and production into practice. It was also an opportunity for them to send daily news reports by e-mail and phone to their own radio stations in Somalia on events and developments at the peace talks.

Feedback questionnaires filled in by the trainees at the end of the workshop indicate that the most stimulating aspects of the course were learning digital radio techniques, and being able to report "live" for their stations from the Somali peace talks.

IRIN Radio has provided regular coverage of the Somali peace conference since it opened in October 2002. Most Somali radio stations lack the resources necessary to maintain a regular correspondent of their own at the peace conference.

IRIN Radio seeks to improve the flow of information to vulnerable communities in crisis-torn countries by providing audio programmes on humanitarian issues, and by building the capacity of local radio journalists to enable them to serve their communities more effectively.

It also seeks to improve the flow of information from and between vulnerable communities in crisis-torn countries, not least by enabling them to make their voices and concerns heard.

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