Monday, May 15, 2006

Calling for URGENT nominations

Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalists' Fellowship Programme 2006

From UN via Abel Caine

Greetings from Australia.
I am writing to ask for your feedback and suggestions on Samoan media. Samoa has been selected to participate in the annual Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalists' Fellowship Programme, sponsored by UN-DPI, which will take place at UN Headquarters in September/October this year.
As such, UNIC Sydney/Canberra is looking to nominate four journalists from Samoa, one of whom will be selected to participate. Two of these nominees must be women. I'm also checking with our colleagues from ADB, World Bank and UNHCR.

Best regards

Jennie Watson
United Nations Information Centre - Australia and the Pacific

MORE INFO ON FELLOWSHIP

[UN Press Release] The training programme for junior media professionals from developing and transition countries concluded at United Nations Headquarters today. The purpose of the programme is to help young professionals better understand the challenges faced by the United Nations and to assist them in reporting on global issues after they return to their home countries.
The six-week programme included visits to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and to leading media and academic institutions in Atlanta, New York and New Jersey. At the United Nations, senior officials from the Secretariat, the United Nations system and Member States briefed the journalists on a wide range of subjects.


UN honours staff killed in Baghdad

[unescap.org] The United Nations has decided to rename its annual training programme for young journalists in honour of Reham Al-Farra, one of the staff members killed in last month’s terrorist bombing of the UN’s headquarters in Baghdad and the first female daily political columnist in her native Jordan. The training programme, which brings journalists from developing countries to UN Headquarters in New York, will be renamed the Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalists' Fellowship Programme, Shashi Tharoor, the head of the UN Department of Public Information (DPI), which runs the annual workshop, said in a letter to Ms. Al-Farra's mother. "I believe this Fellowship will be a fitting memorial to a young woman who was clearly committed not only to her profession of journalism but also to her mission to help make the world a better place," he wrote. "It will, I hope, honour her memory and remind us of the inspiration she gave to us all."
On the one month anniversary of the 19 August bomb blast at the Canal Hotel, Secretary-General Kofi Annan paid tribute to Ms. Al-Farra during a memorial ceremony for those killed, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, Mr. Annan's Special Representative for Iraq, and 20 others. "You chose to work for the United Nations because you wanted to do something for others," the Secretary-General said. "You went to Iraq to make a contribution to the lives of your Arab brothers and sisters. It is their loss as much as ours that you were denied the chance to do that." In mid-August, Ms. Al-Farra, 29, went to Baghdad from New York, where she worked on the Arabic-language version of the UN News Centre web site, to take up temporary duties in the Office of the Spokesman for the Special Representative. Before joining the UN earlier this year, Ms. Al-Farra was the first female daily political columnist writing for Al Arab Al Yawm, a prominent newspaper in Amman. She had also been active at the Centre for Defending Freedom of Journalists.


Please forward nominations to samoanwriter@yahoo.com as soon as possible.