40 journalists, including freelancers, from various media outlets in Western Bahr el Ghazal State, on Monday commenced a three-day sensitive storytelling training to strengthen their skills ahead of the December 2026 general elections.
Speaking during the opening session of the training organized by the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJoSS) and UNESCO, Budgorni Stephen Musa, the UJoSS state chairperson, lauded UNESCO for simplifying the training process and bringing a qualified facilitator.
“I call upon you, my colleagues in the media, to put what we will gain here into practice,” he said. “We also need to share the knowledge we get here with other colleagues who have not attended such training.”
Meanwhile, Alor Deng Kur, a director at South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), thanked UNESCO for providing the training opportunity and encouraged journalists to make the most of it.
“I thank God that UNESCO is here to give such a training, and I hope all of you will benefit from it since we all know that there will be elections next year,” he said. “You need to engage in this training fully so that you are equipped with knowledge that will give you protection during election coverage.”
On his part, David John Jongo, Director General at the State Ministry of Information and Telecommunication, also expressed gratitude to UNESCO and UJoSS for organizing the training.
“I thank UNESCO and UJoSS because I have observed that they are committed to training journalists all the time. If a journalist is not educated or trained, they can go and mess up in the field,” he stated. “This training will enable them to learn ahead of the coming elections.”
Paul Jimbo, the UNESCO representative who is also a facilitator, said that the training aims to provide election coverage skills to journalists on safety during reporting. He emphasized that journalists must learn how to cover the elections safely, since it is the first time for the country to conduct an election.