2016 Reham Al-Farra Memorial Journalists Programme Begins at Headquarters

The United Nations Reham al-Farra Memorial Journalists Fellowship Programme (RAF) will be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from today through 30 September.

Organized consecutively for 36 years by the Department of Public Information, the four-week Programme brings together 15 young journalists representing media organizations from various developing countries and countries with economies in transition.  This year’s participants — eight women and seven men working in print, broadcast and online media — come from Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Guatemala, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Sudan and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  Since the inception of the Programme in 1981, 551 journalists and broadcasters from 168 countries have taken part in the Programme.

The Programme was established in 1980, when the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to develop fellowships for journalists and broadcasters to acquaint themselves with the work of the United Nations.  Formerly known as the DPI Training Programme for Broadcasters and Journalists from Developing Countries, it was renamed in honour of Reham Al-Farra, a young journalist and staff member of the Department of Public Information killed in the 2003 attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad.

Included in the schedule of activities are briefings by United Nations senior officials on major issues to be addressed during the seventy-first session of the Assembly.  The participants will also have the opportunity to meet with Permanent Representatives to the United Nations, observe the general debate of the seventy-first session of the General Assembly and be mentored by United Nations media professionals in their respective fields of expertise.

The participants will also visit major media organizations and relevant non-governmental organizations in New York City to become familiar with their operations and activities. In addition, they will participate in a two-day academic workshop at Fordham University in New York.

Below are the participants in the 2016 RAF Programme:

For further information or to get in touch with the journalists, please contact Zvi Muskal, RAF Programme Coordinator, at muskal@un.org, tel.: +1 917 367 5142, or visit http://outreach.un.org/raf.