RAMALLAH, October 16, 2009 (WAFA)- Fourteen radio and TV journalists will soon be training their peers after completing BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) training for trainers courses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

These media professionals are now ready to train staff in their own stations, as part of a two-year 'Support to the Palestinian Media Sector’ project funded by the European Union and the Dutch Government.

“Enthusiasm demonstrated by the participants will lead to some good in-house training for some of the leading radio and TV stations in the region. And that, in turn, will lead to better journalism, serving Palestinian audiences”, said BBC WST trainer, Tony Howson.

Each of the two courses lasted five days and trainees developed skills in planning, organising and delivering training as well as mentoring other media professionals.

Journalist Safa’a Al-Habeel from Alwan Radio in Gaza said that the training came to “fulfil a huge need in the Palestinian media. It provided us with skills of training that enables us to pass on knowledge to other colleagues.”

Kamal Shurrab, Head of News Programming at Voice of Palestine Radio, explained that the training equipped him with the necessary skills to train his colleagues, which will eventually help them change the daily routine of their work to better serve the audience. 'The training did not only improve our individual skills, but will have a long lasting impact on the institution as a whole' Shurrab concluded.

This training came as a second stage of an overall training for trainers development plan targeting almost thirty journalists. The first stage which was concluded last June targeted existing journalism trainers working in the Palestinian media, some of whom had never attended a training for trainers course in the past.