A group of journalists from Africa, the USA, the UK and Finland will travel to South Africa this week as part of a tour organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, which will see the journalists visit several cooperation projects between Finland and South Africa
All of the projects to be visited during the trip, which will last from 2-4 October 2013, have been financed by the Finnish government and focused on sustainable development.
Seija Kinni-Huttunen, who will be hosting the visiting journalists through her role as director of development communications in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, described the trip as "media networking at its best".
"This unique network includes journalists from 15 different African countries across the continent. We will also have two journalists from New York and London who follow African issues, as well as several Finnish journalists with us," Kinni-Huttunen remarked.
According to the Embassy of Finland, Pretoria, one of the main goals of the trip will be to strengthen the journalists’ media skills through mutual learning. The group will have internal editorial meetings and discussions about media freedom and other issues of common interest with colleagues and stakeholders.
The trip will take in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, and a special focus will be placed on the WTO's Aid for Trade initiative and private sector development. The programme will include a number of visits to companies, partner organisations and projects that promote poverty reduction through 'green' growth, job creation and opportunities for entrepreneurship.
The network came into being in 2011, when a number of journalists were invited to Finland to share ideas for a sustainable future. Last year, the group held a media seminar and a workshop in Kenya together with a number of Finnish journalists – a result of which was the network’s webpage: Suomi/Africa, Perspectives from Africa, Engagement from Finland
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Embassy of Finland, Pretoria (external site)
Suomi/Africa - Perspectives from Africa, engagement from Finland (external site)
