Vietnam: A workshop with "Distinction"

"During the first week of this challenging workshop we looked closely at the topic itself, and practised and brushed up some journalistic styles and skills," reports DW Akademie project manager and trainer, Thorsten Karg.

In the second week, the trainers and workshop participants travelled to the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, located approximately 500 km south of Hanoi in the province of Quang Binh. The reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the focal points of Germany's development and cooperation work.

#geosmall#Organisations such as GTZ and the German Development Service, DED, as well as the Cologne and Frankfurt zoos, are active on the reserve, working on species conservation and caring for animals injured by hunters. They are also working on opening the park to ecotourism, and on ways to increase the ecological awareness of local inhabitants and tourists.

During the field trip, participants gathered information and collected interviews, sounds and impressions relating to these Phong Nha-Ke Bang projects. In the workshop's final week participants worked them into a 45-minute environmental program for Radio Voice of Vietnam. At the closing ceremony, VoV management and the Hanoi-based German Embassy spokesperson commended the workshop results.

Project manager Thorsten Karg says working conditions were at times difficult. "The fact that we succeeded is really due to the efforts of the co-trainers, translators, participants and VoV's international relations department, and I thank them all."

The project partners expressed their thanks in return. In recognition of Thorsten Karg's longstanding dedication to advanced journalistic training in Vietnam, the VoV Director General, Dao Duy Hua, awarded him the "For the cause of Radio Broadcasting" distinction.