Regional Coordinator of HELVETAS visits SDJF Project activities in Kandy

The Regional Coordinator, HELVETAS International, Ms. Esther Marthaler visited the practical training workshop organized as part of the InSPIRE project by Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) on 7th May 2022 in Kandy. She was accompanied by HELVETAS Sri Lanka Country Director Ms. Subhashi Dissanayake, InSPIRE Program Manger Ms. Chandula Kumbukage and InSPIRE Project Officer Ms. Ramona Stephan from HELVETAS.

Ms. Esther Marthaler was welcomed by Ms. Ashviny Jeyamohan, the InSPIRE Project Coordinator - SDJF on behalf of SDJF at the practical training program. The university students shared about their learning experiences during the InSPIRE project activities including practical training programs, inter-district exchange, virtual module training sessions and other webinars. The students said that they got new knowledge about gender, women and new media, digital citizenship, freedom of expression, information rights, human rights and many aspects of MoJo and much more knowledge about other various media as part of the activities conducted by the InSPIRE project and SDJF.

 “Personally, I think it is a great project. Because it brings together a lot of different people from different universities. At HELVETAS we have special focus on youth because we think they are often underrepresented although young people are the future. Here we then give tools to be conscious enough and give capable skills enough to act responsibly,” said Ms. Esther Marthaler commenting about the youth centered InSPIRE project funded by the European Union. She expressed these ideas referring to the various media learning tools taught by SDJF in the process of enhancing the capacities in freedom of expression and exercising the Information Rights as youth in Sri Lanka.

Completing the cycle of Practical Training Sessions conducted to prepare the InSPIRE students for the upcoming Inter-University Competition, the final training was held on 7th and 8th May 2022 in Kandy on DSLR Photography. Ms. Esther Marthaler was able to witness the active participation of the students from the University of Peradeniya and Sri Jayewardenepura and the expert training given by the SDJF media trainers during this practical training workshop. It was a moment of enlightenment for Ms. Esther Marthaler as she was able to witness how in-depth the trainings take place and how SDJF invest its money, time and energy to provide the best possible media training to the students along with the hands-on experience and learnings promoting creative expression.

The project “Incubator Spaces for Promoting Information Rights and Freedom of Expression” (InSPIRE) implemented by HELVETAS Intercooperation gGmbH, in partnership with Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) is an initiative funded by the European Union.