To contribute to transparent, accountable and credible holding of local government elections as tenants of peace and stability, MISA Lesotho trained 42 journalists to cover local government elections held in Lesotho on 30th September, 2017.
The training was held immediately before the elections.
The content was guided by the local government act and the media code along with relevant, media/related issues in electoral reporting. The training content was designed to help journalists appreciate the importance of effective reporting about the local government system beyond local government elections.
It was generally agreed that the media need go beyond reporting to education that influences people’s attitudes and behaviour on various life issues.
At the end of the training, participants were empowered to report on the electoral process in a manner that add value and credibility to the elections results thereby contributing to maintenance of peace in Lesotho.
Specific objectives
The following are three objectives that this project was designed to achieve;
- Build the capacity of journalists on reporting local government elections
- Contribute to transparent, accountable and credible holding of local government elections as tenants of peace and stability that elections should bring about
- Ensure quality reportage of local government elections to promote the electorate’s confidence in the results
Expected results
The expected results of this project were:
- The training of 40 journalists representing print and electronic media in Lesotho
- A two-day residential training
- A wide media coverage of September 30 local government election in Lesotho
