Accountability Lab Liberia with funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, hosted a two-day democracy training for 15 radio managers, disc jockeys, and artists, from Bong, Grand Bassa, Montserrado, and Nimba counties. The training which is a core component of AL Liberia’s ongoing Democracy campaign (Voice2Rep) supports the media to use their platform supported by the National Endowment for Democracy, NED.

The interactive training took place at our iCampus office, home of accountability, creativity, innovation, technology and social change, on Carey Street, Snapper Hill in Monrovia.
The two-day capacity building training was aimed at increasing the understanding and knowledge of musical artists, station managers and radio DJs on democracy, the use of their platform in advocating for accountability, democracy and social change, and the importance of participating in governance, by contributing to the growth and development of the nation state-Liberia.

The training and participatory learning exchanges covered a variety of topics from a content perspective including, the democratic process, the role of citizens, the responsibilities of the government, the importance of inclusive decision-making, the need for transparency and engaging youth around elections. From a practical perspective, the trainings also included topics such as; communication techniques, social media management, radio interview techniques, public speaking, leadership and visioning and business.

The facilitation of the training was led by AL Liberia’s team who has vast knowledge and experience covering the topics mentioned, as well as, other expert facilitators; Mr. Harold Aidoo, Executive Director of Integrity Watch Liberia, Mr. Luther Jeke, CEO iCampus, and Mr. James Giahyue, who owns and operates the Daylight News Outlet.

Speaking on behalf of the participants, Kelvin Tolbert, an artist/music producer from the Ma Massa recording studio, Gbarnga, Bong County-Liberia, appreciated AL Liberia for hosting the workshop, noting that it was a timely learning event. According to him, the NED Democracy Training has allowed him to pick up some new skills, opened his mind to creative thinking/development, and adding that he intends to use all the tips and tricks he learned about Interview techniques and social media networking to expand his work and improve some of his networks.

As part of the training activities, AL Liberia administered a learning evaluation in the form of a pre-and post-test with all fifteen participants to ascertain what has been learned over the course of the workshop. A total of fifteen questions were asked at the beginning of the workshop, and the same questions were asked at the end of it. The evaluation scores recorded at the pre-test showed an average of 6 correct answers out of 15 questions, and the post-test recorded an average score on 11 correct answers out of 15 respectively. This explains the extent to which participation and learning were affected at the workshop.

Tirelo Makwela