Monrovia – The World Bank, in partnership with several media institutions, has ended a five day intensive training on website development and management to strengthen and improve the skills of webmasters of various media institutions in the country.
Report by Augustine T. Tweh – [email protected]
The closing program of the training took place on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at the World Bank local office in Congo Town.
Giving an overview of the training program, Bayzambmo Saye, chief trainer, said the training is intended to strengthen media houses in website development and management, adding that the internet has become a global village for everyone especially media institutions that are mostly involved in the use of the web for the dissemination.
According to Saye, the exercise will also help media practitioners create their own websites and craft good and interesting contents, especially about Liberia and its people.
“Website has becomes a global village for everyone, especially for institutions,” he said. “You can give your brochure to somebody and they may not have the time to read it, but if you have a website you only have to give the link to that person, and in his own time the person will go through it, which will give more information about your institution than the brochure that you create because the booklet will not have all the space the website has.”
He noted that if every media institution in Liberia has its own website, it helps attract more traffic and boost the media industry, stressing the significance of showing content to the world.
Also speaking at the program, World Bank Liberia Country Manager, Larisa Leshchenko, said the project is in fulfillment of her promise upon assuming office in Liberia.
“The World Bank decided to sponsor this important initiative because we were able to identify gaps in terms of capacity building and then decided to intervene,” she added.
She said it is important for institutions, especially media organizations, to be present on the internet, noting that the internet has become the ultimate stage of the global village.
The World Bank Country Manager noted that the training of the 20 media practitioners from various media organizations is a boost for the media industry, promising that the World Bank will continue to work with the government of Liberia, and media institutions to support the country’s development.
For his part, the President of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), Charles B. Coffey said there are emerging challenges and threats in using web services, pointing out that the PUL is optimistic that beneficiaries of the training will develop new skills to properly manage their websites.
He used the occasion to call on beneficiaries of the exercise to also train their colleagues so that media institutions in Liberia can compete with media organizations in the sub-region in web information dissemination.
“We want to thank the World Bank for the initiative, and we are optimistic that with the training you have acquired, you can now develop new skills to properly manage your websites with the content being in the interest of the public.
“The views and images you will portray must further the development agenda, exposing ills in society,” he asserted.
On behalf of the trainees, Victor Pratt of the New Democrat expressed thanks and gratitude to the World Bank for the opportunity given to media practitioners to be able to contribute to the growth and development of Liberia.
“Today we want to be thankful for this fresh knowledge that has been provided to these young Liberians to be able to contribute to the development of Liberia.
“We want extend our thanks to the Country Manager of the World Bank-Liberia for affording us the chance to gain this knowledge to be able to help our country. We want to assure you that we are committed to the process of helping the different media houses,” he said.