Raising awareness of journalists on food security and nutrition topics in Tajikistan

© FAO Tajikistan

A two-day training for journalists on awareness raising issues in the field of food security and nutrition was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. The training was initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and implemented by the Republican Healthy Life Style Centre under the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Population in Tajikistan.

A total of 15 journalists with expertise in agriculture, food security and nutrition who work for national social media outlets, including local press, were trained on how to improve media reporting on such topics as improved food security and nutrition, including production of healthy food.

The aim of the training was to increase awareness and improve knowledge about food security and nutrition issues in Tajikistan and strengthen the abilities of media specialists to produce technically correct contents by using reliable global and national sources in order to inform the population and contribute to national policies implementation.

The media plays a vital role in building awareness and influencing public opinion, in general. Thus, their role goes beyond conventional reporting and they may take a lead in communicating reliable information and promote inclusive approach for agricultural growth, better nutritional and strengthened social protection nets.

“It is crucial to advance media’s capacity in informing the nation about food security and nutrition in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2. Consequently, enhancing the media’s capacity in understanding food security and nutrition subjects becomes important as it improves sound reporting on food availability, food access and food utilization,” – stated Oleg Guchgeldiyev, FAO Representative in Tajikistan. “As a part of other project’s efforts, such as online discussions and training for various levels of the society, this activity will contribute to the overall national policies implementation”.

“I was happy to learn about effective use of media tools and new methods in raising the public awareness on healthy food and its impact on the healthy population, the importance of nutrients, ways of preserving agriculture products and other valuable information” – said Ikromov Muhamadorif, journalist for district newspaper “Vakhsh”.

This training was part of awareness raising campaign in Tajikistan under the FAO project “Developing Capacity for Strengthening Food Security and Nutrition in Selected Countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia” funded by the Russian Federation. The project is to strategically mediate the challenges in the country and promote cross-sectoral collaboration by providing adequate capacity to effectively pursue and manage coherence between agriculture, nutrition, health, education and social protection sectors.