AJMI - Doha

Al Jazeera Media Institute, in cooperation with RASAD Center for Humanitarian and Development Studies in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, has concluded Al Jazeera Ambassadors Initiative program, which brought together 120 journalists, media professionals and content creators.

Program closing ceremony was attended by a number of senior officials, including Ahmed Othman Hamza, Governor of Khartoum State; Salma Ishaq, Minister of State at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Welfare; Al-Tayeb Saad Al-Din, Acting Minister of Culture and Information in Khartoum State; Professor Mamoun Humaida, President of the University of Medical Sciences and Technology; Major General Abdulrahman Al-Jaali, representative of the President of Karary University; Mujahid Sati, Director of External Media; and Salah Omar Al-Sheikh, Secretary-General of Sudanese Journalists Union, alongside a number of journalists and media professionals.

Speaking on the occasion, Kamal Abdel Sattar of Aljazeera Media Institute stressed that the end of the training period doesn’t mean the end of the program, but rather the beginning of a new responsibilities and commitments. He urged participants to unite their efforts and transform skills they had acquired into professional content capable of carrying the voice of Sudanese people to the world.

In his remarks, Mohammed Mahdi Al-Maqbool, Director of RASAD Center for Humanitarian and Development Studies, thanked Al Jazeera Media Institute for supporting Sudanese journalists and media professionals and enabling them to continue fulfilling their mission despite war conditions. He noted that the current Al Jazeera Ambassadors’ Initiative program represents more than a conclusion of a training course; it embodies renewed hope and determination of media professionals and content creators to continue playing their vital role. He added that the program attracted significant interest, as we received 520 applications in just one week, from which we selected only 120 participants.

For their part, trainers Amal Adel Al-Baz and Tasneem Dahab said the program was conceived in response to the growing need for human-centred stories that reflect realities faced by Sudanese people amid the war. They highlighted the importance of equipping and enabling journalists and content creators to produce professional, well-documented final production that counters misinformation and inaccurate reporting.

Held from 16 to 19 August, the program featured two training courses in human-centered storytelling and digital story production. The courses focused on boosting participants’ skills and enabling them to move beyond simply reporting events towards producing journalistic materials that put people at the heart of the story, documenting details of their lives, hardships and aspirations directly from the field.