CCS Alumni organizes Replication Workshop on Public Policy for Journalists in Jaipur
19 journalists representing eight media house in Rajasthan participated in the first ever one day replication program of the Certificate Course on Public Policy for Journalists (CPPJ) on 24 April 2010 in Jaipur. Pioneered by the Centre for Civil Society (CCS), this new initiative started in 2009 in partnership with Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit (FNF) with an objective to provide journalists with a better understanding of public policy, its formulation and evaluation of its impact on citizens thereby enabling them to better report on important social, political and economic issues.
Mr Giriraj Agarwal, Special Correspondent, Dainik Bhaskar Group of Publications, alumni of CPPJ 2009 was the local coordinator for the workshop.
The workshop was designed keeping in mind the key objectives of introducing/popularising liberal solutions to existing problems in India with a focus on public policy and equipping journalists with the necessary tools to critically analyse issues. Based on the basic model of the standard three day residential certificate course, three key sessions were repeated from last year’s course while two new sessions focused on the role of media in modern India were introduced this year. All the session were participatory in methodology and included a brief overview and input by session speakers followed by working groups, role play and open forum discussions.
The keynote address by Mr M L Mehta was an introduction to public policy, it’s formulation, impact on citizens and the various players and stakeholders. Citing some popular India policies he highlighted the importance of proper and timely evaluation and monitoring of these policies in order to weigh the success of such interventions and if necessary to bring about positive reforms to benefit target groups.
The introductory session on the ’10 Principles of Sound Public Policy’ with input from Dr Parth J Shah was followed by working groups wherein the participants were divided into four groups. The task for each group was to evaluate these principles, add, alter or remove as deemed necessary after discussion with their group members and to come up with a revised set of principles. The presentations by group leaders were very engaging and thought provoking.
The second session on ‘Economic Freedom for the Poor’ started with the screening of the ‘Third Wheel’ a documentary based on the plight of rickshaw pullers in Delhi. A very powerful presentation by Mr B L Bajaj on how the growing Indian population, if utilized properly by the government can actually be a great human resource leading to prosperity engaged the participants in a heated discussion and at the end, consensus amongst all.
The third session on ‘Media, Civil Society and Development Issues’ by Mr Bhupesh Joshi highlighted some of the most acclaimed media articles on various issues and their contribution in making the masses think critically.
The fourth session ‘Researching Reality and Public Policy Analysis Toolkit’ jointly facilitated by Dr Parth J Shah and Ms Shipra Mathur, graduate from last year’s CPPJ introduced the basics of research tools and toolkits to analyse issues. The participants were divided into four groups and given a relevant scenario to develop a script and present a short television report. It was very interesting to note the grasp of the previous sessions inputs and discussions in all the role plays (short skits) presented by each group.
The concluding session on the ‘Role and Challenges of Media in Modern India’ by Mr MC Dandia wherein he presented a first person account of his extensive experience in the sector brought out very insightful inputs from all participants.
The workshop ended with the certificate distribution and closing remarks by Mr Giriraj Agarwal, the local coordinator of the workshop.
Media Coverage
- Rajasthan Patrakar Parishad
For Photographs of the event click here
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