Within the framework of the project regarding management and knowledge sharing developed with the financial and technical support of USAID WA-WASH, the African Water Association organized a workshop for the training of journalists held on Tuesday, October 27, 2015, in Abidjan. Twenty-one (21) professionals of the media working in Côte d’Ivoire attended this training with the following topic: “Men of media and knowledge sharing in the water, sanitation and hygiene related sector in Africa”.

The work was opened by AfWA Executive Director, Sylvain Usher, who raised the importance of journalists in the information dissemination process, hence the need, according to him, to train and give them the necessary tools for the publication and distribution of the right information to the public.

The training consisted in three presentations. The first one was made by AfWA Program Director Siméon Kenfack, dealt with AfWA projects and programs for the capacity building of the African Water utilities. In the second presentation, Olivier Gosso, Production Director of the Société de Distribution d’Eau de la Côte d’Ivoire (Côte d’Ivoire Water Supply Utility), mentioned the impact of non-revenue water on the output of water utilities in Africa, then Maryse Da Sylva, PSI (Population Services International) Côte d’Ivoire Program Coordinator informed participants on urban sanitation in favor of the most underprivileged households. Finally, the intervention of the person responsible for AfWA ITC, Nicaise Kouakou, related to the Presentation of a tool for the dissemination of information: Case of AfWA platform for management and knowledge sharing.

In the work in groups that followed the presentations, participants had a discussion relating to the state of the water/sanitation sector in Côte d’Ivoire, and gave their opinions regarding the functionalities of the platform developed by AfWA, which they presented as a relevant tool for the collection of information for the men of media.

It is worth mentioning that the moderator of this work was the very person responsible for SPEN (Société de Patrimoine des Eaux du Niger) Communication Department who attended this workshop so as to bring her experience to the good progress of this workshop.