The U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai sponsored two "Citizen Journalism" workshops for young people in Ahmedabad on October 18-19. The event was organized in collaboration with alumni of U.S. State Department programs. The workshops aimed to teach participants how to use digital tools like mobile phones, blogs, and Twitter to express their views and contribute positively to their communities. Nearly 70 young individuals attended the sessions, which were conducted in both English and Gujarati.
Ajay Umat, editor at the Gujarati daily NavGujarat Samay, and Jay Vasavada, a senior columnist at Gujarat Samachar, led the workshops. Earlier this year, both participated in a training session with Christine Tatum, an expert in Citizen Journalism from the United States.
"Ahmedabad youth participated enthusiastically in the Citizen Journalism workshop organized by the U.S. Consulate General Mumbai. This workshop will help them to observe and understand what they see around them in a different and positive way," Ajay Umat explained.
"Citizen Journalism will help the city’s youth to focus and report effectively on key challenges facing their communities, such as transparency and corruption, environmental degradation and climate change, and gender issues. This definitely will enable them to have a positive influence in their communities," said Jay Vasavada.
The initiative is set to expand beyond Ahmedabad with additional workshops planned for Pune, Indore, Raipur, and Mumbai.