Mbandaka, 16 February 2012 – Between 15 and 21 February 2012, Radio Okapi of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) and its partner, the NGO Fondation Hirondelle organized a workshop for community radio journalists in Equateur province. The aim was to build the capacities of journalists and at the same time establish a partnership with them.

This mutually beneficial partnership will on one hand provide an opportunity to those community radios to get their message across the province or the entire country, and on the other help Radio Okapi to spread its network. This way it can reach some of those remotest areas that remain out of its coverage zone. "The training was designed to improve the writing skills of Radio Okapi's provincial editing department and to train the community radios in Radio Okapi's professional standards," explained Radio Okapi Senior Manager, Amadou Ba.

Fifteen participants took part in this workshop. They came fom Bwamanda's, 75 km from Gemena in Sud-Ubangi; Ikela, about 800 km from Mbandaka, ; and Bumba's, 750 km from Mbandaka, the district of Mongala.