(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) KABUL (Pajhwok): Participants of a workshop in Kabul on Thursday stressed the need for turning the access to information into a strong culture in Afghanistan over the next 10 years.
The three-day workshop, organized by Pajhwok Afghan News and funded by Demanrk through UNDP, was attended by 18 journalists from Kabul, Nangarhar, Laghman and Kunar provinces.
The workshop also trained journalists about preparing investigative reports and using their right to access to information in this regard.
Sayed Akram Afzali, head of the Oversight Commission on Access to Information (OCAI), said the law on access to information was one of the best legislations and journalists and people could get benefit of it.
€œThe law on access to information exists, but the culture of accountability is yet to be institutionalized, we need more time for full implementation of this law,€ he said.
He said access to information should be turned into a culture over the next five or 10 years.
The new access to information law was approved seven months ago to facilitate journalists and people in obtaining information from relevant organs, he added.
Danish Karokhel, Pajhwok Afghan News editor-in-chief, and an organizer of the workshop, said that journalists from the four provinces were invited to the workshop to receive training on preparing investigative and general reports using the law on access to information.
Helai Asad, a journalist with Killid Radio from Nangarhar province who attended the workshop, said, €œWe learned about the access to information law, investigative journalism and importance of investigation in journalism as well as ethics of journalism in this workshop.€
She said they also learned how to make investigative reports and unveil corruption using the access to information law.
Asad asked Pajhwok to organize more similar programs in future to enable journalists to make investigative reports and know better the access to information law.
Rangina, a Pajhwok reporter from Khost province and a participant of the workshop, said the program was effective and would help her use guidelines explained.
She said she did not know much about the access to information right and institutions that supported journalists prior to attending the workshop.
Noor Zia, a journalist with Khyber Nawakht Radio in Laghman province, also said the program had been helpful particularly about making investigative reports.
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