Ahead of the 13th National Election, the South Asia Center for Media in Development (SACMID) successfully conducted a Citizen Journalism Training. The training was held on Monday, 26 January 2026, at the Brahmanbaria Press Club.
The primary objective of the training was to strengthen women’s voices at the citizen level in the context of the upcoming election and to enhance participants’ capacity to produce responsible, accurate, and evidence-based reporting.
The training was organized under the project “Her Vote, Her Voice”, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In Brahmanbaria district, the project is being implemented with Swonirvor Brahmanbaria as the local NGO partner.
The training session was facilitated by Sazal Saik, Stuff Reporter of Channel 24, who shared his practical experiences with participants on election-time reporting, fact-checking, ethical journalism, and covering electoral irregularities and violence.
A total of 20 participants took part in the training. The participants represented diverse professional backgrounds, including students, political leaders, doctors, emerging and inspiring journalists, content creators, and cultural activists. A significant proportion of the participants were women, which further underscored the importance of this initiative in promoting informed and active electoral participation by women.
During the training, detailed discussions were held on the role of citizen journalism in election monitoring, methods of information collection and verification, identification of misinformation and disinformation, and techniques for publishing news and reports responsibly.
SACMID believes that such citizen journalism training programs play a vital role in ensuring transparency and accountability in the electoral process and will contribute to building a neutral, violence-free, and democratic election environment.
In preparation for the 2026 election, SACMID has undertaken two separate citizen journalism training programs. The first was held on 26 January 2026, and the second training is scheduled to take place on 27 January 2026.
