USAID’s Afghanistan Parliamentary Assistance Project (APAP) is enhancing the capacity of the parliament’s public relations employees to provide high-quality coverage of National Assembly events.  A better flow of information will facilitate awareness of the parliament’s activities among Afghans and encourage engagement between people and their representatives in parliament.

Recently, APAP and Internews held an “Introduction to Radio Documentary Production” course for seven Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) employees.  The DIPR’s audio production line achieved significant improvements over the two-day course.  Journalists, radio editors, and producers from both houses of the National Assembly of Afghanistan gained knowledge and practical experience in mind mapping, planning, selecting sources, drafting scripts, recording, and editing.

“I hope the National Assembly will activate its own studio in the near future,” said Massom Hassan, 46, a DIPR radio editor.  “I now have the ability to make a radio documentary as an institutional journalist, and I promise to start making documentaries soon.”

The radio training was one dimension of a larger APAP program that uses the radio to connect parliamentarians with their constituents, with formats including roundtable events broadcast from various provinces, talkback programs, and one-on-one interviews with parliamentarians.