MAJaC graduates 41 journalists who completed an intensive six-week training on specialized areas. These journalists were drawn from five affiliates of the Gambia Press Union. The affiliates include Women Journalist Association of the Gambia (WoJAG), Network of Agricultural Communicators (NAC), Network of Community Radios-The Gambia (NCRG), Young Journalists Association of The Gambia (YJAG) and the Sports Journalists Association of the Gambia (SJAG).

The training was part of the GPU 's project dubbed, ‘GPU as a trade union and advocate for members, media and democracy'. The Vice President of the Gambia Press Union Isatou Keita, urges the graduates to share the knowledge and skills gained to other colleagues who were not opportune to be part of the training. She added that the GPU is committed to providing the necessary support through capacity building trainings for its members.

Sang Mendy, the Managing Director of the Media Academy for Journalism and Communication highlighted the need for more ethical journalists, adding that capacity building does not end in the four corners of the classroom.  He calls on journalists to acquire the right skills, knowledge and experience to carry out their work effectively.

“You have to go out there and do it the way it is supposed to be done. Our profession that we all jealously guard can be respected. It is our responsibility to change that norm”, Mendy added.

The training programmes were customized to suit the needs of each affiliate, ranging from court reporting, project proposal writing, sports writing and broadcasting and radio production and programming. Annette Camara, the President of WoJAG highlighted the importance of the training and the impact it would have on their association. The participants from the women Journalists Association of the Gambia-WoJAG were trained on project proposal writing.

“We started with more than six proposals, down to three and finally we have two solid proposals courtesy of this training”.

Other affiliates spoke highly of the training and assured that the knowledge gained will be put to good use.  The Media Academy for Journalism and Communication is renowned for providing technical support and effective capacity building programmes for journalists and communicators in the Gambia.