MAJaC’s Managing Director off to London for 8-week Fellowship Programme

• admin
• maj 18, 2022

Sang Mendy is among the two Gambians joining the Chevening Africa Media Freedom Fellowship (CAMFF) programme in London.

By Sang Mendy, The Managing Director of MAJaC

Mr. Sang Mendy who is The Managing Director of the Media Academy for Journalism and Communication (MAJaC) is currently in London to attend the Chevening Africa Media Freedom Fellowship (CAMFF) programme. He wrote about the programme and his travels to GAMES: 

“I am among the two Gambians to have been selected for such prestigious fellowship programme. Me and 22 others from Africa will spend eight weeks in London studying areas such as freedom of speech, economic prosperity and good governance. The programme will also focus on professional development of the values of good journalism and how to make journalism more effective to enhance reach and impact.

Hosted by the University of Westminster and funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the eight-week programme is designed and implemented for mid-career journalists, media regulators, journalism educators and communication professionals from Africa with demonstrable leadership skills in their fields of expertise.

The 23 participants from two cohorts (2020/2021) are drawn from 11 Sub-Saharan African countries including The Gambia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Burundi, South Sudan and Zimbabwe.

The programme gives me the opportunity to network, visit historical sites and media establishments such as the British Broadcasting Cooperation and few other media around London. Besides the knowledge, skills and experience sharing, I am also connecting with people from diverse cultures.  

Me and my colleagues are staying at the Chelsea Cloister, Sloan Avenue, West London. This hotel accommodates people from all over the world. Known for my keeping fit attitude, the fellowship doesn’t stop me from working out daily. I go jogging every evening and work out in my room for 30 minutes before I go to the university. Over the weekend, I joined my colleagues virtually back home in The Gambia for the bi-weekly Media Run Challenge; an event that brings media workers in The Gambia together to run three or four kilometers. 

I am expected back in The Gambia at the end of June upon completion of the programme. I will take a lot of things home to share with the Gambians – most especially the journalism students at the MAJaC.”