Mass media representatives in Turkmenistan participated in the Media Briefing on the Joint Programme

Mass media representatives including from national TV and radio channels, state newspapers learnt about the new community-based social services being piloted by governmental institutions and CSOs as part of the Joint Programme that focus on better addressing the needs of vulnerable groups the Joint Programme aims to benefit, such as people with disabilities, children without parental care, victims of gender-based violence and youth at risk.

Participants could develop their capacities on reporting issues of vulnerable groups during the presentation of the communication specialists from the UN agencies. They were introduced to the international journalistic practices of working and reporting on the different groups of population.

The session was productive in terms of sharing international practices with the aim of strengthening social harmony and solidarity through mass media. It is expected that it will improve contribution of mass media representatives to make society more inclusive and aware of the needs of different vulnerable groups. 

The Joint Programme “Improving the system of social protection through the introduction of inclusive quality community-based social services”, funded by the Joint SDG Fund, is being implemented by the partnering UN agencies, namely, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, and UNODC and Government of Turkmenistan. The Joint Programme aims to introduce a new model of social services at the community level accompanied by relative legislative reviews and capacity building of national social service workforce. The lead national partner is the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of Turkmenistan and the lead UN agency is UNICEF. Other key national partners include the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Medical Industry, and Ministry of Finance and Economy.

Implementation period: 2020-2022.