With the financial support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, the Consortium of Media Innovation and Social Communication (CMICS) has been organizing open classes on different thematic areas to train students of journalism and active journalists on good governance and the rule of law in Guinea-Bissau.

The goal of the classes is to increase citizens’ knowledge on the country’s systemic reforms by building the capacity of journalists and aspiring journalists to facilitate a space for creating synergies to exercise dynamic, proactive, and independent journalism capable of overseeing public policies, promoting human rights, and participatory citizenship. The classes are transmitted live in 16 community radios via the Community Radios Network –RENARC.

Each month, a different theme is chosen, and experts in the field of endeavour are invited to deliver lectures on the thematic area followed by question and answer sessions.

CMICS has held three open classes so far. The first open class was on the impunity of crimes against journalists and the violation of freedom of expression in Guinea-Bissau, the second on the political system of Guinea-Bissau and the role of journalists in monitoring the actions of the organs of sovereignty, and the third on the constitution of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau - how can the media monitor this process.

The third class, which was attended by more than 30 students and journalists, was presented by university lecturer and legal advisor to the president of the National Assembly, Vasco Biague, and Journalist and Manager of the Guinea News Agency, Salvador Gomes, who briefed the participants on the constitution that is currently in place,  the progress of the draft law of the new constitution and how journalists can fit in to address legal issues surrounding the new constitution with professionalism and transparency.

According to student and journalist Sergia Tchoba dos Santos Pereiras, the first class was the one that caught her attention the most, because it dealt with a problem that journalists experience every day in the exercise of their duties as journalists.

"These open classes have helped me a lot not only in my daily work, but also in the way I handle content. I has also helped me to know more about my rights as a journalist" said Sergia Tchoba.

"The three open classes I attended are helping me more and more to have more tools to exercise my profession. These classes have helped me to know more about my rights and my duties to be able to fully exercise my functions as a communicator, as an informant and community sensitizer committed to the truth," underlined Mamudo Dando, a CMICS student.

CMICS is a non-profit association created in 2018, with legal, administrative and financial autonomy, and has a fully equipped multimedia center, with radio, TV and press studios, where the first professional training center for journalism and multimedia has been operating since 2020.