The training, organised by the Regional Fund for Promotion of Cooperation and Cultural Exchange in West Africa and Beyond, aimed to build up the capacities of journalists writing on arts and culture-related issues throughout the region. The training was also  meant to provide  support and promotion of  cultural initiatives based on the premises of beautiful and enviable  ideals on the need to have a strong sense of  networking between actors in the world of arts and culture in all aspects of life on this planet.

The four-day training exposed journalists to different topical issues such as art criticism, elements of African aesthetics, arts and society from a philosophical point of view, arts and handicraft, performing and visual arts, the artistic work in the 21st century - which is best described as a century of science and technological advancement, arts as an imitation, the genius involved in artistic work, and techniques in the world of writing, especially on arts and culture.

The Arts and Culture anchorman left the Gambia on 30th of October via Dakar to join his ECOWAS colleagues for the training in the conference hall of the prestigious Sorite Hotel, located on the Kwame Nkruma street  right in the heart of Ouagadougou.

The most striking thing about Ouagadougou is the style and character adopted by the city dwellers - men and women could be seen busy riding bicycles and motorcycles. Bicycles and motorcycles play an important role in the every day live of an ordinary citizen of Burkina Faso. They serve as an important means of transport and are a source of pride for them.

The training was characterised by presentation of a series of papers relating to the importance of effective and efficient  cultural data processing, the role of art critics, and the difference between modern and contemporary arts. 

Professor Yacouba Konate, a lecturer at the University of Abidjan, also an art critic and a writer, was at hand to deliver lectures about the role of art critics and what it takes become both a  successful art critic and  artist in what he described as an ever changing world. 

The Abidjan University philosophy lecturer stated that African art is structured around elements and designs which appear again and again. Through this reoccurrences, they build up a rhythm. Between the different moments of the rhythm, endless variations, and improvisations exist as is the case with jazz, but the total form of the work remains dominated by this repetition of designs, which helps African music and carving to survive and thus join the dominant arts in the world. Western paintings, cubism in particular, integrated standards and values from African carvings and it is certain that African music is the mother of Jazz, pop music, reggae and other music genres throughout the world.