The four-day training held from the 2nd to 5th November at the conference hall of the prestigious Sorite Hotel, located on Kwame Street right in the heart of Ouagadougou,Burkina Faso. sponsored by the European Union (EU), the event was organised and coordinated by the regional fund for the promotion and cultural exchanges in Africa. The training was characterised by  presentation of series of papers on different topical and other burning issues affecting the promotion and development of the spirit of arts and culture at regional,continental and global level. All the sessions of the programme were followed by an extensive and interactive discussions as well as questions and answers on the way forward for promotion and development of arts and culture in Africa and the world at large. 

Topical issues like the essence of an effective and efficient data processing for both research and reference purposes, proper interview skills among other important techniques in the world of mass communication and writings were not left out. Kadiatou Toure, assistant co-ordinator and communications officer of the regional fund for the promotion and cultural exchange in Africa, gave a detailed historical overview of the project, its aims and objectives and success stories registered since its inception to date. She expressed deep sense of appreciation on behalf of the project to the  participants for honouring the invitation despite their busy schedules.

The Regional Fund co-ordinator outlined intervention areas of the project,which according to her is a four year programme which commenced from September 2007and  financed by the European Union and contracted to the WAEMU commission. On constraints of the project, Kadiatou Toure, singled out Socio- economic constraints as among the numerous and daunting challenges faced by the project such as insufficient  funds,conditions of financing which do not foster the economic development of the sector, insufficient  equipment, low technical capacity of human resources, communication and political constraints. Objectives Miss Toure explained that the regional fund aimed among other things to render effective and efficient support towards  the promotion and development of exchanges in the areas of communication network and cooperation among Ecowas countries. The programme is also meant to develop and increase the circulation of artistic works and the rate of both actors and actresses among others.

The regional fund communications officer do not hesitate to assure the sub-regional journalists of her project?s readiness to help  whenever the need arises. She seized the opportunity  to urged them to build and keep the spirit of networking. Yacouba Konate, Philosophy lecturer at the University of Abidjan and the course co-ordinator for the training, urged the participants to take the training seriously and shared the knowledge gained with colleagues in there various countries of origin. He spoke extensively about the role of art critics and the need to have uncompromising artistic works in our markets in our midst. Certificates were awarded to participants at the end of the training.