ABU DHABI, 31st May, 2023 (WAM) — The Emirates News Agency (WAM) today celebrated the achievements of the first batch graduates of the Kafa'a media training programme, which it launched in November 2022, in collaboration with a group of national universities.
The programme aims to build the capacities of young national talents and equip them to work in various areas of the media sector.
The ceremony, held at the agency's headquarters in Abu Dhabi, was attended by Mohammed Jalal Al Rayssi, Director-General of WAM, as well as officials from the agency and representatives of UAE University, the University of Sharjah and Zayed University, along with the graduates and their families.
During the ceremony, Al Rayssi stressed that the Kafa'a programme, launched in line with the directives of the UAE’s leadership to prepare and qualify young national talents for future jobs, has succeeded in offering an excellent training system for its first batch participants, who embarked on a rich media journey for some four months, during which they participated in covering the events of the Global Media Congress.
“Throughout the implementation of this training programme, we ensured that it provided all forms of support and assistance to its participants from day one and offered them a platform to unleash their creative energies and ideas and implement them in reality,” Al Rayssi said, expressing his gratitude to the national universities for collaborating with WAM in organising the training programme.
The ceremony began with a speech by Abdullah Abdul Kareem, Acting Executive Director for News Content at WAM, who said that the graduates demonstrated their competence, willingness and passion for working in the media sector, familiarised themselves with various forms of media work, and produced a collection of prominent written and visual news reports, which were broadcasted on various WAM platforms in 19 languages.
He also extended his best wishes to the graduates in their future professional careers in the media sector, affirming that the team at WAM values and takes pride in them as young and ambitious national cadres.
The representatives of national universities lauded the programme and expressed their happiness at collaborating with WAM in organising it, as it provided a platform for leading young national talents to enter the media sector and develop their relevant skills and capacities.
The programme’s graduates expressed their gratitude and appreciation to the team at WAM for their support and assistance throughout their training, affirming that the programme gave them a comprehensive vision of media work and taught them the latest applied technologies in the sector.
At the end of the ceremony, Al Rayssi, in the presence of Abdul Kareem, honoured the graduates and presented them with their accredited training certificates, wishing them success in their future professional careers.