Accra, May 20, GNA - The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) are collaborating to launch a special training programme for journalists, known as the Ghana Media Standards Improvement Project (GMSIP).

The two-year pilot project, sponsored by the Royal Danish Embassy in Accra, will involve principally a number of selected newspapers and rural-based radio stations, a statement issued by MFWA said in a statement issued in Accra on Wednesday. The date of the formal launch will be announced soon.

It said, among other objectives, the GMSIP would conduct research to assess public attitudes to, and perceptions of the Ghanaian media. It will also undertake training to improve standards, as well as training to support the media's capacity for sustainability in a difficult market environment.

The statement said the project hoped to help achieve vast improvements in the media's performance, notably in the areas of investigative journalism and analysis of critical issues, and also promote the media's sustainability. It said as a first step towards the take-off, Ms. Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, former Editor of the Ghanaian Times, had been appointed Project Coordinator.

Ms. Yeboah-Afari is also the immediate past President of the GJA and a past correspondent of the African Service section of the BBC. She previously worked at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, in the United Kingdom.