SECTOR 4 4.9 Media professionals have access to training facilitates offering formal qualification programmes as well as opportunities to upgrade skills. The availability of training programmes in journalism and communication has greatly improved over the past few years in Ivory Coast. ISTIC (Institute of Information and Communication Science and Technology) was established in 1992 with the fusion of RTI’s Studio Ecole and the Broadcasting production centre. Other university training centres have since emerged: UFR – SMC (Training and Research Unit – Society, Environment, Communication) of the University of Bouaké, CERCOM (Communication Teaching and Research Centre) of the University of Abidjan, ISCOM (Higher Institute of Communication) at the Catholic University of West Africa and Université de l’Atlantique. It shall be noted that prior to the establishment of ISTIC, professional Ivorian journalists were trained outside of the country (France, Canada, Senegal, Cameroon, etc...). Access to training facilities by the media is globally satisfactory and the capacity strengthening of journalists is a top priority in the collective bargaining agreement. In order to facilitate access for journalists to qualification programmes, certain professional organisations and media outlets negotiate partnership agreements with training institutes. RTI and Fraternité Matin for instance regularly send some of their employees to ISTIC to attend diploma programmes. It is true that up till now the state media are the only media outlets with access to the public support mechanisms such as the FDSFP (Professional Training and Development Fund). Nonetheless, UNJCI and OLPED have obtained from ISTIC the reservation of a set number of seats for their members. The training centre is also in contact with the daily newspapers Notre Voie and Le Patriote to establish similar agreements. Unfortunately, time constraints of editorial teams and of the training programmes make the implementation of such a partnership difficult. The Olympe group ensures the in-service training of its employees (journalists and non journalists) within the framework of a partnership with EFAP (School of Communication), a member of an international network. The staff has received training on business management and English among other modules. In addition to the classical training programmes, Ivorian journalists have several opportunities to strengthen their capacities through training seminars proposed by media sector partners. Over the past few years, several training sessions have focussed especially on covering the elections and reporting on peace and reconciliation. 124 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER IVORY COAST 2009