“The word of the local has become an insult to the media out of the regions.” “The local media are being met with racism by those involved in the media in Egypt.” These were some of the statements made by the journalists, authors and presenters of television programs in the Eastern Province, expressing their distress about the lack of interest in the media The various local authorities and their workers, despite the influential role that these means can play in local development

This came during the opening session of the second training workshop for local media, which was held by the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights in the Eastern Province from 7 to 8 November 2010, in which (33) journalists, preparers and TV programs presidents participated in some media outlets in the Sharkia Governorate, and was held in coordination between the Maat Foundation Maat on the one hand, and the Eastern Youth and Human Resources Development Association on the other hand.

It is noteworthy that the number of participants in the training workshop increased by 30% than the target number, which was limited to (25) participants, due to the high demand for participation by Eastern media personnel, which prompted the Foundation's management to increase the number of participants in the workshop.

The training workshop comes within the framework of the activities of the Citizen's Voice (2) project implemented by the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights with funding from the Future Foundation, which seeks to build the capacities of different community parties in dealing with decentralization and develop effective and innovative mechanisms to monitor citizens' needs and evaluate the quality of public services provided by Before the executive authorities, the project also seeks to spread the culture of decentralization in the Egyptian society and the effective employment of local and mass media in support of decentralization and monitoring the needs of citizens

The training workshops for local media professionals are aimed at raising their awareness of decentralization and enabling them to have good media coverage of violations of the rights of local citizens in light of decentralization. The training program for local media professionals, of which the Eastern Journalists workshop is one of its components, includes holding four training workshops, the first of which was in Cairo on 3-4 November. The third and fourth workshops will be held in Qena on November 13 and 14, and the other will be held in Helwan on November 24 and 25.

The training workshop was attended by Dr. Muhammad Farid Al-Sadiq, who holds a doctorate in law and vice-president of the General Authority for Literacy and Adult Education in Sharkia Governorate, and Prof. Dr. Mohamed Awad, Professor of Media at Zagazig University, and the workshop included training sessions on the concept of decentralization and good local governance and the extent of its achievement Within the Egyptian legislative framework, it also included training sessions on the importance of local media for society, investigative journalism, media coverage of citizens' rights violations and planning a good media campaign.

The activities of the training workshop witnessed the rapid response of local media professionals to the training component and their higher interaction with it, and revealed their need for more training and rehabilitation in various developmental and human rights issues. It also revealed that developing the capabilities and mechanisms of local media and improving the economic, social and professional conditions of its workers is an important requirement of The requirements for establishing a sound decentralization in the Egyptian society, considering the media as one of the actors in the local community.