The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu in Johannesburg South Africa
THE media has been described as a key intervention in the enhancing the inclusion of women in political participation in Africa project.
The project identifies the media as one of the key institutions of democratic governance that will be engaged in order to create change towards greater Women’s Political Participation (WPP).
This was revealed during the opening of the advanced media training on Reporting Women’s Political Participation in Africa by Gender Links in Johannesburg South Africa this Monday morning.
The advanced training seeks to develop a dedicated cadre of WPP reporters and reportage, especially in countries counting down to elections like Zimbabwe which will go to the polls in a few weeks.
It also seeks to promote peer learning and sharing from journalists from Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Botswana who are in attendance. Over the past two years, media practitioners from Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Botswana have been undertaking field work and have been mentored and supported through trainings to advance their learning as well as bringing out quality outputs in regards WPP.
They were given a platform to highlight their gender aware stories in the coverage of WPP. Journalists were able to reflect on their reporting practices from the countries that they come from. The media training is led by Gender Links and seeks to build capacity of media practitioners on gender sensitive reporting on enhancing women’s political participation. – @NyembeziMu
