Gender and Media Activists in Africa
We would like to thank and acknowledge the World Association of Christian Communication (WACC) for allowing us to use some of the profiles they put together. We also thank all the women who agreed to have their profiles included in this project. With time, more profiles will be included.
Gospel Nti holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Women and Gender Studies. She has worked as the Gender and Community Action Officer for Nkong Hill Top Common Initiative Group (NGIG) since 1999 and has coordinated several projects for the organization and women’s networks during this period.
Organizational information: Nkong Hill Top Common Initiative Group (NCIG)
Nkong Hill Top Common Initiative Group (NGIG) is a Community Based Non Governmental Organisation created in 1996 with the overall objective to improve on the socio-economic status the urban/rural poor with an emphasis on women. NCI’s core objective is to promote women.s empowerment through advocacy, entrepreneurship and awareness creation. NCIG has a history of applying theatre and mainstream media to increase the visibility of women and gender issues in local grassroots communities.
Project: Tackling Gender Injustice in the Media
In Cameroon, stark gender inequalities are evident in media ownership, patterns of decision-making in media houses and in media content. All 10 state-owned provincial radio and television houses are directed by men who also occupy all positions of authority in the media houses. When women appear in the media, they are more often than not portrayed as sex workers, school drop-outs or caregivers; the media is silent about their positive contributions and value to community development. Scant attention is paid to gender issues by decision-makers in media as evidenced by the lack of programming concerned with gender, or the scheduling of broadcasts late at night when little public participation is possible. The project implemented in the South-West province of Cameroon aimed to combat gender-related discrimination and injustice in the media by lobbying media houses to adopt self-regulation policies, by training female journalists in advocacy and by organising round table conference on issues of discrimination against women in the media. Project outcomes include a gender policy proposal for media houses and lobby for its adoption. Three round-table conferences were organised and 30 female journalists trained in advocacy for gender responsive media. It is expected that the project will catalyze a 40% increase in the number of programmes and articles addressing gender issues in the media.
Gospel Nti
Cameroon
www.nkonghilltop.org
Email: nkong22@yahoo.com
Phone: +237 77 64 8113
Address: P.O. Box 340, Buea, Cameroon
Rosemary Okello-Orlale is the Executive Director of the African Woman and Child Feature Service (AWC). She is the Secretary of the Kenya Editor.s Guild as well as the Secretary General of the African Editors. Forum. She holds a Master of Arts degree in New Media Governance and Democracy, Advanced Management Programme, a post-graduate diploma in research methodology, Population Studies and Research Institute- Nairobi University and a post graduate diploma in Journalism from the London School of Journalism. She won first prize as the best female reporter on ICT in the category of the 2004 African Information Society Initiative media awards.
Organizational information: African Woman and Child Feature Service (AWC)
African Woman and Child Feature Service (AWC) is a Nairobi-based media NGO with a national outlook. Its vision is media that enhances acceptance of diversity and gender equality for equitable development and its mission is to promote diversity, gender equity, social justice and development in Africa through media, training and research. AWC works closely with media managers and editors, civil society organisations and media institutions in Kenya to provide quality information about issues around gender with biases on women and children and society in general. AWC has had a long running programme on researching issues relating to local communities, and publishing articles in the mainstream media on issues affecting African women and children. AWC has published books and training manuals, implemented advocacy campaigns, undertaken investigative journalism, trained journalists, monitored media and followed up on international conventions ratified at UN conferences.
Project: Gender and Media Advocacy Training Workshop
Women in the African Media are under-represented especially in leadership positions and print media. Research shows that in sub-Saharan Africa, women journalists or women media practitioners are around 8 % in leadership positions, 1% are media owners and 30% in general in the all media in Africa. To address this, AWC organised a regional gender and media advocacy training workshop for representatives from women’s NGOs and other groups in Anglophone Africa concerned with gender and media. The workshop resulted in the adoption of the Nairobi Declaration on Gender and Media Advocacy which spells out a plan of action developed by workshop participants. The actions include the compilation of a regional directory of women experts, the training of trainers and media literacy training.
Rosemary Okello-Orlale
Kenya
Executive Director African Woman and Child Feature Service (AWC)
www.acwfs.org
Email: rookello@awcfs.org
Phone: +254-20-2724756, 2720554
Fax: +254-20-2718469
Address: P. O. Box 48197 Nairobi, Kenya
Amie Joof-Cole is the Executive Director of the Inter-African Network for Women, Media, Gender and Development (FAMEDEV). She has more than 25 years experience as a journalist and activist on behalf of African women and girls. In 1998, she was acting manager at Gambia Radio and TV Services. From 1989 to 1994, she produced radio dramas on family health for Radio Gambia, in partnership with Johns Hopkins University and the Gambia Family Planning Association. She is also a former head of the Rural Broadcasting and Adult Education Section of Radio Gambia. Joof-Cole has been a frequent consultant on gender sensitivity in the media and, from 1993 to 1999, was president of GAMCOTRAP, a non-governmental organization dealing with harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting and gender and human rights issues. She is the first woman to become president of the Gambia Family Planning Association, and served as chairperson of the National Women’s Council of The Gambia from 1993 to 1999. She is a member of an expert group of the Communication for Education and Development (COMED) working on the development of a hands-on toolkit on education for journalists and communicators in Africa. She is actively engaged in training, research and advocacy on issues of press freedom, freedom of expression, human rights, gender, HIV/AIDS and development.
Organizational information: The Inter-African Network for Women, Media, Gender and Development (FAMEDEV)
The Inter-African Network for Women, Media, Gender and Development (FAMEDEV) was founded in Dakar (Senegal) in 2000, as a follow-up to a regional conference held in Dakar at the end of 1999 and an Africa Regional Meeting held in Bamako, Mali in 2002 in preparation for the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). FAMEDEV seeks to work towards:
Reinforcing and sustaining the promotion and development of African women journalists and communicators:
Supporting and encouraging the use of quality gender friendly media and communication tools, promoting press freedom, freedom of expression and hence make African women in different sectors of development more visible.
FAMEDEV seeks to achieve these objectives through training, capacity building, partnerships strengthening and development of resources and an effective networking system.
Project: Gender and Media Advocacy Training Workshop. The project was initiated as a result of the findings of the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) 2005, on systemic gender bias in news media. FAMEDEV organised a gender and media advocacy training workshop for representatives from women’s NGOs and other groups concerned with gender and media from French-speaking sub-Saharan African countries. The workshop: 1. Introduced participants to GMMP 2005 findings and advocacy efforts to date. 2. Introduced participants to media advocacy tools; 3. Provided space for discussion, for the exchange of knowledge, ideas and information on how each organisation represented could contribute to advancing Section „J. of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA); 4. Provided space for debate on policy and possibilities of advocacy.
The training curriculum was based on the gender and media advocacy toolkit developed following GMMP 2005. The workshop resulted in the adoption of the Dakar Declaration on Gender and Media Advocacy. This action plan highlights commitments made by participating organisations, which include the promotion of women’s leadership in media and the continuation of media monitoring for indicators of gender bias.
Amie Joof-Cole
Senegal
www.famedev.org
Email: famedev@gmail.com
Phone: +221 33 867 59 78
Fax: +221 33 867 59 77
Address: BP 7563 Dakar- Médina Sénégal
Colleen Lowe-Morna is the Executive Director of Gender Links. Colleen began her career as a journalist specialising in gender and development. Among positions she held were co-ordinator of the Africa office of Inter Press Service (IPS) in Harare; correspondent for South Magazine and Africa Editor of the New Delhi- based Women’s Feature Service. She joined the Commonwealth Secretariat as a senior researcher on the Africa desk in 1991, and later served as Chief Programme Officer of the Commonwealth Observer Mission to South Africa. Following South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, Lowe-Morna became an advisor on gender and institutional development to the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Assistance special programme of assistance to South Africa. She subsequently served as founding CEO of the South African Commission on Gender Equality. She holds an MA in Communications from Columbia University; BA in International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Relations, Princeton University; and a certificate in executive management from the London Business School.
Organizational information: Gender Links
Formed in March 2001, Gender Links began its work with a strong focus on “promoting gender equality in and through the media.” This work has two facets: research, training and advocacy for achieving greater gender sensitivity and balance within the media and in its editorial content; as well as strategic communication skills for gender activists and women in decision-making to better access and influence media content.
Over time, GL’s media focus has expanded to include work in the gender and governance and gender justice fields more broadly. GL’s pioneering work on developing strategic communications campaigns linked to the Sixteen Days of Activism on Gender Violence has also grown to include initiatives to ensure sustained, year-long campaigns for ending gender violence. Gender Links works with partners at local, national, regional and international level.
Colleen Lowe-Morna
South Africa
Executive Director Gender Links
www.genderlinks.org.za
Email: execassistant@genderlinks.org
Phone: +27 11 622 2877
Fax: +27 11 622 4732 Address:
9 Derrick Avenue, Cnr Marcia Street,
Cyrildene, Johannesburg 2198, South Africa
Non-Governmental Organisations Working On Gender And Media In Africa
