MARTHA MAMOMBE
German civil society organisation, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF), is working towards capacitating African female journalists to influence global peace, and security development in light of the war in Ukraine that has affected economies.
Last week, female journalists from three African countries- Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe- converged in Zanzibar, to discuss the power of the media, with a view to drive socio-political and economic discourse.
Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop dubbed “Leadership and Management in the Newsroom for Female Editors and Senior Journalists” FNF Zimbabwe programmes manager, Fungisai Sithole said: “We looked at what is happening around us, especially the war in Ukraine and we interrogated the role women can play in bringing the world to reason. The war in Ukraine has not only affected Ukrainians and Europe but it has also had implications in Africa.”
She said the media is considered to be a pillar of power and a source of influence in “our societies and our world at large”. However, it remains patriarchal and women remain on the periphery in the leadership of the newsroom, Sithole said.
“As FNF we have brought women together to address inequalities in information and power.”
The Ukraine war has also highlighted disparities in information dissemination, giving mainstream media outlets with the capacity and financial muscle more leverage than emerging media outlets from developing countries.
African media has neglected to investigate the war in Ukraine, choosing instead to rely on western media and carefully terming the war “a military operation” in some instances “a conflict”.
“Female journalists are strong and skilled enough to stand for their countries and the world at large and tell the stories that have been left for political figures,” Lulu George, a senior journalist with the Guardian newspaper in Tanzania said.
Another journalist, Devota Mwanchang’a, also with the Guardian weighed in saying: “FNF gave an opportunity to women from three countries to learn and to remind us of our responsibility and power to lead. I believe in myself now more than ever and I know the stories I deliver make a difference in my community and beyond.”
“Women are underrepresented as news sources where complex political matters are concerned and through FNF we have been taught to change that narrative,” Kenyan journalist and the editor of NTV news channel, Roselyn Obala said.
The FNF is a liberal civil society organisation, with a footprint in over 60 countries, Zimbabwe and Ukraine included.
