Karamoja journalists trained to enhance public accountability and gender equity

19 November 2024, 12:04 am

By Byamukama Alozious

The Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA), in collaboration with the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME), the Editors’ Guild, and Uganda Radio Network (URN), has launched a training initiative in Moroto district, Karamoja region. Funded by the Danish Embassy under the “M-Space Project,” this four-year programme aims to strengthen media resilience, inclusivity, and accountability while fostering greater civic participation in governance processes.

Conie Osuru, the project coordinator, outlined the initiative’s objective: “Our role as UMWA is to ensure the project is gender-responsive. Research shows that women’s voices account for only 20–25% of media content, compared to 75–80% for men. There is still much to be done to amplify women’s voices.”

As part of its activities, UMWA is conducting a training needs assessment to identify knowledge and skills gaps in gender-sensitive reporting. The findings will guide the development of training materials and future capacity-building sessions across Moroto, Arua, and Lira districts.

Margaret Ssentamu, UMWA’s team leader, highlighted the importance of transformational reporting: “The stories you write should drive development. Avoid focusing solely on entertainment and politics. Include the voices of women, who make up 51% of Uganda’s population, yet whose issues are often overlooked. Even basic necessities like sanitary pads are unavailable in public spaces, while male condoms are.”

Cotihilda Babirekere, UMWA’s gender officer, participated in a session on integrating gender-sensitive reporting into public affairs, crime reporting, and public accountability. She stressed the importance of amplifying underrepresented voices while adhering to the core principles of gender-sensitive reporting. These include fairness in representation, avoiding stereotypes, and using inclusive language. Babirekere also urged journalists to prioritise public accountability stories and to highlight marginalised voices to address societal inequalities.

The training also includes interactive dialogues between women leaders and the media to foster collaboration and enhance women’s engagement with journalists. On-site sessions at media houses aim to institutionalise gender responsiveness in content production. Additionally, UMWA plans to monitor media outlets to assess their inclusivity and conduct a national survey on gender responsiveness in Uganda’s media.

During the training, Steven Aryong, a journalist and aspiring politician from the Nation Media Group, highlighted the region’s challenges, including poor infrastructure and a lack of basic utilities. He urged UMWA to advocate for better working conditions for journalists, stating: “It’s shameful for journalists to struggle to provide basic needs for their families while serving the public.”

Journalists at the session highlighted the need for additional training in public affairs reporting, safety and security, election coverage, and digital literacy. Munarah Suwed of Ateker Radio shared an example from Napak district, where a woman missed out on support from the government’s Grow project due to the lack of banking facilities in her area.

Edward Eninu from URN underscored the plight of women being evicted from their land because they are unaware of their rights. “I know of elderly women in this region who are being driven off their land because they do not know their rights and the laws,” he said.

The training, attended by over 20 journalists from Moroto, Napak, Nakapiripirit, and Kotido districts, revealed that Moroto has only 30–40 journalists, with very few women in the industry. The district has five radio stations—Ateker FM, UBC, Maria FM, Akica FM, and All Karamoja FM, which is currently non-operational. However, the region lacks media training institutions, creating a significant barrier to professional development.

UMWA’s initiatives aim to address these challenges and bridge the gaps to ensure that both men’s and women’s voices are equally represented in Uganda’s media landscape.