UMWA set to roll out gender media monitoring in West Nile to boost inclusive reporting

23 July 2025, 9:35 am

Byamukama Alozious

The Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA) has embarked on an 18-month project to monitor media houses and journalists in West Nile and other regions, with the goal of enhancing gender inclusion and amplifying the voices of marginalised groups in the media.

The initiative, funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the Spotlight Initiative on Gender for Development, is being implemented in Arua, Madi Okollo, Lamwo, Kasese, Gulu, and Kampala. It seeks to strengthen gender-sensitive and human rights-based reporting, particularly on Gender-Based Violence (GBV), Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), and refugee rights.

“We are in West Nile to monitor media content and practices to ensure inclusion, fairness, and the representation of women, persons with disabilities (PWDs), refugees, and other marginalised groups,” said Doreen Sampa, the Advocacy and Lobbying Officer at UMWA, during a sensitisation meeting with journalists in Arua.

According to Sampa, the project not only equips media practitioners through training and orientation sessions with media managers, but also incorporates gender media monitoring using a standardised tool developed by UMWA. The tool assesses various elements such as the tone of stories, gender of sources, statistics used, and even the photographers behind the images published.

“I once monitored a TV station where the female chairperson was barely given airtime in a news story, yet her male vice was extensively featured. This imbalance is exactly what we aim to address through our monitoring efforts in West Nile,” Sampa noted.

She added that even in news bulletins read by both male and female anchors, women are often relegated to reading the less prominent stories, an unconscious bias that needs correction.

Local journalists in the region have welcomed the initiative. Ondia Jennifer, a journalist at Radio Arua One, expressed optimism that the monitoring will shed light on the persistent gap in women’s participation in media discussions.

“I have a daily programme on air, and some topics really require women’s input, but I don’t see it happening. The monitoring will help us and our audiences understand is it a technology barrier, or do women lack phones and data access? We need answers to improve participation,’’ Ondia remarked.

Similarly, Acirocan Flavia Prude, a journalist with Radio Pacis, emphasized the need for UMWA to directly engage with media houses to understand the barriers on the ground.

“We need to take gender issues seriously. Sometimes marginalised groups, including women, are intimidated or uncomfortable to speak out. Out of 10 callers on radio shows, only about 2 are women. UMWA should visit media houses and analyse the realities we face,” Acirocan said.

The programme, operating under the banner “Journalists for Cooperation,” will track and document biases, aiming to empower marginalised communities through fairer representation. Outstanding journalists and media houses will also be recognised through an awards scheme for exemplary reporting on GBV, SRHR, refugee issues, and inclusion.

The monitoring efforts are timely as Uganda continues to grapple with gender inclusion gaps. Despite women constituting 51% of Uganda’s population, their voices remain underrepresented in media narratives. Similarly, the country’s 1.9 million refugees face documentation challenges and untold cases of GBV, while 1.4 million persons with disabilities (UBOS 2024 Census) remain side-lined in media and policy discussions.

Sampa emphasised that by tracking media content and practices, UMWA’s work contributes to advocacy reforms, recruitment of diverse voices in media, and establishing community-sensitive reporting standards.