Journalists in Cabo Delgado focus on issues of community engagement

This week, h2n is bringing together twelve community radio journalists from eight Cabo Delgado CR stations in Pemba for trainings and consultations on community engagement, gender equality and accountability at the local level through investigative journalism. The activities are carried out under the auspices of the Norway-funded CRP2 project and an OSISA-funded community engagement and accountability project, which includes the promotion and protection of women’s socio-economic rights in light of a rapidly changing economic and political environment. In today’s session, which focuses on gender responsiveness, the journalists are discussing gender issues related to post-calamity recovery, noting that, statistically, women and children are much more likely to suffer death and disease after natural catastrophe’s than men and that the risk of sexual violence also increases significantly. “We want to ensure that managers of camps and temporary settlements understand the increased risks faced by women and children and what appropriate mitigating responses might be,” says Mana Clara Sadia, h2n’s project manager in Cabo Delgado and one of the training facilitators. “Religious leaders should be part of the consultations pertaining to gender responsiveness, and they should be involved as we mobilize our forces to promote gender equality,” says Guisada Amélia Severino, producer of gender programs at CR Sem Fronteiras. The journalism training is integrated into the other topics and is carried out by Rui Lamarques, the executive director of Midia Lab, h2n’s sister organization. The training is supported by a series of educational videos produced by h2n that reinforce, and later act as reminders of, the journalistic capabilities developed during the in-person training. h2n works extensively with community radios in all provinces, is scaling up two community video programs, broadcasts the weekly prime-time television program “Saude e Vida” on health and wellness, develops youth engagement hubs in Cabo Delgado and pursues a rapidly expanding gender equality agenda.