With public health precautions in place, participants in the Gender Fellows mentorship and training program for young journalists are in the middle of an intensive one-month “boot camp” at h2n that will prepare them for a year-long internship in selected media outlets.
In the current round, six journalists will be working at Savana (2), SOICO (2), Evidencias and Generus, while receiving continuous coaching from h2n media staff over the course of the internship and participating in quarterly one-week booster trainings to support and focus the learning process, “Our goal is to increase the capacity in the media sector for gender-sensitive and gender-responsive reporting,” says Sheila Mafuiane, who coordinates the effort at h2n.
The Gender Fellows program is part of Project Asas, a large-scale communication and advocacy project funded by Canada and implemented by h2n that focuses on gender equality and women’s empowerment. “In addition to increasing the production of media content from a gender perspective, the program also aims to increase the number of women in newsrooms and promote greater retention of women in the media sector,” says Mafuiane. “The Gender Fellows program provides us an opportunity to increase our knowledge and skills, while being able to implement what we learn immediately through our work,” commented Eugénia Arnaldo, one of the participants.
Project Asas works across five different areas to increase gender-responsive attitudes, norms and behaviors, with the media sector being one of these.