World Association of News Publishers


WIN Featured in Malawi’s Daily Times Newspaper

WIN Featured in Malawi’s Daily Times Newspaper

Article ID:

17786

The 2014 launch of the Women In News programme was featured in Malawi’s Daily Times newspaper. The article was written by WIN-er Chipiliro Kansilanga.

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has challenged female journalists to remain focused in their career by among others increasing their knowledge to maintain an edge in an ever-competitive and male-dominated print media environment.

The call was made on Thursday in Harare during the launch of Wan-Ifra’s leadership programme for female journalists working in newspapers in Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Media expert and programme director Norah Spie said globally, few women hold senior positions in the newsroom, which limits the strength of their voices and that of fellow women in society, hence introduction of the tailor-made leadership programme which aims at enhancing skills development.

She said apart from comprehensive skills development, bringing together media women from different countries in Southern Africa had in itself multiple benefits as it would guarantee a tangible change through sharing of experiences as well as unearthing solutions.

Spie stressed it was high time women in the media shifted their focus from challenges marring their growth in the industry and instead work towards overcoming them.

“Dwelling on the problems will not get us accomplish anything, but our focus should rather be on how we ought to manoeuvre forward and stay ahead of the game,” she said adding with funds permitting, the programme could extend to another year.

The programme is engaging newspapers and its high-potential female employees, to help them overcome the gender gap in management and senior editorial positions.

This will be done by incorporating professional development techniques from the corporate world such as career coaching, facilitated networking and peer mentoring, strategies Wan-Ifra believes go beyond the traditional approaches to media development.

“Studies show that a higher representation of women in decision-making positions in media leads not only to better coverage of women in the news but also to better financial results,” said Wan-Ifra in a launching statement.

An accomplished media trainer Paula Fray is the lead trainer for the programme while Dr Mary Mkandawire; a leadership mentor and trainer on The John Maxwell Team and Veteran Broadcaster and Group CEO for AB

Communications Susan Makore, are National Coaches for Malawi and Zimbabwe respectively.

The inaugural launch already had the coaches drilling the participants on the leadership and media management strategies, career roadmap, staying and getting ahead in the media among many topics.

WAN-IFRA further announced the launch of Alliance for Women in News, a working committee that partners with media houses to collectively help widen the opportunities for management and executive roles for their women employees through education, training and awareness raising.

The programme is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Malawi is being represented by five journalists from Blantyre Newspapers Limited and Nation Publications Limited.

 

Author

Farah Wael's picture

Farah Wael

Date

2014-05-02 09:25

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