Re-engagemment and strategy planning meeting 16th and 17th September, 2021
As a campaigner for women’s rights and press freedom, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) in sub-Saharan Africa has in the past few years increased support for various initiatives around increasing gender equality in the newsroom and how women are portrayed in African media. From the 2019/2020 Women in Media programme powered by FNF in East Africa to the 2021 Womentorship programme by FNF in Zimbabwe. In building up on this momentum, the sub-Saharan Africa regional office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom is partnering with the Graça Machel Trust’s Women in Media Network (WIMN) for a series of strategy and planning workshops focusing on enhancing and growing the footprint of women in media.
The WIMN has 34 members from at least 15 countries in Africa. At the centre of their mandate is to ensure balanced reporting that will enable the shaping of a new reality, one that reflects more nuanced stories and that is done in a way that women want and deserve their stories to be told. To achieve this, FNF believes it is important to empower this progressive approach by promoting women being at the canter of strategic developments around solutions for the future that are also in-line with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Another link to the partnership will be on joining forces in the fight against fake news and disinformation. Like many sectors today, journalists are confronted by an increasing challenge when it comes reliability of the content their receive and distribute. The Foundation has been running the campaign against fake news and disinformation called #FreedomFightsFake. Through the campaign, the WIMN and FNF will collaborate on a number of initiatives to contribute to the campaign from their countries.