Hundreds of women from different countries and organisations across Africa and the diaspora have convened in Fez, Morocco to participate in the 6th annual African Women in Media conference.
The conference themed: ‘United in Action’ aims to devise ways of achieving gender equality in and through the media using collaborative efforts of media experts, academia, and policymakers among others.
The hybrid conference kicked off with opening remarks by the CEO of African Women in Media, Dr Yemisi Akinbobola who spoke passionately about promoting the representation of African women in the media.
This was followed by three different panel discussions where participants had the opportunity to hear from experts and share their opinions on the issues affecting women and girls.
The first African Women in Media conference was held in 2017 following the organisation’s establishment as a Facebook group in 2016 by Dr Yemisi and her co-founder Bamidele Ogunleye.
During her keynote speech, Dr Yemisi thanked the MacArthur Foundation and the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism for supporting AWiM’s three-year programme through which Nigerian women journalists are provided with training to improve their gender sensitivity when reporting on violence against women and girls.
“Thank you to our partners the MacArthur Foundation, which is represented by Dr Amina Salihu. The MacArthur Foundation and the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism are supporting our three-year programme through which we are working with Nigerian women journalists and organisations in improving their reporting on violence against women and girls.”She also thanked Fojo Media Institute who brought a delegation of women journalists and journalism students from Rwanda and Ethiopia. “Together we have co-organised two panels for this conference, the first on policies and regulations towards gender equality in the media, and we are honoured to have Mr David Omwoyo, CEO of the Media Council of Kenya, join us for this important panel. And the second panel we have co-organised with Fojo is on journalism education and a change for the media students among us to reflect on this important topic and share best practices.”
She also thanked the African Union Commission, whose partnership made possible the Agenda 2063 Pitch Zone and Awards which has been and will support winning journalists with $3,000 story grants.
Dr, Moha Ennaji, the CEO of Fez International Institute for Languages and Cultures who also spoke at the conference commended AWiM for doing a lot of work towards empowering African women.
Dr Yemisi also highlighted the conference’s aims of achieving gender equality in and through the media in a collaborative way that unifies women and men, industry professionals and students coming up into the media.
