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The Reporter - English Version

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Jan 07th
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Media network on population and development launched Print E-mail
Saturday, 13 December 2008
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Journalists at the Media Network
A media network on Population and Development which is supported by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was launched on Thursday at the end of a three-day training workshop organized for the journalists forming the network. The workshop acquainted the journalists with such issues as population and development; the advocacy component of the National Population Policy Plan of Action; the role of the media in reporting population and development; and advocacy skills in reporting on Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Making a remark at the workshop Woizero Genet Mengistu, Head of the Population Department at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, said that “IEC/BCC and advocacy efforts, including those undertaken by the media, have continued to bring about positive change in attitude on population and development issues among the general public and policy makers respectively.” She noted, however, that the interventions have been poorly coordinated and there is a need to intensify them, where the involvement of the media is crucial.

Jude Edochie, Deputy UNFPA Representative to Ethiopia, noted on his part that “UNFPA duly believes that the media is a dynamic and essential component of society with the primary responsibility of advocating issues of public concern and disseminating accurate information with a view to bringing about change.” He went on to state that the media has an important role in bringing reproductive health, population and development, and gender issues high on the agenda. He added that UNFPA has identified the media as a crucial channel in its advocacy efforts and it will closely work with the newly established network.

The media network will be responsible for the achievement of outputs, among others, creating a pool of media professionals having deep insight on population and development issues; documenting media outputs revolving around population and development areas in four regions namely Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR and Addis Ababa; providing training to journalists on effective reporting on population and development issues; and organizing monthly round tables.

A number of recommendations were made by the journalists during the workshop in relation to bringing the issues of population and development, reproductive health, and gender high on the agenda. In this respect, concerns such as building the capacity of journalists and editors through training and orientation; putting the issues high on the agenda of media outlets; increasing accessibility of information on the issues through the establishment of resource centres; employing creative approaches in reporting and using human stories in this regard; and the importance of specialization among journalists and covering the issues on a sustained basis as opposed to event-based reporting, were raised.  

Twenty journalists drawn from government and private media took part in the workshop organized jointly by UNFPA and Ethiopian Volunteer Media Professionals Against AIDS (EVMPA).
 
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