Reporting On Agriculture and Women Project
The Reporting on Agriculture and Women Project is changing the way the media cover agriculture, rural development and farming stories. The IWMF provides training to journalists to help them effectively provide coverage of agriculture and the role of women in transforming food production and rural development in African countries.
The project's goals include raising the quantity and quality of reporting on farming and rural development, focusing more reporting on the importance of women to the economics of rural areas and creating more gender equality in newsrooms. In February 2009 the IWMF published its research in a publication titled Sowing the Seeds, which revealed three key findings.
- Even though agriculture plays a crucial role for Africa's economic growth, it comprises only four percent of media coverage.
- Whether female or male, farmers' voices are seldom heard in agricultural coverage. In the agricultural stories monitored 70 percent of the sources were government officials and experts/professionals. Only 20 percent were farmers and other rural/agricultural workers.
- Women are almost invisible in the media. Even though women produce 70 percent of food in sub-Saharan Africa and make up half of the region's population just 11 percent of the sources and 22 percent of the reporters are women.
Using the same model as the Maisha Yetu project, Centers of Excellence were created in L'Essor and Radio Klédu in Mali, The Daily Monitor and Uganda Broadcasting Corporation in Uganda and The Times of Zambia and Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation in Zambia. The IWMF staff and experienced local trainers provide on-site training to journalists.
Read more about this topic: International Women's Media Foundation
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