PRESENTERS NAME: WINSTONE KAIMIRA CATEGORY: RADIO COUNTRY SADC GENDER PROTOCOL SUMMIT DATE: 10th April 2013 VENUE: PROTEA HOTEL, BLANTYRE. GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF MEDIA HOUSE Location: rural Type: Radio Audience: 480,000 females and 402,000 males Proportion of women sources Number of employees (8 females 10 males) Dzimwe has been working with Gender Links for more than five years GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
KEY GENDER CHALLENGES IN THE MEDIA HOUSE Reference to institutional and content issues; Increased school- drop out rate for girls in Mangochi still make women disadvantaged to institutional media positions. Cultural practices make girls disadvantaged in proceeding with education as they are taken as advantaged already because they shall have chance of getting married to well to do people, this makes it hard for parents and girls to welcome gender messages from our Radio. GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST! GENDER CHAMPIONS Yes we have a gender champion in our media house. She is Hilda Phiri Hilda is the Station Manageress. GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST! GENDER CHAMPIONS How do they push the COE process? Our gender Champion makes sure that the gender Policy is working. She is a role model to girls and women within our institution as well as the catchment area of our Radio She also monitor gender activities at institutional level GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
HOW HAS THE COE PROCESS CONTRIBUTED TO ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES? Policy interventions Because we now have the gender policy , we have improved in the way we handle the following: -The board of Directors gives equal opportunities to both men and women during recruiting people for Vacant Positions -Sexual harassment is now an issue which can easily be reported to management as compared to the time we did not have the Policy , people had no where to go with such cases. Specific practices -In our News Editorial Policy, we encourage Reporters to gather views from both Male and Females. -Both male and Females Reportes and Presenters are assigned to cover functions without considering sex Specific campaigns We have been conducting special campaigns about benefits of educating girl child through Radio Jingles ,Drama ,News Bulletins and Radio Programs, GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
HOW HAS THE COE PROCESS CONTRIBUTED TO ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES? Examples of gender – specific coverage In our News we write stories which are results of gender based violence Examples where gender is mainstreamed in coverage We mainstream gender issues in our programs such as agriculture, Business and Environmental Employment practices When the Radio is employing Staff members ,board of Directors which is responsible for recruiting excise makes sure that both men and women have equal opportunities of being considered . Equal opportunities are given to both men and women when giving promotions Work place practices Sexual harassment is not allowed at our office. This is also stipulated in our Gender Policy. Both men and women are encouraged to handle any kind of program or story . GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST! HOW IS THE MEDIA HOUSE CONTRIBUTING TOWARDS ACHIEVING THE 28 TARGETS OF THE SADC PROTOCOL? PROTOCOL TARGET MEDIA ACTION Economic Empowerment As a community Radio we have much interest in developing lives of local people who are not just our listeners ,but also friends in development which we can even see when it is taking place. Most of such people are women who did not have chance of getting enough education .Meanwhile , a Women Radio Listener Club called Mkugwi is having about One Million Kwacha in its Bank Account after following a Campaign on Village Banks which we did from 2012 to 2013 ,on the Radio. GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST! HOW IS THE MEDIA HOUSE CONTRIBUTING TOWARDS ACHIEVING THE 28 TARGETS OF THE SADC PROTOCOL? PROTOCOL TARGET MEDIA ACTION Climate Change and sustainable development When we observed that Climate Change is a gender issue ,we decided to begin tackling it in our programs. The situation in most of our catchment areas is that women are facing a lot of problems caused by Climate Change and therefore we have programs that give people chance [s] of speaking out about the problem. Gender based Violence We gather and air issues of Gender based Violence as part of trying to fight against it. Our information sources include Police Chiefs Community Members and Victims of GBV. GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST! IMPACT - We have come up with the gender policy which we did not have before -Staff members have increased knowledge about gender than before -Our Radio Interviews are now well balanced/with views of both men and women included. Before we were not caring about leaving out women /men in interviews even that need views of both of them. Feed back from audiences As Dzimwe we receive feed back from our audience encouraging us to do more on empower women who have been side lined for so long in important developmental activities taking place especially in Mangochi District where we operate from. GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST! CHANGING LIVES A short story of Michael Kabuwe –News Reporter ,whose life has changed because of the COE process. Michael Kabuwe has been one of News Reportes for Dzimwe Community Radio from March 2013. He has been promoted to the position of News Editor in March 2013 after the board of Directors observed that he was able to incorporate well, the News Editorial Policies in his News Items, which include making sure that men and women views are respected and covered in all stories He told the Board COE has helped him to achieve the Police. GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
CHALLENGES TO GENDER MAINSTREAMING Due to financial challenges ,Dzimwe Radio fails to cover stories including those to do with gender as Staff members fail to travel to far areas as a result of mobility problems Some staff members still lucky capacity to handle gender related stories or programs GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!
GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST! WAY FORWARD What are the next steps? As Dzimwe Community Radio Station we shall continue with gender activities at Station level and on Radio eg by mainstreaming gender and implementing what the Gender Policy Says GENDER EQUALITY BY 2015, YES WE MUST!