Back to Index

HIFC Update 4
Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre
October 2009

Download this document
- Acrobat PDF version (716KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking here.

HIFC praised for throwing lifeline to journalists
By Chris Arnold Msipa

The economic and political disorder of the past decade in Zimbabwe devastated the lives of the majority of the Sub-Saharan country's citizens, among them journalists.

I am one of the media practitioners who became almost destitute due to the mayhem, until a colleague recently informed me about the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre (HIFC), which has helped me get back on my feet.

My experience despite having lost everything and sustaining a broken leg at the height of the political situation in Zimbabwe, may not be the worst. Other journalists fled the country while others were incarcerated. However, sanity now seems on the horizon with the activation of apolitical programmes like the HIFC, a scheme that further promises to melt down the glaring polarization in the currently "sleeping" industry.

I have personally benefited from HIFC, which I only found out about in September 2009 after meeting a colleague and friend, Chris Chinaka, at a media conference in Harare.

I didn't hide from him the fact that I was in a fix. He knew about the incident in which I was attacked and left for dead, with a broken leg, in 2004 in Chivhu town, 141 km south-east of the capital. I also informed him of the loss of all my property thereafter in an unexplained fire accident. In this incident, I lost what I needed to operate - computers and broadcast equipment.

My life was in shambles when I met Chinaka. I lived in a wooden cabin in the small mining town of Mvuma, 190 km south-east of the capital. I could not even buy myself a meal and relied on friends.

I told Chinaka how I had approached a number of media organizations in the country for assistance, not charity, but some work I could do and get paid. While the Media Institute for Southern African (MISA) offered Internet access, there were immediate needs such as cash for food, transport and accommodation. It is these needs that the HIFC journalists grant and mentoring programme immediately addressed as soon as I had my story ideas approved.

Chinaka, after listening carefully to my brief tale, referred me to HIFC. He felt I could benefit from the HIFC programme for journalists, which he at one time headed. With my previous experiences still fresh in my mind, I was not too optimistic when I contacted the HIFC Consulting Editor Leonissah Munjoma, who invited me to visit. Following my visit to HIFC offices, I pitched two story ideas which were approved after which I signed a contract and got part of the grant disbursed by the ever sympathetic Natasha Msonza.

From the day I signed that contract, I have not looked back. It was that part payment that changed my world and gave me hope. On that day, I knew that the people I had been staying with would smile as I would walk into their home carrying some goodies!

The facility, set up to promote coverage of humanitarian issues in the media in Zimbabwe offers journalists US$250 to cover costs in researching, writing and publishing or broadcasting of two stories. After getting the part payment, I was able to travel to Mvuma from Harare to research and write the articles that have since been published.

The glow that comes with seeing one's work in print or on screen is not confined to beginners, as I was to discover recently. I felt really good after later reading my first postings under the scheme. Then I was paid the balance, restoring all my self confidence.

The HIFC programme for journalists does not just offer grants and let journalists write the stories and disappear; there is a mentoring aspect to it. After story ideas have been approved and the contract signed, the journalist is assigned a mentor. This is an experienced journalist who is expected to guide the grantee through the development of the story. They are expected to discuss the best approaches to a particular story and how best it could be covered.

It is not just a question of the journalist writing the story and submitting it to the mentor, they are expected to consult the mentor during the writing process. I was assigned Chris Chinaka as my mentor and this excited me as this is someone who has almost seen it all in the trade. Despite my many years of editing, Chinaka made me feel I was hearing it all for the first time. Yes, most of it rang a bell. But I still felt refreshed and ready to go.

Covering humanitarian issues may sound like an easy task at face value. But there is much more than just writing a story about people's welfare. One has to use different techniques in handling different types of humanitarian stories and this can only be made possible with the assistance of the mentoring programme.

The HIFC programme for journalists is a well thought-out scheme, a sincere display of honest desire to empower journalists in an almost impossible situation like ours. What is more is that HIFC allows the journalists to have the stories published in a medium of their choice and the story is not owned by HIFC. However, noting that some journalists may have problems finding story outlets, HIFC is working with some media houses to have some of the stories written under the grant published by them.

Hands up to HIFC for throwing a lifeline to journalists.

Download full document

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP