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Celebrating
International Women's Day (IWD)
Federation
of African Media Women of Zimbabwe (FAMWZ)
March 17, 2005
Contributing
to the empowerment of women through media
Like
wine that matures with age, FAMWZ has grown over the years to earn
its as a critical component within the women’s development discourse
in Zimbabwe. Formed 20 years ago, the organisation is one of the
oldest NGOs in the country that continues to lobby for the positive
portrayal and the inclusion of women in all sectors of the media
industry.
The organisation
joins the rest of the world in celebrating International Women’s
Day by tracing the challenges, achievements and highlights in its
two decades of existence.
The defining
years: 1985 to 2001
Formation
FAMWZ
was formed as a lobby, advocacy and empowerment organisation for
professional media women and the Zimbabwean woman in general after
realisation that women, and issues that affected them, were being
marginalised and trivialised in the mainstream media.
The seed for
the formation of an organisation that would look into issues affecting
women in the media was sown in Zambia in 1977 when a consultative
meeting was held by women from five African countries: Tanzania,
Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. An International Women’s conference
held in Nairobi Kenya in 1985 further watered this seed and in the
same year, a voluntary association of media women in the electronic
and print media, the Federation of African Media Women Zimbabwe
was born.
The defining
objectives included:
- Lobbying,
advocating and facilitating the creation of a gender-sensitive
and inclusive media environment;
- Promoting
the exchange of ideas and HIV/Aids information and resources between
Zimbabwean media and target communities;
- Monitoring
and correcting the portrayal of and encouraging participation
of women in the media; and
- Identifying
and implement strategies to meet the professional concerns of
Zimbabwean media women.
The organisation
has always placed at the centre of its values gender equality, non-discrimination
and the best interest for women. At inception, FAMWZ focused specifically
at capacitating and training media women through exchange visits
to other countries in the region so they could learn from other
women, share experiences.
Media women
were also trained in through various programmes on specialised subjects
such as economic reporting, feature writing, and development writing
as well as management and leadership courses. Over time, FAMWZ recognised
the inadequacy of just empowering media women when, across the board,
women were facing different challenges in their various capacities.
FAMWZ therefore
broadened its development activities to accommodate and cater for
the needs of women in the urban and rural areas other than those
in the media, hence the Development Through Radio (DRT) programme.
The
DTR programme
DTR, one of the most successful media for development programmes
for rural women, was initiated in 1998. Overall, this flagship programme,
which constitutes a key component of FAMWZ’s media strategy, aimed
to facilitate the participation of women in rural areas in public
communication. While at inception DTR focused on women only, it
has been opened up to include men and the youths so that issue affecting
communities such as HIV/Aids could be addressed holistically from
a gender perspective.
Through DTR,
women, organised into listeners’ clubs, were encouraged to actively
participate in the preparation of development-oriented programmes
that articulated their problems, needs and priorities. These then
became the vehicles through which solutions may be found.
The radio listener’s
clubs enabled the women to set the agenda as well as to speak with
their own voices. Formed in partnership with Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation, the programmes were broadcast on the then Radio 4 until
December 2001.
The project
had 55 RLCs who were actively involved in the formulation of the
radio programmes to suit their needs in four provinces: Mashonaland
East and West, Matebeleland North and South in Shona and Ndebele
respectively. Apart from being uniquely pro-people, pro-marginalised
communication for development, the programme sought to give the
communities a sense of ownership and control as they determined
programme content and development. Following the restructuring at
ZBC and the enactment of the Broadcasting Services Act, the project
had to be suspended. The DTR in Zimbabwe pioneered all similar regional
programmes and acted as a model for similar initiatives.
Phase Two
The organisational
Development process
In 2002, the organisation realised that in the development and
operating environment, a lot of changes were taking place and was
calling for a revision and strategic repositioning if FAMWZ were
to retain relevance within the development agenda. The process injected
life into the organisation through redefining its identity, vision
and goals.
At the same
time, FAMWZ underwent gender mainstreaming to strengthen its gender
advocacy role as well as the adoption of HIV/Aids as a central six-year
theme around programming. Although FAMWZ is not a HIV/Aids service
organisation, it recognises the importance of the media in ensuring
that topical issues around the pandemic get the critical attention
they deserve in a gender-sensitive.
Friday network
meetings
These were formally constituted in October 2001 after a realisation
that there was need for network amongst women’s organisations and
for a platform for women to discuss issues that affected them and
share ideas.
Gender media
monitoring
Another important aspect of FAMWZ programming is the gender
media monitoring unit which monitors and analyses the mainstream
media’s coverage and handling of issues, with particular focus on
the portrayal of women and the extent to which these are given a
voice in the media.
Bi-weekly reports
are produced and distributed to stakeholders with a view to inform
and to lobby the media for gender-inclusiveness in all aspects of
media coverage. Media training sessions are fashioned on results
from the monitoring.
The outreach
programme
The outreach project which is an offshoot of DTR project, seeks
to promote community level dialogue, debate and empowerment and
to especially contribute to efforts in the fight against HIV/Aids.
The initiative acknowledges the importance of empowering communities
to define their situations, solutions and communicate their realities
if transformation of knowledge system, attitudes and practices is
to be effective. The overall aim is to facilitate information exchange
between communities, linking these with relevant Aids Service Organisation
as well as the media.
Currently, FAMWZ
outreach activities are in six areas: Seke, Chikwaka, Mhondoro in
Mashonaland and Filabusi, Tsholotsho and Esigodini in Matebeleland.
Discussions
with the communities show that the continued spread of virus is
not due to any lack of knowledge concerning the facts of the epidemic.
FAMWZ believes the solution to combating the pandemic lies in the
interaction of personal, socio-economic and cultural factors that
influence sexual behaviour.
Training
of journalists
In the outreach programme, FAMWZ works with journalists who
go out and interact with the communities and are also involved in
capacity building initiatives. The exercise is meant to empower
journalist to report around issues of HIV/Aids and gender from the
perspective of the communities. To date, the organisation has continuously
built the capacity and skills of more than 30 journalists on reporting
on gender and HIV/Aids. Contributions from the journalists are featured
in FAMW Gender and Development newsletter, Fokas.
Networking:
The Gender Empowerment Zone Project
FAMWZ has over time developed its networks and is currently
involved in the United Nations Development Fund for women (UNIFEM)
Gender Empowerment Zone (GEZ ) project in Mutoko’s Nyahunure community
using the tools of its trade: media and communication.
FAMWZ’s focus
is to work with marginalised, grassroots groups to help them gain
access to wider debates and stimulate discussion, while also raising
awareness of neglected or poorly understood issues in the communities.
Conclusion
As the organisation celebrates 20 years of existence, FAMWZ,
in line with various international and regional statutes, continues
to strive towards the recognition of gender as an agenda and to
lobby for the empowerment of women through the
Visit the FAMWZ
fact
sheet
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