Issue on Women & International Women's Day 2009

Jordanian Community Radio Station Tackles Issues Affecting Women and Youth

(March 5, 2009) Farah Al Nas, a Internews-founded community radio station in Jordan that focuses on women and youth issues, is tackling topics that are usually taboo on the airwaves.
Based in Amman, the station recently held a week-long campaign dealing with violence against women that featured the voices of women affected by violence. It was a rare moment to hear women talking openly on the air about their experiences of rape and domestic violence.
In January, when a six-year old child was killed by a truck in the residential area of Abu Alanda, community members grew upset at how many children had been injured or killed by trucks passing through that neighborhood. Working with all affected parties, Farah Al Nas held a successful campaign to ban trucks from entering the area.
“I am very happy with what we have achieved so far at Farah Al Nas,” said Haitham Atoom, the station manager. “Our programs are out there, people are listening and we are responsive to their requests. I have great expectations for Farah Al Nas.”
Internews trains and supports young people ages 10 to 24 to operate the radio station. The young journalists learn the technical and journalistic skills needed to operate a community radio station.
Run by and for the local community, Farah Al Nas produces three main programs dealing with women, youth and social issues:
“Youth” deals with the concerns and aspirations of young people and is aired three times weekly
“Woman Today” tackles women’s issues and is broadcast twice weekly
Min Qalb El Nass (“From the Heart of the People”) deals with people’s daily concerns
Farah Al Nas began broadcasting in May of 2008 and was established by Internews Network, the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD) and the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) through a grant from the US Department of State.
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Lifting the Voices of Yemen’s Women and Youth

(November 12, 2008) In 2007, Yemen ranked last out of the 128 countries considered in the World Economic Forum’s annual Gender Gap Index, signifying the persistence of serious gender-based inequalities.
To address these inequalities and bring women’s voices to the fore, Internews Network is empowering Yemeni youth and media professionals to explore sensitive issues concerning gender, society, and human rights.
In partnership with the Yemeni Women’s Media Forum (YWMF), Internews Network has begun holding a series of town hall meetings across Yemen to address these issues. Young people and professional journalists will be trained in radio production through the project, “Yemeni Voices: Women and Youth in Support of Free Media.” The project will culminate with the production of 15 thirty-minute radio programs, which will be aired on national and mainstream media.

Internews and the Yemeni Women’s Media Forum held the first town hall meeting in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, on October 22. Over 30 different organizations and NGOs were represented by more than 50 delegates from across Sana'a.
The participants formed three working groups to discuss topics for the radio programs in the areas of education, health, the environment, and human rights. Each group offered 12 to 15 ideas for future production. Suggested program topics ranged from child marriage to the use of weapons in Sana’a neighborhoods.
Participants were universally enthusiastic about the program. "The idea of creating working groups and coming up with results is the best way to show the transparency of the programs, and I hope that at least one of my ideas will be realized with this project through a real radio program," said Radia Khairan, a member of the Hood Organization.
“Yemeni Voices: Women and Youth in Support of Free Media” is supported by a grant from the US Department of State.
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Internews Honors Women Tech Leaders in Macedonia
(March 4, 2009) Internews in Macedonia is honoring ten women leaders in software development and e-government at a ceremony in Skopje on Friday, March 6. Internews has worked with these women over the course of its five-year project in Macedonia implementing modern e-government solutions.
Internews will honor these ten leaders in celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8:
For their leadership, expertise and professionalism in the process of developing and implementing the Electronic System for Employment Registration, which has significantly improved the efficiency and the quality of Macedonia’s civil employment services:
Biljana Jovanovska – Director, Employment Service Agency
Silvana Trajkovska – Head of IT Department, Employment Service Agency
Biljana Petkovic – Project Manager, NEOCOM software developer
For their outstanding dedication and professional engagement in developing and implementing the Single Window Export/Import Licenses and Quotas (EXIM), a system that facilitates trade and demonstrates the impact of ICT in cross-border operations:
Slavica Kutirov – Project Manager, Customs Administration,
Vesna Levkova Damjanovski – Project Manager, ULTRA software developer
For their leadership, continuous commitment and outstanding performance in the development and implementation of the Automated System for Management of International Cargo Transport Licenses, which has increased the transparency, fairness and predictability in the process of distribution and management of cargo transport licenses:
Aneta Stojanovska – Chief of Cabinet of the Minister of Transport and Communications
Biljana Muratovska – General Secretary, MAKAMTRANS Association of Transporters
For her leadership and the continuous support in the process of developing and implementing of the e-Procurement System, thus making the public procurement procedures in Macedonia more transparent, efficient and cost-effective:
Mare Bogeva Micovska – Director, Public Procurement Bureau
For their leadership, continuous commitment and professional engagement in developing and implementing the e-Tax System, an application that pioneered the process of online submission of tax application, thus making the process efficient, simple and cost-effective:
Blagica Mitrovska – Head of IT Department, Public Revenue Office
Vesna Novakovic – Head of Public Relations Department, Public Revenue Office
Internews Network began its eGov Project in Macedonia in 2004 to increase the efficiency and transparency of public sector management and create new channels for doing business in an open and secure manner. Under the eGov Project, Internews has developed and implemented a number of innovative e-government solutions that use information technology to get government services and information online.
These include an e-procurement system, already in use by several Macedonian cities, that reduces the possibility of corruption and saves costs in government purchases of supplies and services. An Apply Online system for Macedonia's civil service agency has increased applications for these jobs five-fold, and improved trust in the objectivity of the selection process.
Other e-government projects include e-tax filing for Macedonian companies and citizens, online training in information technology, and an e-health system to track and control the government's expenditures on prescription drugs, among other e-government applications.
The eGov Project in Macedonia is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
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Nabeela Aslam – Blazing a Trail for Women Radio Producers
Nabeela Aslam came to Internews from a print background. Now, she says, all she wants to do is radio. For Nabeela, doing radio mainly means reporting, producing, training and marketing for Meri Awaz Suno (“Hear My Voice”), the Internewssupported women’s radio production house which produces Pakistan’s first syndicated radio program by the same name.
Nabeela comes from a farming family in rural Punjab. The fifth of six daughters, she left home early to pursue a reporting career. She worked with a liberal newspaper until it closed down and then as a newsletter editor for a non-profit health organization. One day she saw an advertisement seeking producers for the weekly Meri Awaz Suno radio program, and she was soon hooked.
Internews launched Meri Awaz Suno in 2003 to give women a profile in Pakistani media. In Pakistan, only about 5% of all journalists are women, which means that even issues affecting women are reported from a male perspective. Nabeela and her team at Meri Awaz Suno have been producing a 15-minute radio magazine, which covers mainstream issues from women’s perspectives.
Meri Awaz Suno is now broadcast on some 20 FM stations across Pakistan. In addition to Meri Awaz Suno, Nabeela and her team produce two other programs – Shakhsi Khakay (“Personal Profiles”), in-depth profiles of famous and not-so-famous women in Pakistan, and a radio drama series on women’s reproductive health issues.
“Women speaking about issues in their own voices is very powerful. We need more women on air!” says Nabeela. Meri Awaz Suno has trained 140 women in radio journalism at the Fatima Jinnah Women’s University (where it was housed in 2005), Rawalpindi; Kinnaird College, Lahore; and the National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad.
“Radio journalism is developing in Pakistan,” says Nabeela. “With training, women can produce quality work and be on a par with their male colleagues.”
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Close-Up with William Ingaga: HIV Chronicler and Cameraman Extraordinaire

(Dec. 1, 2008) William Inganga, whose title is Film Officer at the Kenya News Agency, is working on his 42nd story about HIV in Kenya in less than 18 months, since a training workshop opened his eyes to the impact he could have on the issue and to his own latent reporting talents.
William was a TV trainee in July 2007 when Internews Network’s Kenya office introduced a role swapping exercise aimed at fostering teamwork between TV journalists and camera people. The exercise made it clear that the two play equally important parts. Camera people learned to appreciate the rigors of having to think on your feet and look presentable at the same time, while journalists learned there is no story without good pictures. The journalist who swapped places with William learned to focus, hold steady and create poignant moments on video, while William discovered his news nose and scriptwriting talent.
“Finding that first good HIV story was a big hurdle,” recalls William. He spent weeks “sowing seeds” wherever he went – making contact, asking around, telling people what kind of story he was looking for. And then he found it: an HIV-positive man on death row, receiving life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs.
“Here is a man waiting for the hangman’s noose. And he knows his HIV status is a second death sentence. Then he gets drugs, he gets better and this makes him realize life is for living – and he starts getting hope that his appeal may succeed,” William says. The case is still being appealed.
The poignancy of this circumstance convinced the authorities to open the prison doors to William’s camera. “Once those prison doors opened, more HIV doors opened, and HIV stories started looking for me!” says William.
They say knowledge is power, but William believes knowledge is passion. He shares that what he learned about HIV in the workshop made him want to know even more. And over the 15 months of HIV storytelling, the subject has become ever more interesting.
“To be honest, HIV was like any other story to me,” he admits. “Internews offered me the break from news and boosted my confidence and ability to tackle features. The fact that the topic was HIV was a bonus – it opened my eyes to how big the subject is, and the joy of making an impact in peoples’ lives is indescribable.”
William is busy with story number 42. It’s about a prison warden who has gone public with her HIV status. “When people in public office open up like that, it makes a huge difference and it normalizes HIV – that’s why the story is important,” says William.
Internews Network’s Local Voices program in Kenya trains practicing radio, print and TV journalists in HIV storytelling. Trainees have produced over 1,500 quality features, which combine accurate science and the voices and experiences of ordinary people living with HIV.
Internews’ health journalism programs in Africa are funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.
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Re Edited by The Muktidooth News Services