GBV Training of Journalists

Activity Report
Sexual and Gender Based Violence denies women security and the right to enjoy fundamental freedoms and forces them into subordinate positions compared to men. A district, sub-county, and individuals affected in these cases cannot reach their full potential as long as women’s potential to participate in their society is denied.
I, Ruth Atim received a grant from Akina Mama Wa Africa to train Media practioners on reporting on GBV, Carry out research on the prevalence of and attitude towards GBV among adolescents in Northern Uganda and also Carry out research on how to change attitudes towards Gender Based Violence.

I did a one day training took place at the Northern Uganda Media Club (NUMEC) and attracted 20 Journalists from various media houses in Northern Uganda.

  • The Trained covered areas ranging from
  • Tips on how to report on GBV
  • Common Mistakes that Journalists make when reporting on GBV
  • Guiding principles for Media Practionners.
  • Forms of GBV (How GBV manifests itself).
  • How to involve men in the fight against GBV as Journalists.
  • Why write a GBV Story and the role of Journalists in fighting GBV.
  • Laws relevant to GBV reporting.
  • How to Change narrative on Gender reporting.

The trainees found these topics useful as one of them said “the information I got from the training is very important in my journalistic work as GBV is a reality in my area of operations looking at Acholi sub region that suffered immensely as a result of the 20 year LRA war”. The trainees were also taken through new skills of interviewing and following up GBV related stories.

Since this is was not a one off training, I promised to involve GBV experts and some lawyers to help explain some of the laws in place to help address GBV matters because there were some issues that were too technical for all of us to understand and needed an expert.