African Woman and Child Feature Service

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Media & Gender Justice

Media and Gender Justice

We work to sustain awareness of gender equity and equality as critical issues for human rights, good governance and development

Beijing Plus 15
AWC work in South Sudan

The Strengthening, Promotion of, and respect for Women's Rights in Southern Sudan
African woman and Child Feature Service with collaboration the Sustainable Community Outreach Programmes for Empowerment (SCOPE), a local non governmental organization which promotes holistic social transformation, empowerment and community development in South Sudan is implementing the UNIFEM project with the objective to strengthen, promote and respect of women’s rights in Southern Sudan sought to empower women in South Sudan through the media.
The project seeks to empower women in South Sudan through the media. It is also geared towards building the capacity of women as leaders in the countdown to elections as well as giving them visibility through the media, equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge and competencies to allow them to take up lead positions in the legislative branch of the government, public offices and civil society at all levels AWC has often used a multimedia strategy approach through advocacy, capacity building, and research and media technical support in order to support women’s participation in democratic governance and decision making structures.
The project recognizes that even though there is expanded democratic space created by the Comprehensive peace Agreement (CPA) signed in January, 2005 and heralded by the 25% Affirmative Action that has seen women ascend into leadership positions in South Sudan, women are still faced with a lot of barriers names access to information, inadequate education, lack of capacity, cultural barriers among other issues. Their numerical strength cannot translate to equity and influencing of major bills coming from Parliament.
Conflict Mitigation and Reconciliation

The main objective of this project is to develop a comprehensive advocacy programme with a bid to bring the voices of the marginalized into the mainstream through the media namely the women, children, other marginalized groups as well as the disabled.
Gender and Governance Workshops
Land Reform

Land is one of the most important resources in the country. It is key to economic growth and plays a central role in national and local development. The management of land is a critical requirement for sustainable development and the Draft National Land Policy addresses the various opportunities to reverse the negative trends and to optimize the possibilities for sustainable development.
This section deals with the issue of Land Reform in Kenya
Media Diversity Centre
The Media Diversity Centre is a media project of the African Woman and Child Feature Service that seeks to use public journalism for empowerment of the citizenry
Media, Sexuality and Reproductive Health

The Media, Sexuality and Reproductive Health programme is designed to tease out critical issues in the area of sexuality and reproductive health; bring out their gender dimensions, and advocate for their coverage in the media.
The programme is also concerned with the development of tools such as training manuals that are to help journalists and other communicators cover these issues in a more informed, in-depth and analytical manner. To this end, we have, and continue to run training workshops for journalists reporting sexuality and reproductive health issues.
Rich and Poor Project

National Discourses on Poverty, Inequality and Growth
The gist of this programme involves using the media to create awareness to the public on inequalities in Kenya and how it affects their growth in terms of economic decision, political decisions and how resources are used. The project seeks to engage with the editors of the media houses on how effectively to cover inequality issues while at the same time train journalists throughout the country on how to mainstream inequalities in their articles with a view of impacting policy.
Partners of this project are:
- ActionAid International Kenya
- African Woman and Child Feature Service
- Society for International Development (SID) in collaboration with SIDA and the Ministry of Planning and Development
A result of the project was the National Conference on Equity and Growth. This conference was held from 22nd - 23rd May 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya.
More on the project: http://www.inequalitykenya.or.ke
Safeguarding Women Rights in Transitional Justice

A project of African Woman and Child Feature Service(AWCFS) in partnership with the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa(OSI-EA).

The journey towards gender equality has been long and winding. Over the years, women have struggled to penetrate decision making platforms so as to influence policy therefore alleviating the plight of women.

But never have women being so close to achieving their objective as they are now ; Kenya is at a crossroads as we move from the old Constitution into the new one which has tremendous gains for women. It is against this backdrop that it becomes significant for women to position themselves strategically within this transitional process.

In this regard, AWCFS with the support of OSI-EA has been holding media encounters across the country that bring together journalists and community women to deliberate on the significance of safeguarding women rights within the transitional justice mechanisms in Kenya.

Call for Papers for the Media & Diversity Journal

The Media and Diversity Journal is a research-based and peer-reviewed quasi-academic journal published three times a year in the months of April, August and December. It is published by the University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and the African Woman and Child Feature Service.

The Media and Diversity Journal (MDJ) is inviting submissions for its special issue on Identity and Conflict planned for December 2010.

Find out more on the MDJ and the Call for Papers