Uganda

IAWRT Uganda is a network of professional media practitioners working for gender equality in the media and a fairer treatment for women working in the media in Uganda. IAWRT, is committed to the enhancement of Women’s role and participation in media since gender parity in the media is a major driver to accelerated progress towards the attainment of Gender Equality and equity.

MISSION
IAWRT Uganda aims to contribute to the creation of an enabling environments for women who work in the media, change the manner women are portrayed through media content for societal fairness and equity. Our engagements are through Research, Advocacy and Partnerships that impact on the attainment of Gender Equality through the media. Through our chapter initiatives we create opportunities for knowledge exchange, building networks, and economic empowerment of women in media.

VISION: To be role models in championing for Strong and credible portrayal of women in the media through content production and organisation structure.

GOAL: To promote Gender Equality, Parity and Equity through/in the media and by the media

MANDATE

IAWRT Uganda organises international, local and regional conferences and workshops for the professional development of its members. The chapter provides a unique opportunity for members to exchange views with various media professionals by supporting production, training and projects for women in Uganda. It also provides a rich resource of knowledge and professional experience through our information exchange forums. The chapter also provides professional media support to various organizations and individuals.

GOVERNANCE

The chapter is governed by a board of 7 members, the Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, Treasurer and 3 members. Membership is open to all professional women in the media.

PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

As a chapter, we actively participated in the Africa Chapters online webinar under the theme NAVIGATING DIGITAL SAFETY on 20^th.November .2021 with over with over 250 participants online. We discussed the safety of African women journalists while using online platforms. A number of observations were made as follows:

Female journalists who are expected to be the voice of the voiceless victims of harassment online and offline are actually suffocated and are collapsing silently under the weight of harassers.
There is a critical need to create safe spaces female journalists to help them navigate through social, cultural, societal, occupational and peer forms of injustices
Female journalists are multiples victims of harassment first as women, then as journalists, which seems to be another crime regardless of one’s gender and worse as female journalists.
Continuous cross country, region, continent and cross cultural symposiums for female journalists to share and learn from each other about the need to stand up fiercely and boldly unapologetically against harassers
positive change should start within among journalists, to be the true reflection of the agenda they push, they must obtain the voice they claim to give to the voiceless.

SISTERHOOD WATCH OVER FOR FEMALE JOURNALISTS IN UGANDA

We held online Chapter Activity under the theme FEMALE JOURNALSISTS TEAM UP FOR OWN SAFETY on 23rd. October. 2021 sponsored by JMIC Oslo met and attracted about 40 participants. The Overall Objective of the sisterhood Watch Over National network was to create a sustainable united national network of female journalists able to identify forms of violence and work together to form safe spaces efor resilience against the perpetrators. The established network identified the various forms of threats and actual acts of violence they encounter in their line of duty and were able to share how they are able to counter challemnges with different dynamics. The evaluation feedback report indicated 90% responsiveness by participating female journalists on seeking redress and protection from any form of violence and threats using the various provisions within the legal framework. 39 participants representing 65% of the mobilised female journalists from the central, eastern, northern and western region of Uganda were introduced to the idea of establishing a national sisterhood network to advocate against any forms of violence and threats. Three cross cutting forms of violence that include, poor and or no pay, denied or abused maternity leave and sexual harassment were identified.