Mineral washing site at JIB Quarters, Jos. Photo Credit: Marie-Therese Nanlong Placing her plastic bowl on her head, a bag on her shoulder, and her baby strapped on her back, 40-year-old Esther Gyang, hurries to join a group of other women heading to…
Observed every 31st of July, Pan African Women’s Day now marking its 62nd anniversary, celebrates the achievements, struggles, and contributions of African women. This year’s theme “Invest in Education: Securing the Future of Women and Girls in Africa.” focuses on empowering women through quality education. The African Union dedicated the day to gender equality…
“We get scared each time we come across them on the way to the farm. If we talk, they will bring out a cutlass…, “ Mrs Ayankanmi, an aged widow farmer in her mid-70s with a face deeply etched with the lines of time, told this journalist during a recent visit to Kedo Salami, a…
The baobab tree is found in many countries in South, West and East Africa, but many take it for granted. In Zimbabwe, where baobab woodlands are often cleared to make space for farmland, increased interest in the baobab fruit has elicited keen interest to conserve the indigenous African tree, writes Tafadzwa Murangwana Ten years ago,…
It started as a fight for water and grass and turned into a series of wars that never seemed to end until women said enough and proposed a better system where everyone’s livestock gets to graze. Women from Isiolo, Kenya told Mercy Adhiambo how they brought order and peace to their community through environmental conservation….
Dr Mercy Korir talks to Sharon Barang’a about why she left clinical practice to become a health journalist Growing up in Kapsoit, in rural Kericho County in Kenya, Mercy Korir always wanted to be a doctor. She always topped her class, and top performers were encouraged to pursue medicine. Her headteacher – Mr Gathii –…
Coming face to face with governance issues pushes Ugandan journalists to join politics to push for change. Sarah Biryomumasisho interviews journalists who left the fourth estate for the legislature on their motivations
In the midst of the pandemic, women have found new opportunities online, writes Mercy Mangwana The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the uptake of digital tools and services and scaled up the global transition towards a digital economy. The Economist reckons that the usage of mobile internet grew faster in the first quarter of 2020, as citizens, governments and…
Three years ago, three university students were at the cusp of their journalism careers, looking forward to starting their journeys in newsrooms in Zimbabwe. However, they met with unforeseen roadblocks. Nicole Kurebwasweka couldn’t get placement for the industrial attachment unit of her journalism course at the University of Zimbabwe. The production department of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation turned her down, saying they…
On a “normal” day in Farah-Salam, you might find journalists from Europe-based media clicking away at their cameras capturing images of residents in Casablanca’s migrant suburbs documenting the European migrant crisis. 2020 was anything but normal for the residents of Farah-Salam, one such suburb, and the photojournalists who cover them. Six years ago, there were…
Sexual harassment is media’s open secret, and journalism in Cameroon is losing many promising reporters who leave the newsroom to run away from it.
“Journalism is not a crime” is often the rallying call against the injustice of the persecution of reporters the world over. But crime journalists can’t ply their trade without getting into the thick of crime, metaphorically speaking. This, however, is often used to perpetuate biases that keep women out of the crime desk. A cursory…
