In the first quarter of 2022, a colleague introduced me to a training opportunity on Violence Against Women and Girls, VAWG organized by the African Women in Media, AWiM, and asked me to apply. Being one with a passion for women and girls’ issues, I envisaged it would be an avenue to reinforce knowledge and improve my capacity to effectively report the issues of VAWG so I did.
Sometime in May 2022, I got a congratulatory mail that I was chosen in the 1st cohort to participate in the training which was to be online and span from 18 July to 19 August 2022.
That marked the beginning of a relationship with the vivacious Dr Yemisi Akinbobola, Joy Adigwe, Dinma Nwanye-Ajanaku, Irene Odera, Janet Otieno, and the rest of the team whom I have never met but can see zeal have in building a community of women who make lasting positive impacts in the African media space.
Going through the six courses of the programme within five weeks was as challenging as it was exciting, educating, and all. The exposure especially to the mental health and safety of journalists reporting on VAWG as well as legal and policy frameworks for reporting VAWG made many impacts and elicited an enduring open discussion among my colleagues.
As participants get encouraged to produce reports reflecting the knowledge gained during the training, I also did, writing to educate survivors/victims of gender-based violence on how to get help using legal frameworks like the VAPP/GEO laws. When I got an invitation to share my experience carrying out the report and the impacts it made on a Twitter space, alongside other colleagues on the work we did, I knew coming in contact with AWiM was a good thing.
Having completed the training, the opening for the sixth AWIM conference in Fez, Morocco was disclosed but knowing I won’t participate, I looked forward to gleaning the knowledge shared possibly from a newsletter that may emanate from there. When it was announced on the 1st cohort’s WhatsApp group that five slots would be given for those who could not participate in person to join online, I was excited and kept vigil on my phone to get a slot.
When the Whova link was shared, on December 2, the sometimes disappointing network collaborated effectively and got the chance to register. I joined in the different sessions as my work schedule permitted. I must at this point, commend Joy Adigwe, the ‘accurate time keeper’ for always sending a reminder; “starting soon” ahead of the sessions.
Again, when the opportunity to pitch story ideas came, I also tried my hands at that. Having to face the three panellists for about 10 minutes as I introduce myself and present my idea was not too tedious as the panellists were both friendly and engaging.
On the 9th of December, while we awaited the link to join in the pitch awards/gala night where the winners would be announced and did not get, some other activities took my attention.
I was ecstatic when on December 12, I got a congratulatory mail again from Dr Yemisi that I won a category of the AU Agenda 2063 pitch zone awards.
I was selected the winner in the category on the AU Theme of the Year 2022 – The Year of Nutrition “Strengthening resilience in nutrition and food security on the African continent: Strengthening agro-food systems, health, and social protection systems for the acceleration of human, social and economic capital development.”
My series of stories will delve into how to scale actions that address the challenges of food scarcity, malnutrition and how regional and continental trade offers exponential potential for the continent to meet the food demands of every African citizen.
While announcing the winners on behalf of Ms Leslie Richer, AU Director of Information and Communication, Mrs Wynne Musabayana, Head of Communication, stated, “With the funding received, each winner will have sufficient means to produce relevant, evidence-based, and timely content in their chosen format: content that digs deep into the issues to answer the famous five W’s and one H of journalism.”
However, Dr Yemisi Akinbobola, Co-founder & CEO, of African Women in Media, restated the vision of the Pitch Zone since its inception in 2017 as a platform to create opportunities for women journalists to produce the kind of stories that will give them the level of visibility, they need for their career development.
