Kumasi-based journalists who gathered for a training workshop on Thursday (23 November) have committed to supporting actions for enhancing inclusive participation in local governance.
Convened by the Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA) with the valuable support of the Canada Fund for Local Initiative (CFLI), the one-day programme was to boost the capacity of selected journalists and women aspirants participating in the upcoming District Level Elections (DLE) in 2023.
Available statistics indicate that female-elected members constitute less than 5% of the country’s local governance framework. It was estimated that they constituted 3.8% of the 6,270 memberships, and out of 6,033, there were 246 women.
AWMA is courting media support to reverse this worrying trend.
“The workshop is designed to empower journalists to play a pivotal role in fostering the inclusive participation of women in local governance,” said Shamima Muslim, the convener for AWMA.
“The primary objective was to provide a platform for women to have their voices heard through enhanced media spaces.”
Shamima emphasized the importance of fairness, balance, and accuracy in media coverage related to women.
This, she said, will enable them to “articulate their viability and visibility to boost their participation in the upcoming district-level elections on 19 December 2023”.
“AWMA envisages significant contributions towards shaping a more inclusive local governance landscape in Ghana if the media professionals adhere to ethical and responsible media reportage to improve the visibility of female candidates,” she further stated.
Abena Yeboah-Banin, Head of Communication Studies at the University of Ghana (UG), contributed to the workshop by stressing the importance of adopting empowering narratives for women.
“Explore alternative media engagement opportunities, like online recordings, if they (women) find it difficult to come to live programs,” Yeboah-Banin appealed to media houses.
She also urged the media to extend invitations to women aspirants, facilitating engagement with audiences to showcase their ideas effectively.
The collaborative effort between AWMA, journalists, and women aspirants seeks to contribute to a more inclusive and representative democratic process in the forthcoming district-level elections.
Participants were taken through the fundamental issues of media and gender, gender-sensitive reporting, and the role of the media and women’s representation ahead of the district-level elections.
“This training has enlightened some of us and we look forward to partaking in such an engagement. It has also helped me to understand the complexities and adversities of inclusive governance, which I would take a keen interest in going forward,” said Francis Appiah, a journalist with Otec FM.
Beatrice Spio-Gabrah with Akoma FM also said, “We have a segment on our local news where we engage Assemblymen to share their vision. I will extend an invitation to these women so they will be part of the discourse.
Reporting by Jonathan Ofori in the Ashanti Region
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