Zambia: Women’s media body salutes scribes

The International Women Media Foundation (IWMF) has paid tribute to the media for highlighting success stories of women in agriculture since the introduction of the training programme last year.

 

IWMF director, research and training, Elisa Munoz said she was happy with the keen interest the media had taken since the launch of the programme by bringing out women in agriculture, whose contribution to the sector she said was about 70 per cent.

 

Ms Munoz was speaking in an interview in Mali at the on-going training course for journalists from Zambia, Uganda and Mali organised by IWMF.

 

She said she was happy that the media had continued to show interest in women in agriculture and that the organisation had continued to follow the progress being made with interest.

 

She urged journalists to continue promoting women farmers and their contributions to economies in their countries.

 

Ms Munoz said the media had a big role to play in ensuring that the voices of women in agriculture were heard, and pledged continued support through the provision of training, which she said was a tool for development.

 

She called on the media to remain focused and make use of the knowledge being acquired for them to make a difference, especially for women farmers in rural areas whose contributions to the sector had not been highlighted.

 

“As IWMF, we will continue to monitor the progress of journalists in their respective countries because we believe that it is through the training of the media that the impact of highlighting women in agriculture can be realised,” she said.

 

Ms Munoz said the organisation hoped to see a group of journalists who would be able to bring out the challenges and success stories of women in agriculture.

 

Meanwhile, scores of people here braved the heat to celebrate the International Women’s Day, which was characterised by a march past that caused a traffic jam.

 

Men and children joined the march past from the city centre to the international conference centre of Bamako, where Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure, first lady Lobbo and government officials had gathered.

 

- March 9, 2010 by Sylvia Mweetwa

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Source: www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi (accessed on 10.03.10)