NW Journalist groomed on Conflict prevention and strategies.

 



 At a time when the armed conflict in the North West region continue to escalate, media personnels have been trained by Alternative Women in Action WAA Cameroon, on their duties and responsibility in building peace through ethical and responsible reporting with the expected outcome being lasting peace and safety.
The capacity building workshop which took place at the Catholic Women Immaculate Conception Home on May 6th saw over 20 journalists in attendance ready to be equipped with skills to enable them go about their work diligently. Facilitated by The National Coordinator of the Cameroon Community Media Network and also a Peace Expert, Madam Rosaline Obah, the workshop kicked off with a slogan "Peace my Agenda" a response to "Hello" wherein journalist are expected to remind themselves of the phrase while carrying out their duties to see to it that their report is peace oriented and not set out to destroy.

Trainer, Madam Rosaline Obah

According to the facilitator, during conflict situations, the media man or woman shouldn't be biased but balance, make sure to report the background of the conflict, and it's causes, do more of humanitarian reporting and the peace made efforts done towards solving the conflict as this will bring hope to the people.

     Thereafter, Participants were drilled on the media role in effective and democratic conflict prevention, follow suit by a group session exercise where these participants were tasked in three different groups to write five good headlines and five bad headlines which can either promote peace or aggravate violence. Discussions, presentation, corrections and contributions followed the exercise.

              


According to the trainer for the day, the exercise seeks to assess if journalist uphold and strengthen their role in conflict de-escalation and peace building processes to guarantee a liberated and democratic society through which all in every locality has the freedom and the voice to articulate in respect to peace building.

These presentation was for participants to see that, communities affected by a conflict can have different ideas to go about building a peaceful existence and if the media doesn't give them an opportunity to express their view points, then such points will never come to a reality. According to the facilitator, the media is already a platform that can be exploited for peace efforts and conflict de-escalation therein media persons will uphold and re-enforce their capacity at the frontline, working with peace experts and organizations to achieve lasting peace in the community.



Some Participants at the end of the Workshop appreciated the efforts of WAA Cameroon for bringing such an initiative which will enhance their work while dishing out some recommendations which could be used in the future . According to these participant Marius Taghen of Rainbow Radio Mbengwi, knowledge gained will shape his way of going about work.

“ I am going back equipped as a media person to organize new programs to re-angle and reshape them in order to get my audience adequately educated, entertained and informed”

Suh Lizette student journalist at UBa Voice Radio appreciates the Organizers for thinking about journalist.

“ I have learned a lot especially with the headline. I really appreciate the efforts of the organizers for putting in peace a workshop like this, is really an opportunity for us to reschedule our minds, review our works as journalists and to improve on them to bring about peace in our society”.

The facilitator and some Participants

To clear further doubts of these journalists on the reason behind the capacity building workshop, the Executive Director of WAA Cameroon Madam Justine Kwachu Kumche notes that,

“ we see the journalist as those who have the power to influence positive change within the community and within the context of crisis like this one happening in the North West and South West regions, we think that with the knowledge that the journalist have gathered here, they will go back to be able to impact the communities, to promote peace within our communities to promote transformative change because that is what we all need and the journalists from the different outlets are the best people to carry out this message”.



Founded in 2004, Women in Alternative Action (WAA) Cameroon is a Non-governmental organization enabling effective humans rights promotion and protection with it's mandate to identify, train and empower women, girls, youth leaders, social entrepreneurs and gender Equality advocates to end gender Based violence and promote peace coexistence of all community member’s throughout Cameroon.

By Pechuqui Laurata



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