NEWS

12 December 2006

JOURNALISTS GRADUATE FROM DISTANCE COURSE ON GENDER COMMUNICATION

The final seminar of a distance course on gender communication for journalists was held in Chatkal on 5-6 December.

The main goals of the seminar were to conclude the six-month course by assessing the progress made and to develop action plans for achieving gender-correct communication in mass media.

The developers and trainers of this course - Ms. Natalya Kulinka and Mr. Alexei Krivolap - originally visited Tashkent from Belarus for the launching seminar in July 2006 to introduce the course and its main components. Following the initial event journalist participants communicated with trainers via email - working on exercises and texts to improve their own skills in gender-correct communication. During the final seminar that took place in Tashkent region the participants engaged in an analysis of written work of journalists from Belarus and Uzbekistan. The second half of the seminar was dedicated to assessing the course activities and brainstorming ideas - that would later form mini-projects - to be implemented jointly by journalists and UNDP Uzbekistan to support gender-sensitive mass media. The brainstormed initiatives included, among others, the continued training for different mass media audiences and the development of gender-correct publications and gender-sensitive TV, radio and internet activities.

The original distance course was developed within the framework of the UNDP Project "Women's Leadership", which was implemented in Belarus from 2002-2005. It was the first attempt to introduce a practical course on gender for journalists that was adapted to post-Soviet countries. The course was successfully completed in Belarus with journalists of national and regional mass media. The methodology of the course consisted of both theoretical and practical components, including the analysis of texts and writing exercises.

The participants of the course in Uzbekistan were media professionals and members of the Journalists Network on Gender, who were selected from all over the country through a public announcement. The Journalists Network on Gender aims to build a firm platform for discussing gender issues among media professionals.

The Project on Gender and Development envisages the development of more effective gender mainstreaming tools and methodologies that will facilitate a more favorable gender environment. This is achieved through building capacity of national gender experts to provide training courses on gender mainstreaming and advisory services on gender, as well as supporting gender research and developing a network of journalists to promote gender issues in the media.

Source: UzReport