Features
IWMF Trains Women Journalists in Lithuania
The IWMF, in partnership with The Kazickas Family Foundation and Internews Network, held a three-day leadership workshop from April 10-12 in Lithuania to help women journalists from the former Soviet Republics build their skills and prepare to be leaders in the news media.
- View a photo gallery from the program.
- Learn more about the Lithuania Leadership Institute.
- Read more about Jurate Kazickas.
- Help support women journalists.
Deadline Extended for IWMF Leadership Institute for Women Journalists
The International Women's Media Foundation has extended the deadline for the 2008 Leadership Institute for Women Journalists. Women journalists from print, broadcast and Internet media in the United States may apply for the week-long program, which helps women journalists develop leadership skills and become leaders in their newsrooms. The Institute will be held July 21-25 in Chicago.
Session leaders include Jill Geisler of the Poynter Institute and Liza Gross of The Miami Herald.
- See the press release.
- Download an application.
- Learn more about the Leadership Institute.
Jurate Kazickas Draws on Her Own Experience to Support Women Journalists
Jurate Kazickas, a journalist and women's rights advocate, says she was thrilled to support the IWMF Lithuania Leadership Institute, which was held April 10-12 in Lithuania. By cultivating news media leaders, the Institute called attention to press freedom and the state of media the former Soviet Republics. Kazickas is glad to have helped the women journalists gain confidence in their skills and learn techniques to advance their careers.
"I really wanted to do something for women at a junction in their careers where they've reached a level where they really feel like they can go farther," she said.
- Read more about Jurate Kazickas.
- Read the press release about the program.
- Learn more about the Lithuania Leadership Institute.
- Help support this and other IWMF programs.
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IWMF Receives Grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The International Women's Media Foundation has received a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a campaign to enhance the quality of healthcare coverage in the African media with responsible, accurate and relevant media messages.
The campaign will bring together leaders in the African media to evaluate the quality of health coverage in Africa and then devise strategies and actions to raise the quality of reporting on healthcare issues. It will be conducted through the African Women’s Media Center, which was founded by the IWMF in 1997 and is based in Dakar, Senegal.
“This grant will provide the AWMC with the means to train African women journalists to become better reporters on healthcare issues across the continent,” said IWMF co-chair Lynn Povich. “The AWMC’s experience training reporters to cover HIV and AIDS has taught us that when reporters are armed with the facts about complex issues and the skills they need to report effectively, they are more likely to produce stories that hold governments accountable, educate the public and help discredit stereotypes and myths. That is the power of the media.”
An AWMC priority has been to train women journalists to report on HIV and AIDS. The center has developed manuals and resource guides on covering HIV and AIDS and has trained women journalists in both French- and English-speaking African countries to report on the pandemic. The grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will help the AWMC expand its programs to other healthcare issues and train more journalists to be effective health reporters.
“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is very pleased to support this important campaign,” said Joe Cerrell, the foundation’s director of public affairs. “Enhancing the quality of health coverage in Africa will build awareness of critical health issues and strengthen commitment for action.”
The International Women’s Media Foundation launched the African Women’s Media Center in 1997. The center helps women in the African media develop skills by sponsoring training workshops and has been a pioneer in using the Internet to conduct training. A 13-member advisory committee of African women in the media guides the center.