Media Career Development Specialist, Lekan Otufodunrin writes on the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship organised by Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism supported by Free Press Unlimited.
I spent last Monday to Saturday with 34 amazing, cerebral and professional female Nigerian journalists thanks to the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, (WSCIJ).
20 of them are 2018 fellows of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship, while 14 are 2017 alumni Fellows selected from about 300 applications nationwide for the Fellowship supported by Free Press Unlimited, Netherlands.
Along with other mentors and facilitators as the only male in their midst, we had very impacful mutual learning experience on major skills, career and life issues needed for excelling in the media profession.
The goal of the fellowship is to empower female journalists with skills that will embolden them to become leaders in their various media organizations.
Like in many other professions, women representation inboard and in management positions can be as low as 10:2 as confirmed by a 2017 survey of leadership status of female reporters in Nigeria’s newsrooms by WSCIJ.
Instead of bemoaning this lopsided situation in the media, WSCIJ according to its Coordinator, Mrs Motunrayo Alaka has decided to be intentional in changing the career fortunes of female journalists.
After the week-long sessions, I can confirm that the goal of building the competencies of the fellows and challenging them to be counted as leaders in newsrooms will not only be accomplished, but exceeded.
The story and leadership projects of the 2017 fellows and the commitments of the new fellows to make the best of the opportunities offered them by the programme are reassuring that sooner than later, the face of the leadership in the newsroom in the country will be as female as it is presently male.
A Report Women Network has been launched by the 2017 Alumni to advance the objectives of the fellowship through continued networking among fellows and activities.
Join me in thanking Mrs (Intentional) Alaka for the opportunity she has given me to be part of this much-needed laudable capacity-building initiative for female journalists along with other top-notch resource persons, including frontline broadcaster, columnist, author and media consultant Mrs Eugenia Abu who a number of the participants said inspired them to become broadcasters during her days at the Nigeria Television Authority ( NTA).
Other resource persons are lawyer and activist, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi who is Executive Director of Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre, Deputy Director of the Enterprise Development Centre, Pan Atlantic University, Mrs Nneka Okekearu, Broadcast Manager and Lawyer, Mrs Stella Din-Jacob and most importantly, Programme Coordinator at Free Press Unlimited, Bethel Tsegaye for being instrumental to the launch and continued support for the Leadership Programme.
I am coordinating another media workshop in Lagos and scheduled to speak at a print publishing conference in SINGAPORE before the end of this month and the first week of November. I will share posts on the two upcoming training sessions.
