By Gilbert Azeem Tiroog
Bolgatanga, August 5, GNA – The Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana (YHFG), a youth-focused organisation has organised a workshop on Gender Transformative Communication for selected media practitioners in the Upper East and North East Regions.
The two-day capacity-building workshop aimed at empowering media practitioners to produce gender-sensitive and gender-transformative content to help address issues affecting the growth and development of girls and women.
It was to also to create awareness among media practitioners about how gender norms and stereotypes could influence their programming and news reporting.
The workshop formed part of a five-year Reproductive Health Education (RHE) project dubbed “Evidence to Action: Sexual Health Education Advocacy” being sponsored by the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) in Sweden.
It is being implemented in 11 communities in two Districts of the Upper East Region, including Bawku West District and Kassena Nankana Municipal.
Mr Dominic Anarigide, Project Officer, YHFG, said gender had been a major concern for years coupled with the introduction of gender mainstreaming concepts, it was important that media practitioners were abreast with the issues to be able to report appropriately.
He said the workshop was to increase the participants’ understanding of gender transformative change and communication concepts.
Mr. Anarigide added that when media practitioners were acquainted with gender, it would increase media coverage of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) from a gender transformative perspective, including media coverage that challenges discriminatory social norms and stereotypes.
Mr. Sumaila S. Saaka, a Gender Expert, who took the participants through the training, noted that media practitioners had some level of power within themselves that they could use to influence change in society, and it was important that such power was used to the benefit of society.
He urged media practitioners to be sensitive in their reporting about issues concerning gender for the general wellbeing of society.
GNA