AFGHANISTAN: In Herat, Department of Women's Affairs Reaches Out to the Media

Herat's Department of Women Affairs (DoWA) held a two-day workshop at the Afghan Journalism Centre last week to establish a better working relationship with the media.
From 25 to 26 May 2010, 20 representatives from local television channels, radio stations and magazines discussed with UN and provincial gender specialists, in the presence of a representative of the Afghan religious institutions, how better they could work together.

Moderated by the United Nations Development Programme – Gender Equality Project (UNDP-GEP), the discussion covered the capacity of the journalists to identify and report issues pertaining to gender, as well as the working mechanism of the two main actors: the provincial DoWA and the media.

"As it appeared during the debates, both Department of Women's Affairs and the media are not satisfied with the way activities are being coordinated," explained Noor Agha Taheri, provincial coordinator for the UNDP-GEP.

Media representatives repeatedly complained the lack of information coming from the Government body, while the women's department pointed at the need for the Herat-based media outlets to hire more female journalists and cover more of gender related subjects, such as successful women in the community or women's rights.

Presentations from various participants gave way to animated exchanges.

For Mr Taheri, this is a positive sign: "Our goal is to find out the gaps and challenges, and to strengthen the link between the two actors. Only later, after the workshop, will we be able to judge on the outcomes."

One of the speakers and participants, Homayoon Hadid, a BBC Uzbek journalist, explained the difficulties the media face: "There has been a lot of misunderstanding about the way the media are working and covering gender related issues."

Mr Hadid attempted to clarify the journalists' position: "First and foremost, we are professionals, but we also need some support."

The journalist indicated that the media need more information on the activities of the relevant authorities, and stressed the lack of means most media outlets face to follow up in the community.

Karima Husseini, the manager of the publication and awareness unit of Herat DoWA, is conscious of the dissemination capacity the media offer: "What they can do in six months, it would take us a year to achieve through other means."

She expects Herat media to put an end to discrimination in their staffing and their programmes, and raise awareness on their activities.

Like her partner in the workshop, she also insisted on benchmarks to the outcome of the gathering.

"Everything depends on the performance of the media in the future. Currently, they say they consider gender (issues), but I disagree," Ms Husseini said.

Despite diverging points of views, participants fully agreed on the importance of taking into account gender in today's coverage of the Afghan society.

The workshop participants also acknowledged the necessity of a closer cooperation between the women's department and the media.

Mr Taheri is optimistic: "If our pilot project – after two years – is soon to end, we have a four-year plan and many more activities to come; we plan to cover the entire western region, and extend our activities to Badghis, Ghor and Farah provinces."

Judging by Herat's workshop, there is a need for more awareness which, with the support of the UN, the provincial authorities will attempt to fill.