BUJUMBURA March 14th (ABP) – The Association of Women Journalists (AFJO) celebrated its 25th anniversary on Friday. During a forum organized on this occasion, she launched new challenges in a very changing media world at the technological and ethical level towards women farmers, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
By organizing that activity, the AFJO would like to contribute to improving the place and image of women in the media and in the community by raising the awareness of women in the media to participate in decision-making through media and new communication techniques and by showing media partners and actors the experiences, expertise and possibilities of action of women and girls in the media.
During the week of February 26, 2022 to March 11, 2022, the women made media productions which were broadcast on radio stations and published in the written press. According to Diane Ndonse, legal representative of this organization, the message of these productions showed that the voice of the woman counts as a source of information.
Communication and the media constitute for that organization, fundamental elements of social cohesion, regional integration and socio-economic development. Social cohesion, lasting peace and development are possible with the general mobilization of the media in favor of that objective, specified the AFJO chairperson.
In his opening speech, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry in charge of the Media, Mr. Anicet Niyonkuru pointed out that the promotion of women farmers is the best way to promote development, specifying that this activity comes at the right time because, he said, the Ministry in charge of the Media has endorsed the charter of media sensitive to gender and young people. Mr. Niyonkuru also recognized that the lack of information among rural women is a major handicap to their development.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry in charge of the Media also indicated that women in the most remote areas do not have free access to new information and communication technologies (NTIC). The gender-related digital divide is one of the main barriers to open-mindedness among rural women.
The AFJO was approved in February 1997 and its members are female and female journalists from the public and private press, print and audiovisual media. By creating the association, said Ms. Ndonse, the members were convinced that, united in association, they can work better for the promotion of Burundian women in general, and women journalists in particular, and thus contribute to the emergence of a peaceful and prosperous society.