ISLAMABAD: Three-day (15-17 December) Alumnae Reunion & Refresher Workshop of Media Fellows on the issue of Child Marriage kicked off today at Islamabad under National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in collaboration with UNICEF and UNFPA.
In this workshop forty-five journalists, those have been nominated from across the country, will be trained on different aspects and dimensions of the issue of Child Marriage.
National Media Fellowship (NMF) is a flagship project of NCSW that focuses to sensitize journalists on responsible reporting for the prevention and elimination of Child Marriage and Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
This innovative step is aimed at addressing and raising awareness on these critical and deep-rooted social issues.So far two cohorts of 80 journalists in total have been trained in two fellowship programs in 2022 and 2023.Under first program held in 2022, 162 journalistic stories and 2 documentaries were produced related to GBV child marriage and impact of climate change on women.
These stories were published through leading media houses in the country. After the completion of second round of NMF, more than 180 stories focusing GBV, girls’ and women rights are expected to be released in the first quarter of 2024.
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In her address at this occasion, Chairperson NCSW Ms.Nilofar Balhtiar expressed that media has a vital role to play in the efforts to curb violence against women and to create awareness on the issue of child marriage.She said that we could never dream of a society embracing equality, inclusivity and empowering women without active participation of media.
She further said that NCSW was passionately pursuing its journey of collaboration and advocacy on women rights. She urged journalists to focus more on responsible and research-based reporting and to enhance their interest in learning and working on those ideas and concepts that might be a reason for positive change, human improvement and social reforms.
