Gender and Media Summit in Windhoek

The ministry of gender equality and child welfare has committed itself in making sure that the 2016 Gender and Media Summit is successful.
The theme is “Empowering Women in and through the Media- Providing a Voice for Gender Equality”.
Speaking during a stakeholder brief­ing in the capital to delegates from the Southern Africa Broadcasting Associa­tion (SABA), Gender Links (GL) and the Gender and Media Diversity Centre (GMDC), Ms Lucia Witbooi, deputy minister of gender equality and child welfare, emphasised the importance of the Gender and Media Summit, hence total commitment from all stakehold­ers.
Witbooi informed the stakehold­ers that the ministry will all do it can within its mandate in making sure that this summit becomes one of its biggest achieve­ments.
Also speaking during briefing, Ms Martha Mbombo, the deputy permanent secretary of gender, stressed the importance of involving men so that they can also play active roles during and after the summit by making sure that the implementation of the summit’s­ objectives enjoy full support from both men and women.
Ms Ellen Nanuses, the secretary-general­ of SABA, indicated that she was very grateful and delighted about the support and commitment received from the ministry.
The summit is expected to take place from 18 to 19 August in Windhoek and will be preceded by a three-day gender and media training workshop for journalists­ in Namibia from 15 to 17 August.
2016 is significant for several reasons. It is the first year of implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015. 2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration on an Independent and Pluralistic African Press.
In addition, many Southern African countries commemorate the month of August as women’s month.
August 2016 is therefore an opportune­ time to highlight the progress and challenges­ on gender equality in and through the media in SADC.
The media remains one of the most power­ful tools in the world for address­ing gender stereotypes.
This explains the global campaign initiated by the United Nations Educational,­ Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at the Global Forum on Media and Gender held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2013 to put the issues of gender and the media at the fore of the Post 2015 agenda.
The conference brought together over 800 media, non-governmental as well as governmental organizations to form the Global Alliance on Media and Gender (GAMAG).

OBJECTIVES
The summit and training that precede it aims to:
• Critically analyse progress made in the region on enhancing gender equality in and through the media, based on the evidence gathered in the GMPS and other studies;
• propose ways in which the media in the region can champion the Sustain­able Development Goals (SDGs) and the Post 2015 Agenda. The SDGs project a world where we can achieve gender equality and empower women and girls; where all women and men contribute to and benefit equally from development; where women and men of all ages can equally access ­information through media including online platforms for self-expression, including cultural expression and contributing to peace;
• highlight the role of the media in promoting gender equality through a month-long media campaign flagging the key themes of the conference;
• train 50 women and men from the SADC in Gender Aware Newsroom Leader­ship and Management as well as Gender Mainstreaming;
• locate the issues of gender in the media within the broader regional debates on freedom of expression, ­plurality and diversity of the media; and
• recognise and affirm gender aware media practises in SADC newsrooms.