By Julienne Munyaneza, Programme Manager for HIV and Ecumenical Relations, WACC

Beginning July 1st WACC and the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) embarked on a 3-year project supported by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID). This is a significant accomplishment in WACC’s response to HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination.

The initiative emerged as a result of close consultations between WACC and CCG during a staff visit to Ghana in 2005. That visit included consultations with CCG’s partners in Ghana, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), and the Ecumenical HIV/AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA).

By Philip Lee, Deputy Director of Programmes, WACC.

María Luisa Almanza Trejo, one of the coal widows, whose husband was killed in 1969 along with 164 other men in the explosion at La Barroterán mine.

On 19 February 2006, shaft 8 of the Pasta de Conchos mine exploded, leaving 65 miners trapped below ground. The authorities decided to seal the mine without recovering the bodies. Their widows protested, but two years later still nothing had been done and the company closed the mine for good.

Julienne Munyaneza, Pogramme manager, WACC

In 2007, MediaHouse embarked on a documentary initiative dubbed “Early Start” to challenge discriminatory attitudes towards children who are intellectually disabled and their families. MediaHouse produced a series of 12 video programmes to raise awareness on the difficulties faced by children and young people with learning disabilities and to show the importance of early intervention. MH used an interactive methodology where the filming crew, while preparing and shooting, discussed the common misunderstandings and wrong ideas they had about these issues before meeting with disabled children and their families.

Von María Teresa Aguirre; Programmmanagerin, WACC

The women of SAMWAKI, launching the first broadcast of Radio Babusa FM, in the village of Mugogo, DRC.

Die Einwohner von Mugogo, einem 2.000 Kilometer von Kinshasa (der Hauptstadt der Demokratischen Republik Kongo) entfernten Dorf, werden den 4. Januar 2008 nicht vergessen, denn dies war ein besonderer Tag im Leben ihrer Gemeinschaft. Es war der Tag, an dem das erste Programm von Radio Bubusa ausgestrahlt wurde. Der Sender entstand auf Initiative einer Gruppe von Landfrauen. Sie hatten diese Idee gegen Ende des Jahres 2003, und nun wurde sie verwirklicht. Dazu hat WACC mit einem finanziellen Zuschuss beigetragen. Das erste Programm, das ausgestrahlt wurde, überraschte viele Zuhörerinnen und Zuhörer durch eine einzigartige Mischung von traditioneller Musik und einem Wortbeitrag im lokalen Dialekt Mashi, in dem der Name der Station “Radio Babusa” erläutert und darüber informiert wurde, dass das Programm von Mugogo aus gesendet wird.

By Teresia Mutuku, Communications Officer and Web Manager - WACC, based on a report compiled by Sarah Macharia

Nairobi, Kenya - Over 35 gender and media experts from 13 countries in English-speaking sub-Saharan Africa are meeting in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, 3-5 December, to address stereotyped presentations of women in the media.

The experts attending a Gender and Media Advocacy workshop organised by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), a communications rights organisation based in Toronto, Canada, heard that in most African countries there has been an increase in the number of women reporters and journalists. Despite this increase, media content has hardly changed.

Moundou, Chad - As the deadly HIV and AIDS pandemic continues to rampage Africa and the world at large, activists in Chad, one of Africa's war-torn countries, recently held awareness rallies in the streets of Moundou. Clad in T-shirts emblazoned with the message : “Protégeons-nous, protégeons les autres contre le SIDA” (Let us protect ourselves by protecting others against AIDS), the activists conducted open sessions where Chadians across the city freely discussed the scourge with doctors, social workers and other experts.

Moundou, Chad - As the deadly HIV and AIDS pandemic continues to rampage Africa and the world at large, activists in Chad, one of Africa's war-torn countries, recently held awareness rallies in the streets of Moundou. Clad in T-shirts emblazoned with the message : “Protégeons-nous, protégeons les autres contre le SIDA” (Let us protect ourselves by protecting others against AIDS), the activists conducted open sessions where Chadians across the city freely discussed the scourge with doctors, social workers and other experts.

By Rebecca Lalhmangaihzuali, Study Secretary, Women’s Desk, SCMI

Bangalore, India -The Student Christian Movement of India (SCMI) organized, a national workshop on “Gender and Media Justice” 19- 21 October at the SCMI Programme Centre in Bangalore.

The objective of the workshop was to impart media education to the students and to enable them to critically watch over media, from a gender perspective, including newspapers, journals, electronic media and movies.

By Philip Lee, Deputy Director of programmes-WACC, based on a report by Kamal Raj Sigdel

Kathmandu, Nepal - For the past year Subaltern Forum, an organization of journalists based in Kathmandu, Nepal, has been producing and broadcasting fortnightly radio programmes on non-violent conflict resolution. Originally planned by the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ), Subaltern took over when political difficulties intervened. WACC supported the initiative under its small projects programme.