NPL journalist wins UN energy contest

The United Nations (UN) has selected Nation Publications Limited (NPL) features editor James Chavula as one of the six winners of a global contest on sustainable energy reporting for least developed countries.

Chavula, who heads NPL’s newly formed Solutions Journalism, is among five reporters who have travelled to Lisbon, Portugal, to attend the ongoing Sustainable Energy for All Forum after winning the Voices of a Brighter Future Competition.

He came out fourth with a story titled Smoky Kitchens: Malawi’s Cooking Crisis and was awarded a ticket to travel to Portugal where he will narrate how Chitetezo Mbaula, an energy-efficient cook stove, is saving forests and reducing the hardship of women, who endure long distances in search of wood fuel and smoke-caused respiratory diseases to cook meals for their families.

The UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) invited entries to identify and support youthful journalists who demonstrate excellent reporting of the life-changing impact of sustainable energy in communities that need them most.

Its director Heidi Schroderus-Fox commended the winners for their “outstanding reporting” of sustainable energy issues that often go unreported.

She said: “I want to congratulate all of you for this feat. It wasn’t easy. We had over 50 entries from various countries worldwide and each of them was a potential winner, but judges settled for your entries. They were absolutely amazing. Keep it up.”

Schroderus-Fox’s office—which advocates for the interests of 91 least developed countries and most of them being islands and landlocked—has featured the winning articles from Malawi, Benin, Togo, Yemen, Bangladesh and Senegal in a themed magazine and exhibition at the global conference running from yesterday to today.

In an interview from Lisbon, Chavula said he was happy that his article emerged among the winners.

He said: “When I heard that my story was among the finalists, I was speechless. It’s a tale of how a simple mbaula can liberate women, who walk long distances to fetch firewood.”

Chavula said the article was stimulated by training in reporting energy and climate change issues conducted by Hivos Southern Africa and Climate Tracker in partnership with the Association of Environmental Journalists (AEJ) last year.

AEJ secretary general Charles Mkoka congratulated Chavula for his triumph, saying it mirrors the importance of investing in training to uplift local journalist to specialise in reporting energy and environmental issues. n