WIN Malawi Alumni Chapter to hold conference
The Women in News Alumni Malawi Chapter is on Saturday expected to hold a skills development and networking conference where among others they will discuss how to break the barriers to shape the future of media.
These are media women who graduated from the (World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) Leadership Accelerator programme which equips women journalists and editors with the skills, strategies and support networks to take on greater leadership positions within their organisations.
Speakers at the conference to include Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule, former Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa Malawi) chairperson Teresa Ndanga and Ombudsman Grace Malera.
Speaking in an interview, Women in News (WIN) director for people and performance Tamara Chirwa said the conference will provide an opportunity for the alumni to learn from experts, leaders and from each other as peer mentoring has been infused into the agenda of the conference.
She expects that after the conference, the Alumni will be energized to initiate a process that will activate skills building and peer mentoring within the network.
Said Chirwa: “It is also expected that the Alumni Chapter leadership will anchor itself well to mobilize the Alums to commit to following through some activities that will position the chapter as a strong network of like minded women journalists in the media industry in Malawi.”
Director for advisory and insights at WAN-IFRA Susan Makore said the conference was birthed out of the country alumni when they indicated that they would want to be trained on certain aspects where they felt there was a need.
“In the Skills building conferences the country chapters sit and agree on what they want. So far, we have held seven conferences and the Malawi Conference will be the 8th. We are expecting 60 delegates at this conference and the members have agreed on topics they want for their career growth,” she said.
Women in News is a Programme that was established within the mother organisation WAN-IFRA in 2010.
It aims to strengthen the capacity of media institutions by addressing the apparent poor representation of women in senior management positions.
Through the WIN Leadership Accelerator, women in media are empowered with technical and soft skills that prepares them adequately for newsroom leadership and management. The mission is to increase women’s leadership and voices in the news.
