The Female Journalist Association of Liberia (FeJAL) and partner have officially launched its climate change project intended to help improve female journalists’ knowledge and skills on the effect of climate change in Liberia.
With support from the British Embassy in Monrovia, the project which is said to be a four-month project is dubbed, “Women Access to Information in the Context of Climate Change.”
The official launch of the project which was held over the weekend, at the headquarters of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) brought together several journalists including the FeJAL president, the British Ambassador, and the Secretary General of the PUL among others.
Officially launching the project, British Ambassador, Neil Andrew Bradley pointed out that women access to information in the context of climate change project caught the eyes of British people so many reason owing to the fact that it helps improve the skills and knowledge of Liberian female journalists to understand and report adequately about climate change.
The British diplomat named the issue of climate change, gender, the media capacity and a strong community engagement as reasons why the British Embassy has decided to support the project because it appeals to the people of Great Britain.
He added that the empowerment of women in every aspect of society is very important and as such, through the project they can increase the capacity of female journalists to report adequately on climate change that will impact their respective community.
Earlier, FeJAL president, Siatta Scott Johnson stated that the intent of the project is to help improve the knowledge and skills of female journalists on climate change and how it can be enhanced to ensure that the public especially women are well informed, able to make sound decisions to improve their resilience and ward off any negative impacts from impending disasters.
According to her, the project will also address the information gaps relating to climate change and equip journalists to report accurately, stressing, “This project will train journalists to develop targeted content such as radio programs/messages and awareness materials on key challenges affecting women in Liberia.”
“There will be door-to-door communities’ visit to conduct media forum (town hall meeting) with the intent of bringing climate change experts, community elders and leaders together to discuss the effect of climate change and find a quick doable solution with a gender dimension,” she said.
The FeJAL boss stated further that in terms of longer term world difference, the project would buttress government and its partners’ efforts in raising the profile of climate change as a priority issue from key prospective of impact of climate change on Agriculture, food security and biodiversity, adding “monitoring and mentoring of journalists benefiting from the project would be done to ensure they are confidently reporting climate change related stories.”
For his part, the Secretary General of the PUL, Mussa B. Kanneh lauded the British Embassy for the support and called on the FeJAL boss and team in ensuring that the project yields its fruits.