Voices of inspiration from women journalists

9/25/2005

ISLAMABAD: Female journalists are striving hard to empower the downtrodden women who cannot raise voice for their fundamental rights, a report said yesterday.

A team of four female journalists are working for radio programme “Meri Awaz Suno” supported by Internews Pakistan and funded by the US Agency for International Development (USaid).

This independent radio project is designed to raise the profile of women in the media and to build the capacity of female journalists to “provide diverse news and information to citizens, empowering them to make their voices heard and to participate effectively in their communities.”

‘Meri Awaz Suno’, a 15-minutes radio programme produced by a team of female radio journalists, is based on issues related to women and children.

Forty-seven programmes were completed last year and the second phase of has started from the studios located in Fatima Jinnah Women University.

Executive Producer of ‘Meri Awaz Suno’ Sara Farid and her team members, Bushra Iqbal, Nabeela Aslam and Robina Nawab, have produced programmes on reproductive and women health, emotional health, pregnant women victims of domestic violence, women’s portrayal in Pakistani media and life of lady health workers in rural areas.

They also worked on women workers on the road, low weight birth babies, unregistered primary schools in mahallas /villages, and adolescent reproductive health etc.

Sara said that they plan to continue being part of this radio project as it’ s an initiative for “Women Empowerment” in its own unique capacity.

“The programme has given us the opportunity to use the broadcast medium in a constructive manner and try to change perceptions of the society,” she added.

Sara said that besides radio they plan to be part of the development sector on the same issues and maybe someday they will have their our media production house.

“Our basic idea of a story is to give voice to the unheard that’s why we try to get personal stories and then get the social sector’s and government’s view point, “she remarked.

All these programmes were played on different FM Stations across Pakistan like POWER 99 Islamabad, AWAZ 105 Gujarat, campus radio Peshawar 107 and APNA 107 Karachi etc.

The team produces two programmes each week, which it offers to independent FM stations free of charge.

As part of the second season (in 2005), the team of female journalists travelled throughout rural and urban areas of Pakistan in an effort to cover a range of stories “that give the programme a national flavour”.

The magazine-style programme covers a diverse range of issues-for example, women parliamentarians, women in sports, honour killing, child labour, HIV/Aids, girls’ education, and day-care for working mothers.