Where We Work

Sub-Saharan Africa

Internews activities in Africa are adapted to the media development needs and issues facing each country, and focus on locally relevant skills and information. They range from providing critical information to vulnerable populations in remote eastern Chad; to increasing accurate reporting on HIV/AIDS through training of local radio journalists in Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire. Internews also implements a project aimed at reducing biased and inaccurate news coverage in print media in Côte d’Ivoire. Finally, Internews has worked in Rwanda since 1998 providing the Rwandan population with the first video coverage of the justice process surrounding the 1994 genocide.

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Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia: Improving HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa

Launched in 2003, Internews' Local Voices program operates in Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Côte d’Ivoire to improve the quality of journalism on HIV/AIDS. Funded by USAID, Local Voices trains radio journalists, disc jockeys and talk show hosts in how to report on HIV/AIDS accurately and effectively, in a way that reduces stigma and leads to a more supportive environment for prevention and treatment. Through practical training in technical radio production skills, script writing, research, as well as the science of HIV, participants learn how to create and improve reports on HIV/AIDS. Graduates have ongoing access to a media resource center and technical support from an experienced journalism trainer.

Internews also organizes regular workshops for NGOs that focus on women and on HIV/AIDS to equip them with tools and techniques for effective media outreach, and help them acquire skills to form relationships with journalists, write press releases and organize effective media events.

Chad

In May 2005, Internews in conjunction with its local partner, the Association pour le Développement des Médias Communautaires (ADMC), launched a program to meet the critical information needs of Darfuri refugees and the local Chadian population living in eastern Chad. Internews created a newsroom and studio in Abéché to produce multi-lingual news programs, and a community radio station in Iriba, Radio Absoun.

From a 20-foot cargo container perched on cinderblocks in the middle of a frontier town in Chad, Radio Absoun is making a difference in the lives of thousands of Sudanese who have fled the genocide in Darfur and the local population affected by their arrival.  The radio station broadcasts a mixture of news, information and music for six hours every day, its content spanning a variety of issues, from access to water and firewood, two precious commodities, to information about health and refugee rights.  It also serves as a bridge between the refugees and the Chadians who have welcomed the Sudanese, but now face immense competition for local resources.  

Radio Absoun is the first of three stations to be built in Eastern Chad that will ultimately become a broadcast network capable of reaching nearly all the camps and the more than 200,000 refugees who live in them, as well as the nearby local populations. In 2006, Internews expanded its work in Chad to include radio news programming that targets the needs of female victims of gender-based violence.

Côte d’Ivoire

In Côte d’Ivoire, Internews implements a comprehensive program to depoliticize news coverage in the Ivorian print media. Established in 2005, the Internews program engages media managers in setting a non-politicized agenda for print outlets, strengthens the journalism skills of newspaper reporters in Côte d’Ivoire and supports local media organizations in advocating for the implementation of the country’s newly-passed media laws. The goals of the project include improving quality of news coverage; increasing circulation and strengthening the finances for newspapers in Côte d’Ivoire; and creating a cadre of credible, balanced newspapers that will serve as models to other media institutions in the country.

Rwanda

Since 1998, Internews has been facilitating the healing of Rwandans from the 1994 genocide through the "Justice in Rwanda" newsreel project.  To date, Internews staff have produced and shown more than 30 newsreels, traveling from village to village all across Rwanda. These newsreels provide the only access to information about the trials for many Rwandans; more than 200,000 Rwandans, including 80,000 prisoners accused of war crimes have watched the films in the past four years. At screenings, Rwandans have the opportunity to discuss what they have seen together, often with the participation of local officials. These unique and informative newsreels report on the prosecution of those charged with genocide in Rwanda at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, as well as the justice proceedings at the Rwandan National Courts and Gacaca beginning within Rwanda. The Justice in Rwanda project is facing termination. Internews is actively seeking donors interested in continuing the project, a vital mechanism in the post-genocide healing of the nation.

Sudan

Internews started the project, Radio for Peace, Democracy and Development in Southern Sudan, in October 2006. Internews is building four community radio stations located in Leer, Malualkon, Kauda, and Kurmuk.

Uganda

In Uganda, the dominant source of news and information is radio. Internews has identified 15 small radio stations in northern Uganda and is training their journalists to provide vital information to their listeners about the peace talks, the situation in the internally displaced camps, and in areas where people displaced by the conflict are expected to return to start a new life.

Internews is also training journalists in Uganda to report on gender-based violence.

For more information:

Ugandan Journalists Give Voice to Hopes for Peace, April 16, 2008