HIV AIDS AND GENDER IN SWAZILAND

The Swazi Observer is the first media house in Swaziland to adopt a policy on HIV AIDS and gender.

All media houses in the kingdom were given the opportunity to take part in a project called the Southern African Media Action Plan on HIV AIDS and Gender (MAP).

MAP is a project to help media houses across southern Africa improve the quality and quantity of HIV AIDS and gender coverage.

A report released at the Media Partners Consultation workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa, last Thursday (13 March 2008) revealed that the Swazi Observer, Voice of the Church radio, Swazi TV and SBIS (Radio Swaziland) had all been visited by a MAP consultant in 2007 who worked with the media houses on formulating policy.

The report states that the Swazi Observer has adopted a HIV AIDS and gender policy and was now trying to build up the skills of journalists in these areas.

Swazi TV is ‘the only media house not to have given buy-in to the MAP process in that country,’ the report states. ‘Swazi TV is engaged in a parallel process of drafting their own policy but they said they would consult MAP for editorial aspects of the policy.’

MAP consultants have been working in 11 countries across southern Africa, including Swaziland.

The MAP report revealed that there were some difficulties in getting media houses involved in the project. The report stated that bureaucracy in newsrooms across the region was a difficult factor in making progress.

‘[A]ppointments are reneged on, refusal to release certain information and failure to set dates for workshops. In some cases, because of the high staff turnover in this sector, change of staff (new boards, new editors or journalists etc) almost always means the facilitators have to start the process all over again to ensure new staff members give buy-in to the process,’ the report states.

The MAP project is not the first attempt to increase the awareness and skills of journalists in southern Africa, but it is thought to be the first that also includes gender awareness.

MAP is coordinated by the Southern African National Editors Forum (SANEF) and Gender Links is responsible for part of the project.

See also
BID TO IMPROVE HIV AIDS REPORTING
POOR HIV AIDS REPORTING IN SWAZILAND