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News from the Field: Democracy, human rights and media in Sierra Leone

Bolstering the media to promote democracy throughout Sierra Leone
 
In May 2002, Sierra Leone held its second multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections, after eleven years of civil war. Since then, Sierra Leone has been a country in steady recovery. Peace building, economic growth and social improvements are key issues for this country. They all rely on the nurturing and consolidation of democracy. And one of the most effective ways to mobilize public support for democracy and human rights is through the media. Improving human rights reporting in the African media raises public awareness, and strengthens peace, security and the democratization process.
 
Founded in 2002, Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) has quickly become Canada's largest international media development organization. Through numerous partnerships with the African media, JHR is working to build the capacity of local media to report more effectively on human rights topics. It empowers journalists to try to prevent conflicts, to encourage dialogue and to act as watchdogs on abuse of power.
 
UNDEF supports a two-year project entitled "Democracy, Human Rights and Media in Sierra Leone" implemented by JHR. In June 2007, JHR launched the project in Sierra Leone intended to "bolster the media's ability to act as a medium of human rights and democratic information". Based on a local needs assessment, JHR is working with journalists, non-governmental organizations, local media, journalism schools and other stakeholders to build the capacity of the local media to report more effectively.
JHR is also mainstreaming women in its work throughout Sierra Leone by enacting its Gender Equality Strategy (ensuring equality in training programs and encouraging the publication of stories of interest to women) to increase women's participation in decision making.
 
Activities planned within the project include placing mentor trainers at media houses, organizing training workshops for journalists and holding lectures at the local university.
 
Journalism trainers hired by JHR were placed in different local media (Concord Times, ABC Television, Premier News, FM 98.1). They oversee the publishing of around 400 news stories on human rights and democracy. The Sierra Leonean public will thus have greater access to information on human rights and democracy issues.

JHR also organizes workshops on several key issues related to democracy. JHR trainers conduct informal workshops in their partner media organization. As a consequence, Sierra Leonean journalists will be better equipped and skilled to report on human rights and democracy issues. JHR experts also conduct workshops for professional journalists, media editors and owners, throughout Sierra Leone. These workshops tackle some key issues like reporting elections, covering press conferences, ethics and story selection. All these workshops aim to consolidate sustainable infrastructure to support and encourage Sierra Leonean journalists to report on human rights and democracy.

JHR conducted 10 lectures and plans to organize 6 more at post-secondary institutions. These lectures raise major concerns related to democracy in order to sensitize the next generation of journalists to human rights report and arouse democratic awareness among the African public.

JHR formed a Human Rights Reporters' Network for journalists who have published several stories about human rights. It plans to hold a Human Rights Reporting Awards event every year beginning 2008. All these activities are meant to publicize JHR's action and facilitate the access to human rights stories. The organization has already held an event, the 2007 Democracy Award Night which took place at the China House Conference Center, on January 28, 2008. The event was well attended by dignitaries, media representatives and members of the public, and Concord Times newspaper won the year's grand prize.

 

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