09658 Sadc Roadmap Ch6

8/12/2019 09658 Sadc Roadmap Ch6

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/09658-sadc-roadmap-ch6 1/10

Elsie Alexander, Lois Chingandu and Colleen Lowe Morna address a press briefing on the Protocol in Gaborone, Botswana at the 2005 Heads of State Summit. PHOTO: SUSAN TOLMAY 83

Getting smart-Media, informationand communicationtechnologies



As reflected in the previous chapter on thelosses and gains made in the final Protocol,media was both an issue and a tool in thecampaign. Whi le the last chapterhighlighted progressive provisions on genderand the media as one of the success areas

in the final document, this chapter concernsthe way that Alliance members used themedia, including new media, to advancethe campaign.

Some context is important. Genderdisparities in the media remain among themost glaring of all. Across the globe,women are grossly under-representedin the decision-making structures of themedia. The only news-making category inwhich women predominate is as TVproducers. The Gender and Media BaselineStudy (GMBS) conducted by GL andGEMSA in 2003 showed that women

constitute 17% of news sources in SouthernAfrica.

While women politicians in Southern Africaaccount for about 20% of news sources,they accounted for only 8% of the politicianswhose voices were heard. The study foundthat women’s voices are virtually absent ina range of mainstream areas including the

economy, politics and sport and that olderwomen are virtually missing from newspages. Women are most likely to beportrayed as homemakers, fashion modelsor as victims of violence, and rarely ascitizens participating in the building of theirnation. Given the importance of media topolitics, it is clear that media’s role stretchesacross gender equality issues.

More and more, gender and other activistsare refining their advocacy strategies toboth make the media alive to the genderdeficiencies of media coverage and totake greater advantage of media as animportant tool in campaigns.

As illustrated in the diagram, the Alliancehad a four prong strategy: brandingthe campaign; creating its own media;making use of new media as well asworking with and through the mainstreammedia. In the modern era, giving anycampaign or product a distinct identityis key. Materials such as posters andbrochures were important coupled withusing the media to reach and influenceof a wide cross-section of stakeholders.Media coverage has the power to

sway both public opinion and policypriorities. Activists who are able to engagewith media, both in terms of producingcontent and encouraging journalists tobe more aware of certain issues, aremore l ikely to see their issues at theforefront of national, and internationalagendas. Engaging with media was centralto the SADC Gender and DevelopmentProtocol Campaign, and included mediacapacity building for Alliance members,producing content, and sensitising and

encouraging journalist to write on thecampaign.

Zambian journalist at a meeting of the Protocol Alliance in Lusaka, Zambia, August 2008.PHOTO: COLLEEN LOWE MORNA

Gender and the media:key issues

84

Putting advocacycentre stage



Roadmap to Equal i ty Lessons learned in the campaign for a SADC Protocol on Gender and Development85

ALLIANCE ADVOCACY STRATEGY

OWNMEDIA

MAINSTREAMMEDIA

NEWMEDIA

Fact sheets

Pamphlets

Posters

E Mail, listserve, petitions

Cyber dialogues

E Newsletter

Press releases

Commentaries and supplements

Timing and newsworthiness

Building relationships

BRANDING:LOGO ANDMESSAGES



In a campaign with a wide scope (as in thediverse provisions in the Protocol), manycampaigners make the mistake of trying todiffuse too many messages. This can be

confusing, and significantly lessen theimpact of a campaign. It is important toidentify a few key messages and symbols,and allow those diverse issues to come outas part of this key message. Of course,agreeing on symbols and messagesrelevant to the diverse country settings is achallenge.

The earlier and laterversion of the logotell an interestings to ry about theevolut ion of theAlliance. In the earlymeetings, as themomentum grewa n d i t b e ca m eapparent that weneeded a logo,Alliance membersagreed on the useof the 50/50 logo

( a b o v e l e f t ) , ac a m p a i g n t h a tm a n y m e m b e r salready belongedto. The Alliance alsoadopted the slogan“accelerating gender equality in SADC”as a tactic to affirm governments forprogress made, but making it clear thatthe pressure would be mounting.

As the campaign progressed, further

scrutiny of the logo led to some keychanges. First, some members objectedto the male symbol being above that ofthe woman. They wanted these symbolsside by side. Second, members wantedgreater urgency to be reflected in theslogan. They also wanted it to use simpleand easy to remember words, as any goodslogan should. Borrowing from the catchyslogan of the African National Congress inthe South Africa’s first democratic electionsin 1994 (now is the time, the time is now)

the Alliance chose the slogan: “Genderequality in SADC: the time is now.”

This slogan was reproduced on posters, t-shirts, badges, bags and an easy to usepamphlet.

Badges: The badgeswere particularly power-ful as many peopleasked what the badgesmeant and how theycould get one!

Fact sheets: In order top r o v i d e a q u i c koverview of key pro-visions, the All ianceproduced a series offact sheets outlining thecontext of the issue,what the Protocol says,the successes andchallenges. These factsheets have been veryuseful in communi-cating basic facts tomedia and others

i n t e r e s t e d i n t h ecampaign.

Brochures and posters: GL, on behalf of theAl l iance, producedb ro ch u re s o n k e yissues in the Protocolas wel l as posters,during the course ofthe year. These werean important infor-

mation source on thesigni f icance of theProtocol process, widelydistributed nationallyand regionally.

Video case study: Roadmap to equality: The Southern African Gender ProtocolAlliance produced a video case study ongender and governance in the SouthernAfrican region. Entitled Roadmap to

Equality , a case study of the SADC Protocol

on Gender and Development adopted byHeads of State in August 2008, the video

86

Branding

Making media



shows how civil society organisationssuccessfully lobbied for the adoption of theProtocol. The video also explores how thisis being used to lobby for one of the targets,50% representation of women in decision-making by 2015.

Although here is still a gender digital dividein Southern Africa, information technology(IT) provides a useful tool in supportingcampaigns, especially the communicationand media aspect. It can be a medium bywhich those actively involved in thecampaign share and d i s seminateinformation, and part of the communicationstrategy to reaching diverse audiences.

Website: On behalf of the Alliance, GenderLinks created and hosted a web page ontheir website dedicate to the campaign,housing such resources as drafts of theProtocol, produced materials for download,facts sheets, and photos of the campaign.This made the information easily availableto Alliance members and other stakeholdersin the campaign, as well as media and any

other interested person. The Protocolwebpage contains regular updatesregional and in country act iv i t ies

E-list: Gender Links also maintains anelectronic mailing list, which includes

approximately 4000 subscribers. Throughoutthe campaign, key events, press releases,and commentaries were distributed via thislist.

Cyber dialogues: The cyber dialogues area flagship strategy of Gender Links, whichwas included in the Alliance campaign.Cyber dialogues are real time discussionsthat take place in an online chat facility.During the campaign, activists andinterested people linked virtually at keytimes to discuss issues related to theProtocol. The cyber dialogues provide anopportunity to connect people to discussa particular issue, at relatively low cost. Thecyber dialogues provided an opportunityfor people in country to connect with theregional HOS meetings and add their voicesto the campaign. At other times the cyberdialogues have assisted in keepingmembers of the Alliance connected witheach other.

Making IT work for gender justice

Edwidge Mutale and Luckson Chipare during the Alliance cyber dialogue at the 2005 HOS in Gaborone.PHOTO: COLLEEN LOWE MORNA

87



Working with the mainstream media

Yes it is a fact indeed! Media is the FourthE s ta te i n te rm s o f de m o cra t i cgovernance structures; others are theExecutive, Legislation and the Judiciary.

A true democracy can not be completewithout participation of the media.Therefore, the “Fourth Estate” should notbe seen as an “enemy” rather acomplementing agent in developmentof any country. (Sarry Xoagus-Eises,

Alliance Focal Point in Namibia)

Press releases and commentaries: Pressreleases at key moments of the campaignhighlighted specific issues for action inthe media. In August 2008, just beforethe signing of the Protocol, the GLOpinion and Commentary Service andAll iance produced a whole series ofarticles to help put pressure on the leadersto sign. Since the signing, attention sinceturned to continuing pressure on countrieswho did not sign, but also producing articlesto keep the Protocol and its issues on thepublic agenda, with hopes of encouragingquick ratification, domestication, andimplementation.

Commentaries and Supplements: Alliancemembers produced a news supplementLentsoe La Basali – Women’s Voices’ intime for the 2006 the HOS held in Lesothoin August. The only weekly paper in Lesotho,

Publ ic Eye car r ied cop ies o f thesupplement. Copies of the supplementwere also distributed to everyone at theHOS as a part of their of conference

documentation for the day.

The Alliance produced a further issue ofth e sup p l e m e n t ca r r i e d b y o n eof the widest circulating newspapers inZambia, the 2007 host country for theSummit, as well as to Summit delegatesand other civil society groupings. It is alsoa f lagship of the Al l iance Protocolcampaign, as it continued to be distributedto other countries after the Summit as anawareness-raising tool. In January 2008,Alliance members developed articles andopinion pieces for a news supplement forpublication in April 2008 in time for theSADC Heads of State Poverty Summit inMauritius.

Newsworthy content: The Protocol, most ofthe issues it covers, and gender in generalare not usual topics for most mediahouses. By creating relationships with

journal ists and decis ion-makers , the

A l l i a n c ewas able tohelp mediaunderstandthe i s suesas wel l asencourageedi to r s tobe morereceptive top r o d u c e dc o n t e n t

a n d s to ryleads aboutevents andkey moments. Such relationships alsoallowed campaigners to learn form themedia - the stories that interest them, thebest times to approach editors or writers,and how to shape stories into useablearticles.

The phrase ‘producing sexy content’ wasused frequently during the campaign.

The Protocol is meant to change women’severy day l ived experiences. A key

88



media strategy was to get women fromacross the region to tell their stories.Fi rst hand accounts of women whohad experienced discrimination on thebasis of gender inequality gave themedia different perspectives. A story by

Edwidge Mutale from Zambia abouthow she had to f ight to inherit herhusband’s estate after his death gaveimpetus to why laws re lat ing toinheritance and widows needed to bechanged.


Putting issues on the agenda:

Media around the SADC Protocol often used the important issues that the documentaddresses as a launching point, both before and signing, raising discussions on theseissues. Prior to signing, speaking on these topics helped to illustrate the importance ofthe document, and the real impact that it can have on gender equality in the region.One example is the issue of gender quality in governance, and the target out lined inthe Protocol of 50/50 gender equality in decision-making.

Prior to signing the GL Service helped to keep this target on the agenda. For example,

in "Mauritius preparing for more woman in 2010 election," published in July 2008, LogaVirahsawmy highlighted the need to plan ahead for government to ensure genderequality in the next elections. The article appeared in L'Express in Mauritius, the regionalpublication Southern Times, as well as the online new portal All Afr ica. This followed aprevious article by Virahsawmy, “No democracy without women,” which appeared inL'Express , Namibia’s Informante, and Botswana’s The Mirror. Although Mauritius did notsign the Protocol at the August Summit, it has nonetheless moved forward in paving theway for greater equality in governance.

More recently, a number of articles challenged governments to meet their commitments.For example, in “Where will the women vote in the next election?” by Kubi Rama inJanuary 2009 and “Gender parity in politics is a far cry from equal rights for women,by Colleen Lowe Morna, both question how the government will live up to their genderequality commitments in the context of the elections. Both highlighted to South Africanreaders the importance of holding governments accountable, the Rama’s appearingin South Africa’s The Sowetan and Daily News , and online news portal Women's Netand Citizen Journalism, and Lowe Morna’s in Sunday Independent and Cape Argus.

Another example of keeping this issue on the agenda was “Malawi electoral commissionK100,000 fee blow to women candidates, by Lowani Mtonga in January 2009. Mtongapointed out the discrepancy between leaders’ promises and actions, especially relatedto encouraging women in governance. "This past August, Southern African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) leaders committed themselves to 50% women in decision-making

when they signed the SADC Gender Protocol...According to the Inter-ParliamentaryUnion database, at 13% Malawi ranks 89th in the world when it comes to women’srepresentation in Parliament. Thus, the decision of the Malawi Electoral Commission(MEC) to hike the fee for parliamentary candidates from K 5,000 (about US$ 35) toK100,000 (US$ 705) comes as a great surpr ise."

Although it is difficult o say how much impact such media has had before conductingan in-depth evaluation of the campaign, the sustained issue-based coverage no doubtplayed significant role in helping to keep the Protocol and gender equality in the publicspotlight. Without such a spotlight by the Alliance, it is unlikely that the Protocol wouldever have become a reality.



Knowing the media in country: Alliancemembers recognised that creatingre lat ionsh ips and ta i lo r ing mediacampaigns to individual countries wouldhelp encourage localised coveragerelevant to the issues and needs in individual

countries. SADC is a widespread area withmany different circumstances and priorities.Knowing what media exist, and their likelyinterests, helps to ensure coverage. This alsoincludes knowledge of the reach of differentkinds of media, for example whi lecommunity radio may be relevant to involverural populations in the campaign, certainnewspapers or a website will better targetpolicy makers and organisations.

Prior to every HOS meeting a list of mediafor the relevant country was pulled togetherwith assistance from local partners. Before

getting to the country a media brief wasemailed to media practitioners. In 2005 inBotswana the need for gender Protocolbecame a key rallying point in the media.The extent of coverage may in part beattributed to the preparation and readily

available materials that the Alliance wasable to provide.

A very important strategy is to involvethe media as partners. Invit ing themedia to participate in meetings and bepart of the campaign was crucial to get-ting buy-in. The media is rightfully resentfulthat civi l society organisations onlycontact them when they want coverageand do not involve them otherwise. Theexample below from Botswana showswhy it is important to cultivate relationshipswith the media.

Successful relations with the media

The Botswana Council of NGOs(BOCONGO) Gender Protocol Sectorin col laboration with GEMSA,BOMWA, Gender links and other civilsociety organisations held twoseminars tar- geted at editors and

reporters to solicit their involvementin lobbying and advocating for thesigning of the Gender Protocol. Mediaprofessionals were also briefed on thecritical issues of concern as well asart ic les in the protocol . Theinformation pack on the protocol wasavailed to them and this gave themmore knowledge on the GenderProtocol. Furthermore, the mediacame to understand the emergingissues in the protocol as well as the

need to lobby the government of Botswana to sign it. This resulted in the media playinga critical role in lobbying and advocating for the signing of the gender protocol eventhough Botswana is yet to append its signature.

The sensitisation seminar for reporters and editors included participants from theelectronic and print media. The seminar ended with a statement of commitment bythe media. The result was that in the print media free columns were made availablefor feature stories. Producers in the electronic media informed Gender activists aboutavailability of programmes that could be utilised to disseminate information on theGender Protocol. The publicity on the gender protocol was not as extensive as we hadintended, but it was commendable overall all thanks to the commitment of the media.The media followed most of the events planned for publicising the gender protocol.

– Keabonye Ntsabane

Keabonye Ntsabane. PHOTO: COLLEEN LOWE MORNA

9O



Keeping in touch: Relationship building iskey to a successful campaign. Knowing andbeing a re l iable source for mediaprofessionals helps to attract goodcoverage. However, it is important that thisnot only hinge on special events, but that

the media is a long-term strategy. Forexample, during the campaign, there wasa significant amount of media coverageand materials produced around Heads ofState Summits, but throughout the year theGL Opinion and Commentary Service alsoproduced issue-based pieces covering thewide range of Protocol provisions.

All the media practitioners that the Alliancecame into contact with were added to theGL contacts database. This ensured theyreceived information regularly. Some of the

journalists started writing for the GL Opinionand Commentary service.

Making key people available: In ashrinking media environment, providing

journali sts or editors with key informationand key people to speak to can go a longway to seeing success in attractingmedia coverage. Making it easy forthem makes you a more interesting source!

During the Protocol campaign, key peoplewere always available to media, andduring special events, especially HOSSummits, media releases were distributed,various Alliance members interviewed onradio and television, and a media contactwas always on hand.

One of the strengths of the Alliance is thatit could provide voices from across SouthernAfrica. The media had access to a diversityof voices and views that enriched the

content.

Throughout the campaign, many of theadvocacy activities were organised aroundkey events. This was particularly importantduring the final push, leading up to theAugust 2008 Summit where Heads of Statesigned the SADC Protocol. In the daysleading up to the event, the GL Service

distributed several commentaries callingon leaders to commit to gender equality

by signing the Protocol, the All iancedistributed press releases to media, and amedia liaison focused on answering queriesand assisting with organising interviews.This was important as it provided mediawith relatively easy access to key people

and information to be able to cover storiesabout the Protocol effectively. Since theAlliance organised a parallel meeting tothe Summit, this also provided media witha wide range of regional guests andperspective on the subject.

The success of the communication strategyis evident in the amount of media coveragethe campaign was able to attract. Forexample, just dur ing the few dayssurrounding the 2008 Summit, the mediacoverage that GL was able to identify,included the following

In addition, Protocol Alliance membersparticipated in radio interviews on Radio2000 and the Namibia BroadcastingCorporation, as well as on televisionprogrammes about he Protocol on Rendez-Vous (South Afr ican Broadcast ingCorporation) in South Africa and theNamibia Broadcasting Corporation

T h e ca m p a i gn ga i n e d e n o rm o usmomentum in the lead up to the signing inAugust 2008, with major involvement by themedia, especially the public broadcastersin each country. Media monitoring hasshown dramatic increases in both thequantity and quality of coverage duringthese campaigns. The table below providesexamples of articles written and how thesegot pick up in newspapers around theregion:

From August 2005 until June 2009, theGL Service commissioned and distributed65 articles that referred to the SADCProtocol , covering a wide rand oftopics, from the Protocol itself though toeconomic empowerment, women ingovernance, health and HIV/ AIDS,gender budgeting, and many more. Onaverage, each of these articles werepublished 3.2 times, that the Service

was able to track, in mainstream mediaall across the region.


The final push



92

• It is important to include themedia as partners.

• Gender activists must involvemedia professionals in thep lann ing process and

training plans.• Civil society must understand howthe media works, their schedulesa n d w h a t m a k e s s o m e t h i n gnewsworthy.

• Media wi l l respond to producedcontent, if it is good quality and relevantto their consumers interests.

• Learning is two way – activists learn frommedia and media learn from activists.

• Multi-media is key to reach diverseaudiences.

•

Ensure a key message and slogan,b ut e m b ra ce d i v e r s i t y i n th edetails.

• Be pro-active and organised, havemedia lists and keep them updated.Keep the media informed in betweenmajor events.

• Have media points-person and try tokeep the person consistent so that themedia knows that they can alwayscontact a particular person.

• Make decision makers and people who

provide first hand accounts available tothe media.

• Have relevant pictures available andoffer them to the media.

• Be strategic about when you have pressconferences, it might sometimes bebetter to send a media brief and follow

up with calls and set up interviews.

How do you plan to brandyour campaign?

Do all members agree withthe logo, s logan andmessages?

What sort of materials do you need todevelop? To whom wil l these be

distributed? How will the distribution betracked? How wi l l feedback beincorporated into your work?

How can you use new media toleverage your work?

What relationships have been devel-oped with the mainstream media?How can these be improved?

What materials can be developed tohelp improve media coverage?

How do you plan to track mediacoverage? How can this assist in

improving the quantity and quality ofcoverage.

Lessons learned

Checklist

Article

Push for adoption of key protocolon gender

Gender protocol vital

Businesswomen Could BenefitFrom Media CoverageActivists celebrate SADCAdoption of Gender protocolGround-breaking GenderProtocol Signed

Zimbabwe: Heads of StateHailed for Adopting Protocol onGenderWhat will SADC free trade meanfor women?

SADC women soar to newheightsSADC Protocol – What’s in it formedia?

Writer

Pamela Mhlanga

Arthur Mwansa

Deborah Walter

Press Release

Zahira Kharsany

Press Release

Deborah Walter

Colleen Lowe Morna

Gloria Ganyani

Newspaper

Cape TimesSouthern TimesThe StarDaily NewsPretoria NewsDaily Mail

MmegiAll Africa.comCitizen JournalismBotswana GazetteIPSAll AfricaAfrica FilesMail & Guardian OnlineThe HeraldThe ChronicleAll Africa.comAll Africa.comThe NamibianThe Southern TimesSister NamibiaMail & GuardianThe Southern TimesSouthern TimesJournalism.co.za

09658 Sadc Roadmap Ch6

Documents

Transcript of 09658 Sadc Roadmap Ch6