The ‘Yemeni Journalists for ICPD Network was launched by a number of Yemeni journalists. The network encompasses journalists from 15 Yemeni governorates. These journalists had participated in a training program on writing humanitarian stories on gender-based violence and reproductive health issues implemented by the Studies and Economic Media Center (SEMC) and with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The network is the first entity in the country that brings together journalists specialized in writing on population and development issues. It aims to push forward the agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) through professional media coverage and to highlight gender-based violence and reproductive health issues by writing stories on such issues from a humanitarian perspective and training Yemeni journalists to write humanitarian stories on those issues.
“Launching the network is the outcome of in-depth discussions and intensive training of journalists over the past two years by the Center and with support from UNFPA. We hope that the network will be a significant step forward in the development of this type of journalism in Yemen,” said program director at SEMC and network coordinator, Hamdi Rassam.
Winning stories of the ‘population and development’ award were announced during the Network inaugural ceremony. The annual award, which is sponsored by SEMC in cooperation with the UNFPA, has been organized for the second year successively. It is awarded to the best stories tackling population and development issues, including gender-based violence and reproductive health issues.
The first prize in Taiz governorate was awarded to Ms. Rania Abdullah for her story entitled ‘Al-Samadi: lab specialist struggling with life in the qat market,’ while second prize was won by Weaam Abdulmalik for her story ‘Reproduction in wartime: Risking the future of children’.
Winners of the best stories award in other governorates where training workshops where held will be announced in the next few days.
A specialized advisory committee from SEMC, UNFPA, and the experts evaluated the stories submitted by the journalists according to the following criteria: novelty of the idea and topic of the story, the journalist’s neutrality in presenting opinions, coherence and cohesion, diversity of sources, adherence to the standards of writing on gender-related issues, and proposing solutions to the problem tackled.
According to Hamdi Rassam, following the training program, which targeted 95 journalists in more than 15 Yemeni governorates, more than 47 stories on population and development issues meeting the standards of good writing on gender-based violence were produced.
Winner of first place, Rania Abdullah, said, “I was overwhelmingly happy when I came to know that I won first prize of the Population and Development Award. I dedicate this achievement to my city, Taiz, and to every woman bereaved because of the war in this city. This award endows me with a greater incentive to convey and highlight the suffering of women.”
She adds, “My article tells the story of a female university student who was forced by the war and the difficult conditions after her father’s death at the beginning of the war to sell qat in order to support her family. She continued to sell qat and persisted on pursuing her university education at the Department of Medical Laboratories, challenging community customs according to which she went too far by working at the qat market. She completed her degree successfully, realizing her dream of becoming a laboratory specialist.”
For her part, winner of second prize, Weaam Abdulmalik, said, “I was happy to know that I was one of the winners of the award. Such activities constitute a strong impetus to journalist to continue their positive contributions in such a difficult time for Yemenis. This and other activities by SEMC and UNFPA are particularly significant under the current conditions imposed by the war.”
“My story was about family planning.” Weaam adds. “There is a steady increase in the number of births. This is a burden for many citizens due to the war and the high costs of living. Therefore, it will be difficult for families to carry out their duties towards their children as they should. I searched for women who resorted to family planning to ensure building a well-planned family and who feared for lives of their children as obstacles might arise in the future or because of the ongoing war. I listened to women telling their stories and also covered the psychological aspect to convince readers of how important family planning is, especially as suffering is not limited to the children but can also extend to mothers who might lose their life due to the lack of medical services in some areas.
The event was attended by Deputy Director of the Office of Social Affairs and Labor in Taiz governorate, Mr. Fuad Abdullah.
SEMC is a non-profit civil society organization promoting a successful and transparent economic system through training and raising awareness of economic issues, and enhancing transparency and citizen participation in decision-making. It promotes professional media and economic empowerment of youth and women.
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