Women Making Airwaves for Peace: A Workshop on Engendered Peace - PDF document

Women Making Airwaves for Peace: A Workshop on Engendered Peace Journalism A Collaborative Project of Mindanaw Women Writers and Isis International-Manila Background of the Project In 2005, the Mindanaw Women Writers’ Collective and Isis International- Manila, committed to collaborate in a one-year project that would raise awareness on the critical role women play in conflict transformation and to develop the capacities of women media practitioners in participating within public spaces of conflict / management transformation. This initiative strategically pushes for the convergence of print and radio as effective tools in promoting women’s participation, voices and analysis, the project aims at promoting women’s empowerment and access to political justice in militarized societies. Workshop Design A part of that one-year project is three workshops entitled: Women Making Airwaves for Peace: A Workshop on Engendered Peace Journalism , it is a five- day training workshop designed for about 15-20 women media practitioners within mainstream and alternative independent media, development work and the academe. The workshop seeks to surface women’s visions of peace and participation in peace building amidst the experience of structural and direct forms of conflict; it encourages media practitioners to reflect on the role media plays in shaping the public’s value and viewing of women and conflict situations and highlights media monitoring as a tool towards self-reflexivity; it shares the principles and values of Engendered Peace Journalism as a guide to gender sensitive peace and conflict reporting; it also promotes community radio as an effective information tool that can help promote values for peace and gender fairness. Workshop objectives are as follows: General Objectives: 1. T o develop a viewing and articulation of women's visibility and participation in peace building within the context of structural and direct forms of conflict 2. T o examine the critical role media plays in articulating responsible and holistic reportage of conflict issues 3. T o discuss how peace journalism can be strengthened through engendered framing of conflict issues 4. T o promote the transformative potential of community radio for engendered peace Specific Objectives: 1. T o facilitate a sharing of structural and direct forms of conflict, within the: a. Household

b. Local communities c. National Level 2. T o know the value of media monitoring and derive effective ways of monitoring media in specific contexts 3. T o identify the principles and values of Engendered Peace Journalism toward creating a gender fair vocabularies of peace 4. T o gain a basic understanding and skills in community radio broadcasting Outline of T opics: Module 1: Women’s Visions of Peace Definitions of conflict and Peace  Factors that Influence the Presence and Absence of Peace  Impact of Peace and Unpeace in People’s Lives  Making Women Visible: Women's participation in Peace building Module 2: The Media on Women Portrayal and Conflict Reporting Who controls media?  Gender Fairness as Good Editorial Policy  Re-framing our Stories  Participatory Media Approach Module 3: Engendered Peace Journalism What is Engendered Peace Journalism?  The Agenda of Engendered Peace Journalism  Sharing Holistic Values of Equality and Peace  The Power of Language  Tips on Engendered Peace Journalism Module 4: T ransformative Potential of Community Radio for Engendered Peace Journalism Radio as a Medium of Mass Communication  Important Tips for Broadcasting  The Broadcasting Industry  Community Radio as an Information T ool  Enhancing Media Skills Session 1: Radio Studio Operation  Session 2: Sound Editing with Audacity  Session 3: Radio Interview Techniques  Session 4: Radio Plug Production Methodology The workshop facilitators and resource persons use a variety of training methodologies aimed at maximizing participants’ learning, and facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences. The most common methodologies used in the five-day workshop are:

• Lecture-discussion is a way for resource persons to share their expertise and knowledge within a space that also allows participants’ sharing of experiences, discussion and raising inquiry . It is an effective way to present a topic, summarize information, and inspires sharing. • Buzz Group Discussion (also known as small group discussions) that recognizes how sharing of insights and experiences may be facilitated within smaller groups within a brief amount of time. • Media monitoring is an exercise and a tool that encourage participants’ critique of media’s viewing and valuing of women and conflict as evidenced by materials that they have shared such as: news clippings, magazines and radio news • Theater arts in the form of short skits, poetry, songs, and image theater have offered alternative ways of sharing significant concepts learned, and alternative ways of reporting • Structured Learning Exercises and games have also been used to initiate discussion on certain topics, where participants were also able to gain insights • Hands on exercises in editing and re-framing articles, radio operation, and radio plug production help enhance and sharpen participants media skills so they have a better handling of information tools that may be used to promote values for peace and equality Process Another significant part of the workshop is its Self-Care Strategies that is not just a session but an integral part of the process, as it teaches and reminds all of us (the organizers, training team and participants) that care for the self is as valuable as our involvements, principles and commitment. In the experience of the three workshops it has shared different ways of stimulating creativity, stress and tension release through dance, song, meditation in movement, and the mandala. In as much as the workshop is culminated with participants’ identifying concrete plans on different modes of how their learning can be shared with others, commitment to self- care is likewise important as participants identify how they can better take care of themselves amidst uncertain, and stressful situations, sometimes even daily life. The five day workshop from how it was conducted in the three trainings has been in a constant process of improvement through the help of participants’ evaluation. It was also packaged differently into a workshop designed that interweaved framework sessions and hands on exercises the process of which was guided by the facilitators and resource persons. This is a sample of the workshop schedule that was used: Day 1 Arrival of Participants and Trainers, Registration and Settling Down 7.00 – 8.30 Welcome

Creating the circle Expectations Check Orientation on the T raining Day 2 Engendering Peace Journalism and Radio Techniques 8:30 – 10.30 Visions of Peace 10.30 – 12.30 Engendered Peace Journalism 1.30 – 3.30 Group 1: Engendering Peace Journalism Group 2: Hands-On Radio Studio Discussion, Exercises T echniques 3.30 – 5.30 Group 1: Hand-On Radio Studio Group 2: Engendering Peace Journalism T echniques Discussion, Exercises 7.30 – 9.00 T ransformative Potential of Community Radio Day 3 Gender Fair Reporting and Sound Editing 8.30 – 10.30 Framing Conflict, Recreating New Vocabularies of Peace 10.30 – 12.30 Power Relations in Journalism, Gender and Respectful Reporting Interview T echniques 1.30 – 3.00 Interview Exercise 3.00 – 4.00 Radio Plug Production 4.00 – 6.00 Digital Sound Editing with Audacity 7.00 – 9.00 Hands on Digital Sound Editing and Studio Operation (optional) Day 4 Self-Care Strategies and Field Interviews 8.30 – 11.00 Development of Self-care Strategies for Women Journalists 11.30 – 12.30 Group work: Preparation for Field Interviews 1.30 – 3.00 Group work: Field Interviews 3.00 – 6.00 Group work: Edit Interviews for Broadcasts 7.00 – 8.30 Live Radio Show with the Interviews 8.30 – 9.30 Discuss and Comment Interviews Day 5 Radio Plugs 8.30 – 3.00 Group work: Radio Plugs Production 3.00 – 5.00 Listening to and Comments on the Radio Plugs 5.00 - 7.30 T raining Evaluation, Opening the circle The Women Making Airwaves for Peace: A Workshop on Engendered Peace Journalism as we share it with you – the peace and gender advocate, development worker, media practitioner now follows a different format so as to illustrate the sequence and flow of the topics. Module or session plans that have the elements of introduction, objectives, session or topic flow, and a session plan in matrix form, detailed instructions and synthesis points are shared to offer possibilities of how a session and topic can flow and exercises that may be used. Slide presentations are offered as guide or talking points that will hopefully be of use to the trainer (whether in print or radio media). Radio interviews and plugs are like wise shared as products of the training, that may be helpful as samples within a

training that one can use whether you are pointing out principles and values of engendered peace or how messages can be enhanced through radio editing. We hope this module on Principles and Values of Engendered Peace Journalism made Popular through Community Radio is as helpful to you as it was to us.