Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) on Wednesday commenced a training workshop for twenty female reporters on leadership skills and career building in their profession.
The Female Reporters’ Leadership Programme (FRLP) is an initiative of WSCIJ in collaboration with the Free Press Unlimited (FPU), which started in June 2017.
Mrs. Motunrayo Alaka, WSCIJ coordinator, said the FRLP was organised to empower female journalists with skills that would embolden them to emerge as leaders in their various media organisations.
She said the programme was a response to the observed gap that existed in the ratio of female to male leadership in Nigeria’s newsrooms.
“Our survey on the leadership status of female reporters in Nigerian newsroom conducted in 2017, reveals a ratio of 10:2 representations in board and management levels in favour of men.
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“There have been little deliberate efforts to ensure female reporters get to the highest echelons of leadership in the newsrooms.
“The major thrust of the FRLP, which includes this fellowship, is our decision to be intentional about changing this anomaly,” she said.
Alaka said that the four-day training programme would address how female journalists could increase their participatory and performance levels to better position themselves for leadership opportunities.
Ms. Bethel Tsegaye, FPU Programme Coordinator, said that in the pilot phase, 58 application were received in 2017 and 15 female reporters were selected, adding that in 2018, 199 applications were received.
She said that out of the 199 application received from nine countries, only 20 female reporters were selected, including one from Ghana to join as new fellows of the initiative.
