By Janet Masamba

Nkhata Bay, April 19, Mana: NGO Gender Coordination Network (NGO-GCN) has urged Nkhata Bay based journalists to promote fair and balanced reporting towards women aspirants for various political positions in the run up to the September 16 general elections.

In an interview on Friday after an interface meeting with journalists, one of the officials for NGO-GCN, Dorothy Chiumia, said journalists play a crucial role in supporting women who intend to compete for political offices.

“Your fair and balanced reporting will go a long way in motivating women to participate in politics as you provide them with platforms through which they can showcase their ideas to masses.

“We, therefore, organized this training to equip journalists with skills on how to support female aspirants through balanced reporting,” she said.

Chiumia was optimistic that such reporting will instill self-esteem in women and break challenging stereotypes about women in politics.

District Information Officer for Nkhata Bay, Chisomo Kambandanga, described the training as timely, with the potential of promoting women participation in politics.

"The meeting has been an eye opener. We have been encouraged to incorporate gender issues in our reporting. We are hopeful that more women will be interested in vying for political offices in the district," said Kambandanga.

The meeting was organized with support from UN Women through the Malawi Electoral Support Project under the Basket Fund financed by European Union, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, United Kingdom Government, Irish Embassy and the Royal Norwegian Embassy.