We see media as the fourth branch of the government, it needs to be gender sensitive! We conducted a research on 8 media houses, 188 professionals to introduce a gender policy and improve it.
Do we reject AD’s that are immoral, that devalue women, that are sexist and have a stereotyped content?
We have to be aware of our institutional attitude and commitment.
check the link on assessment made on school violence
Monday July 15, Initiative Africa Held its civic education youth discussion project at Adi-Haqi Mekelle Campus, bringing students and the academic staff together – Dr. Tesfaalem Dean, College of Social Science and Languages as facilitator, Dr. Kelemwork Tafere and Dr. Desta G/Michael will be the panelist. 
“A new program to enhance civic education and to open debate between opposing views in higher learning institutions.”
The 4th educational theater performance held at kelem werk secondary school on the 27th of March. This amazing students impressed everyone with their talent for acting and making a great stand on bullying and violence free school. #MakeChangeHappen #NoPlaceForBullies
The 2nd educational theater ‘ለጉልቤ ቦታ የለም’ “No Place for bullies” was held colorfully at Black Lion secondary school on March 13/19 in the presence of student, teacher, school principal and local authority. #MakeChangeHappen #NoPlaceForBullies
Let’s break the culture of #Bullying! students of Dagmawi Menilik preparatory school performed an educational theater along with essay competition. #NoPlaceForBullies #InitiativeAfrica #MakingChangeHappen#LetwiledYouthDevelopment
Initiative Africa has signed a project agreement with the Embassy of Czech Republic in Addis Ababa on a project titled “Improving school based violence prevention programs through meaningful planning”. The project will focus on reducing school violence and will be implemented in selected 12 secondary schools in Addis Ababa. The agreement is signed today by H.E. Pavel Mikeš, Czech Ambassador to FDRE and Mr. Kebour Ghenna, Executive Director of Initiative Africa.
50:50 Initiative of the Making Change Happen Project
This week Initiative Africa revealed to the press its 2019-20 project to promote gender
equality in the media across Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, like many countries in the world,
women and men do not enjoy the same professional opportunities, share equal pay and
feel equally represented in the workplace. But like most industries, the media has a long
way to go to address gender equality, in everything from creating news that is for and
about women to promoting equal amounts of men and women to senior executive
positions.
It is important to understand that creating gender equality is not just fulfilling a quota or
being politically correct but it’s actually good business. A UK Research found companies
that reported the highest number of women in senior leadership roles financially
outperformed those with lower rates of women, with a 35% higher return on equity.
Similar data from McKinsey & Company showed that the 89 companies in Europe with
the largest representation of women in senior roles came out with 10% higher return on
equity and 48% higher earnings before interest and tax.
Ato YehualshetIn G/Michael, Senior Advisor at Imitative Africa says in addition to
financial benefits, creating gender balance makes newsrooms more productive and
innovative and can contribute to social stability in surrounding communities.
Here are the three ways media generally represent gender in Ethiopia:
First, women are underrepresented, which falsely implies that men are the cultural
standard and women are unimportant or invisible.
Second, men and women are portrayed in stereotypical ways that reflect and
sustain socially endorsed views of gender.
Third, depictions of relationships between men and women emphasize traditional
roles and normalize violence against women.
Through the project, entitled MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN Initiative Africa (IA) will
support media organizations to address each of these issues. In particular, it will assist
media organizations not just cover “women’s issues”, but make sure content is balanced
across gender lines and respects the diversity that represents nearly 50% of the world’s
population. IA will also advise for a strong commitment from management and promote
actions that ensure women occupy all roles in the newsroom, including senior positions.
With the project, IA will also organize training to ensure that women have the confidence
and skills they need to move up the job ladder as part and parcel of creating gender
equality in the media. While talent and on-the-job experience certainly helps, IA will
introduce mentoring and development programs as a way for young female journalists to
boost the careers.
The project MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN is supported by a grant made possible by the
Swedish Embassy in Addis Ababa.
