Accra – Curious Minds together with other media practitioners and representatives from women’s rights focused organisations participated in a one day workshop which aimed at using online avenues to properly convey vital advocacy initiatives and messages to a new age audience that have internet at their disposal.

The event which was organized in Accra by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) was facilitated by Jamila Abdulai; a blogger/social media consultant and founder of Circumspecte and Shamima Muslim; a seasoned broadcaster, trainer and convener for Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA).

Speaking on the use of the internet in advocating for women’s rights, Ms. Abdulai took participants through the art of digital storytelling as an effective advocacy and reporting tool. She explained digital storytelling as involving the use of digital tools and media to create, highlight and share stories while engaging with audiences in a two way conversation. These tools include: blogs, webpages, social media posts, vlogs, and podcasts. She added that organizations can better use these media only if they have a better understanding of themselves and their target audience.

Participants were encouraged to craft messages that are well planned and organized to attain optimum results. One of the key points from her presentation was the highlight of the 5 essentials of women’s rights online which are:

• Affordability of online tools for advocacy
• Relevance of online content and services
• Access to the internet and women’s empowerment
• Acquisition of digital skills and education
• The online safety of women

A general consensus was reached on the formation of an online coalition of organizations passionate about women’s rights, to share best practices and join initiatives as a collective body to ensure a positive advancement of women’s rights online.

Shamima Muslim, during her breakout session, focused on how media organizations can also put online platforms to effective use when advocating for women’s rights. She addressed some challenges and bottlenecks faced when producing feature stories on women issues, and encouraged all participants to do their best to be professional and efficient in their report making to ensure the right targets are met with gender appropriate information for maximum effect. MfWA -a regional independent non-governmental organization which promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression of all persons particularly the media and human rights defenders in West Africa.

Samuel Quaye, Curious Minds