IPS Africa undertakes a wide range of activities, which can be grouped under the following headings:
IPS Africa has played a leadership role with regard to gender issues. IPS Africa firmly believes that the role of the media is to promote an understanding of the changes in the social, political, economic and cultural status quo in order to facilitate and support men and women’s equal participation in these processes.
Over the past decade, IPS Africa has worked through a process of mainstreaming gender by going beyond the orthodox news paradigm to examine the gender and development processes that shape events. IPS Africa has trained and re–trained editors and journalists to seek out the voices and perspectives of women. We give journalists an understanding of what the "gender perspective" means, how it gives rise to new angles for stories, and how to best highlight the perspective in all stories. We also give journalists an in depth understanding of the human rights instruments that cover gender issues such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
IPS Africa has focused on the following issues, and produced the following publications:
Culture, religion and gender – a training manual for media practitioners (download .pdf part A – part B)
Fighting violence against women – a training manual for journalists
Gender, HIV/AIDS and rights – a training manual for media (download .pdf)
Strengthening the Voice and Visibility of Women in Elections – Currently IPS Africa is implementing a joint project with the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), financed though the new UN Democracy Fund. Female candidates, journalists, and women’s organisations are being linked to communicate effectively the gender dimensions of elections in Africa. Journalists are being mentored and commissioned to do independent reporting through a strong gender lens during electoral processes in Africa in 2007 and 2008. See the results so far at the Africa – from Polls to Polls website.
Projects, capacity building and publications
Through inter–regional and regional project support, IPS Africa has been able to develop the following in–depth areas of work. The projects are implemented with partners and almost always include a capacity–building dimension, a vital component for African journalists.
1. Developing Trade in Africa
A three–year project (2007 – 2009) to strengthen reporting from Africa and Europe on trade, and to disseminate the news and analysis to media and other target audiences in Europe, Africa as well as globally. The project – a joint effort by IPS Africa and IPS Europe – is financed by the European Commission and it enables IPS to employ specialised editors, commission more stories, source photographs and market the results across Europe. The project has a dedicated thematic site, From Aid to Trade with Africa – Fact or Fiction?
2. The Southern Africa Water Wire
The Southern Africa Water Wire is a multi–media information platform that provides in–depth high quality information on integrated water resource management in Southern Africa. It is the product of a partnership between IPS, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) Regional Water Sector Programme. The articles, the product of local journalists in touch with policy makers and people on the front lines of water crises, analyse the problems of managing this precious commodity –– and the ways around these obstacles.
The Southern Africa Water Wire taps into the formidable resource of local journalists to create a flexible and virtual "newsroom". Journalists in the SADC region contribute in–depth news and analyses that provide insight into the linkages between water management and socio–economic development in their countries.
3. Count–down to 2015 – A Focus On The Millennium Development Goals
Nearly halfway to the target of 2015 –– a critical milestone when global poverty is to be halved through the ambitious programme set forth by the eight Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) –– Africa’s list of problems continues to swell while strategies to address poverty and deliver services effectively to the poor continue to elude us. Through insightful reporting, commentary and opinion from Angola to Zimbabwe and other countries in southern Africa, IPS Africa has sharpened its coverage of the broad framework of the MDGs and other poverty alleviation and development targets, including The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and SADC’s Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan. The Southern African Trust offered initial funding for this work.
4. Africa: A Globalizing Continent
Africa is typically portrayed as a victim of globalisation, hobbled by trade subsidies, and losing its best and brightest minds to the developed world. There are more than a few grains of truth to this: the continent has taken a battering from globalisation in several respects. But, international trends have also been embraced by Africans in interesting, often unexpected ways, suggesting a more complex relationship with the rest of the world than is generally assumed. Here, IPS reporters try to depict the multifaceted effect of globalisation on Africa: good, bad –– and even humorous.
5. Focus on Southern Africa
Immense development challenges face the Southern African region. A consensus has emerged that people need to take centre stage in efforts to address HIV/AIDS, poverty and other problems to achieve regional integration. Through its coverage of countries in SADC, IPS gives readers insights into the issues the region is grappling with, and the ways in which individual governments cope with these challenges. We aim to celebrate the richness and diversity of cultures within SADC. This work grew from IPS’s participation in the multi–stakeholder “Information 21” project of the SADC, and included intensive capacity–building workshops led by IPS for journalists across Southern Africa.
6. Desertification
Desertification could force some 60 million people to migrate from sub–Saharan Africa to Northern Africa and Europe by 2020. More than 250 million people worldwide suffer the direct effects of desertification. Another 1.2 billion people in 110 countries are treatened by degradation of otherwise arable and habitable land caused by climate change and unsustainable land–use practices like overgrazing, deforestation and burning. IPS offers insights into this phenomenon that is undermining development in Africa and around the world, which requires the immediate attention of the international community and local peoples alike. With support from IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IPS ran a training workshop in Nairobi and will offer an Award for Reporting Desertification.
