The IPS Support Group Meeting was held on 26 November in Rome, Italy. This year’meeting analysed the role of media in covering issues related to MDG3: Promote gender equality and empower women. IPS has a longstanding commitment to mainstreaming gender and this event is part of its 2009 – 2011 programme of work ‘Communicating for Change: Voice, Visibility and Impact for Gender Equality‘.

The seminar was celebrated during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence (25 November – 10 December) giving voice to journalists and gender experts from around the world who debated on how information and communication contributes to stop violence. Italian vice minister for foreign affairs, Vincenzo Scotti, opened the meeting.

Robert Dijksterhuis of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, introduced the key themes of the seminar addressing the responsibility of the media when covering gender issues. The Dutch Ministry set up the MDG3 Fund: Investing in Equality to raise awareness about the third development goal’s priorities.

Representatives of the Association for Progressive Communication (APC) and the Global Media Monitoring Project introduced ways of getting messages across. Prominent journalists Laila Al Shaikhli anchorwoman of Al Jazeera, Najiba Ayubi, Director of the Killid Group — the most important Afghan news agency — and Francesca Caferri reporter of La Repubblica of Italy interacted with panellists and audiences.

NGOs and UN agencies like AIDOS, ActionAid, U.N. Millennium Campaign, UNIFEM and CAWTAR participated among others discussing the responsibility of media when communicating gender violence. FAO, IFAD and WFP contributed to a special session on gender in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate change COP 15.

IPS used the occasion for the international launch of its new Reporting Violence against Women media handbook published by IPS Africa with the special participation of Thenjiwe Mtintso, gender expert and Ambassador of South Africa to Italy. A special session was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), introduced by Emma Bonino, Vice President of the Italian Senate and a presentation by Soukeina Bouraoui, Executive Director, Centre of Arab Women for Training & Research-CAWTAR, Tunisia.

The seminar “Millennium Development Goal 3 and the role of the media” was the public part of the annual meetings of IPS that bring together media clients, donors, board members and partners of the news agency who engaged in interesting debates underlining the needs of the role of communication with regard to MDG3 and contributed to establishing new contacts between key players in the field.

Videos of the seminar are available at IPS Television.

Some of the presentations of speakers are also available:

Jac sm Kee, Coordinator, Women’s Rights Advocacy, Association for Progressive Communication WNSP
Take Back the Tech

Monia Azzalini, Osservatorio di Pavia Media Research
Global Media Monitoring Project, Italy

Soukeina Bouraoui, Executive Director, Centre for Arab Woman for Training & Research
CAWTAR

Cristiana Scoppa, Head of Communication, StopFGM! Campaign
AIDOS

Beatrice Costa, Policy Officer, Women Rights Programme
ActionAid – Hunger Free Woman

Related stories:

MEDIA: The Untold Stories of Violence Against Women
By Miren Gutierrez and Oriana Boselli

GENDER-SOUTH AFRICA: ‘There Is A Sense Of Vindication’
Miren Gutierrez interviews THENJIWE MTINTSO, Ambassador of South Africa to Italy

Related websites:

Communicating MDG3

The Gender Wire