Género, mujeres y desarrollo
Gender Links
GIVING A VOICE TO WOMEN IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
When you turn on a television or radio in southern Africa, you will notice that women hardly have a voice in the media. In politics they are also a small minority. Consequently, their perspective and experiences are structurally underexposed, which does not at all contribute to the goal of a region in which men and women have equal opportunities. Gender Links wishes to change this.
‘In Africa, the necessity of providing a voice to poor and marginalised people, a majority of whom are women, is often pointed out. But Gender Links is one of the few non-governmental organisations that actually make an effort to achieve this,’ says director Colleen Lowe Morna of Hivos partner Gender Links.
Gender Links mainly focuses on the media, politics and civil society. The organisation conducts research, organises training programmes and provides well-founded advice – all intended to make people in these sectors aware of the under-representation of women and to increase this representation. Lowe Morna: ‘We offer people – from women in management positions to activists and youth leaders – the skills to attract media attention. We also teach them to express themselves in the media, with the aid of the technologies that they have access to, such as e-newsletters.’
Hivos supports Gender Links because Hivos wants to enable marginalised people to let themselves be heard and to stand up for their own rights. In this context, Hivos devotes specific attention in its policy to the improvement of the position of women. Gender Links receives specific appreciation because it strategically uses ICT in the realisation of its goals. The fact that the organisation plays a key role in large regional conferences, such as the “Gender and Media Summit”, is another plus, as is the fact that Gender Links has created an extensive network since its founding in 2001.
‘In this region, we have cooperated with many dozens of non-governmental media organisations, training institutes and lobbying groups,’ says Lowe Morna. ‘In addition we are co-founder of the Gender and Media Southern Africa Network and coordinator of the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance. We are not even such a large organisation. But we do leave large footprints.’
Tipo de organización
Service organization /non-profit
Sector
Gender, Women and Development
País
Regional: Southern Africa
Fundado
2001
Contraparte de Hivos desde
2002
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