Meet Somalia’s frontline media workers

In one of the world’s most difficult environments for media workers, a number of Somali media workers have committed themselves to furthering journalistic practices, the voices of marginalized people and women and the safety of journalists with the support of International Media Support and Fojo Media Institute. We’ve spoken to them to get their stories.

Meet a young female journalist who works at a radio in Mogadishu, a media worker who spent time in prison after being affiliated with an article critical of local government; get some good business tips from a young media entrepreneur and hear how Radio Ergo’s local stringers bring about change with their stories.

Since 2014, IMS-Fojo have been working closely with Somali media partners to create better terms for journalists in a volatile media environment with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. A network for female journalists has been established to also increase the number of women in decision-making positions in Somali media and through advocacy, 10 media houses now grant pregnant women three months paid maternity leave instead of a dismissal notice.

Somali partners in the media sector are now cooperating across the country to improve safety practices through an emerging safety response mechanism for journalists and more than 300 journalists have received lifesaving safety training. In Somaliland, journalists are now issued with press cards which serve as a means of professional identification and access to government press briefings.

Together with young Somalis, IMS-Fojo efforts have increased young people’s access to parliamentary deliberations through social media platforms and sought to increase access to media content related to lifesaving information, government decisions and balanced information during elections in Somalia and Somaliland.