Media Parity Capacity Building
The Media Parity Capacity Building Programme, a partnership between Gender Links and CFI Media, worked with 22 media outlets across Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Lesotho to advance gender equality in both newsroom practice and the stories produced. Through engaging workshops, personalised mentorship and outlet-based activities, the programme strengthened journalists’ capacity for gender-aware reporting while promoting safer, more professional media environments. Launched in May 2025, the programme emphasised practical skills, targeted support and real-world newsroom application.
Key facts
media outlets
Journalists
Countries
media stories
Building reporting capacity
Gender Links led the programme’s gender-aware reporting component, building reporting skills through a combination of in-person country workshops, follow-up mentorship and small reporting stipends to support story production. Drawing on inception insights, journalist consultations and country scoping, training was tailored to real newsroom contexts. Participating journalists boosted their ability to apply a gender lens across reporting beats, expand and diversify sources, and produce compelling, balanced stories that reflect a wider range of lived experiences.
Articles from the programme
Key activities
Country workshops
The co-created training programme - delivered through four in-person workshops by experienced national facilitators - introduced core gender concepts, practical tools and approaches for gender-aware journalism and inclusive sourcing. Highly interactive and grounded in real reporting contexts, the workshops focused on strengthening analysis, framing and story development skills.
Mentorship
Journalists received tailored support to apply learning in their reporting, from story idea development through to publication or broadcast, supported by small reporting stipends to help address production barriers. Between September 2025 and February 2026, journalists produced 303 stories across five countries, demonstrating the diversity and originality that emerge when a gender lens is applied across reporting beats. Spanning politics, economy, health, climate, conflict and community issues, these stories reveal new perspectives, challenge dominant narratives and amplify voices often left out of the news.
Media outlet partners
Botswana TV
Duma FM
The Patriot Group
Weekend Post
YTV
Informative Newspaper
Lesotho News Agency
Yoneco FM
Umunthu FM
The Times Group
Capital Radio
The Atlas
Rádio Moçambique
Diário de Moçambique
TVM
Savana
Rádio Índico
Crown TV
Diamond TV
KBN TV
Live FM
Your Anthem Radio
Good for gender equality, good for business
The Media Parity programme shows that gender-aware reporting is not an add-on, it strengthens journalism itself. The stories produced demonstrate greater depth, originality and diversity across beats, with sharper framing, more inclusive sourcing and closer attention to lived realities.
This approach elevates storytelling. Content becomes more engaging, relevant and credible, offering fresh angles and deeper insight that resonate with audiences. For media organisations, this expands story opportunities, strengthens audience connection and enhances editorial quality - reinforcing both public interest journalism and the sustainability of the media.