Women in News Leadership Accelerator, on Thursday, launched the 2022 WIN Africa leadership Accelerator programme.
Speaking during the official launch of the program, Executive Director for WAN-IFRA WIN, Melanie Walker, said the program is highly impactful to the media industry and Journalists acquire new skills and their capacity is built in various aspects.
Warner said: “Last year alone, of the 96 who were selected for the program, 36 % reported a promotion in their various media organisations that they work in and this has been within the first three to six months of completing the program, whilst 22 % received a salary raise.
She further congratulated the incredible women that have made it to the 2022 cohort for being accepted into the program and to leverage on it.
Guest of honor during the launch, Honourable Senator Monica Mutsvangwa, who is the Minister of Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services in Zimbabwe, applauded the women in leadership initiative for building leadership amongst women practitioners
“It is discouraging that media houses across the world largely fall short in providing an enabling environment for women, there seems to be slow progression in uplifting the women to leadership positions, therefore I urge media houses to provide the necessary support in training to retain and advance female workers,” she said.
Edyth Kambalame, a WIN Editorial Award Laurette for 2021, who is also editor for Nation on Sunday in Malawi, shared her leadership journey and provided insights to the 2022 cohort.
According to Kambalame she has found the value in learning from others that have walked the path before her.
“The program is very transformative; I have over the years learned that Leadership is about sharing what you know to empower others, therefore I urge you to utilise the knowledge that you will gain from this this program,” she said.
According to WIN Director for Africa, Jane Godio, this year the applications were overwhelming, annually the program accepts 100-150 women however this year alone 181 participants were selected over 500 applicants for the WIN programme.
The WAN-INFRA is an intensive nine month long career and leadership program open to women journalists and editors working in Africa.
