Botswana journalists cover poverty

We had several entries submitted for the best article or report, following the training workshop in Gaborone in January, sponsored by RHVP and facilitated by FrayIntermedia. The workshop covered reporting on poverty, food security and social protection.

Boboki Kayawe wrote a very nice story about some women in Gaborone who are hoping to benefit from government incentives to start a small business making school uniforms. You can read the story on Mmegi Online, or download it in PDF format here. Nchidzi Smarts’ entry looked at the same project. That story is available on PDF here, or can be found online at the Botswana Gazette.

Nicholas Mokwena wrote an article for the online magazine Change/ Mudanca, looking broadly at some of Botswana’s policies. You can find it on p4 and 5 of the online magazine, here.

Thank you too to Mapitso Sekete Ts’iu for submitting the transcript of her very nice radio reports, broadcast on Radio Lesotho. And good luck to Duncan Taolo who was still looking for someone to publish his excellent story on the government’s Ipelegeng intensive labour programme.

But sadly, the prize can only go to one person and we chose Ntibinyane Ntibinyane as the winner. His emphasis on the human story of poverty was really powerful, particularly as he also managed to link the personal stories with issues of policy or government response. His article in the Midweek Sun was the winner, but we also admired Ntibinyane’s commitment to keeping the issue on the agenda, with not one but four stories in total, published in the Midweek Sun, Ghetto Metro and Botswana Guardian.

To download the text of the articles, click on the related picture:

Well done Ntibinyane! In the next few days we will post the results of the Malawi competition, so be sure to watch this space.

Poverty and social protection in the news

Training workshops in Reporting on Poverty, Food Security and Social Protection have been held in Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana and Malawi. The workshops were organised by FrayIntermedia, and sponsored by the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP), with funding from UKAid.

FrayIntermedia and RHVP offered a prize for the best article or broadcast report produced and published within one month of each workshop. So far, prizes have been awarded for Zambia and Tanzania.

The prize winner for Zambia is Nebert Mulenga, for his article, “Social Cash Transfer: Passage out of Poverty?”, published in The Times of Zambia.

A PDF of the text of his article can be downloaded here: Mulenga social cash transfers. It’s also available online here, but the Times of Zambia website can be slow to load.

The prize winner for Tanzania is Simon Mkhina, for his article, “Agricultural revolution, a politicized campaign in Tanzania”, published on www.tanzaniasnews.net.

Unfortunately only one prize could be awarded, but special mention must also go to Chelu Matuzya, for an article in the Business Times: “The absent-present saviour for Tanzania’s economy”. You can download a scanned copy of Chelu’s article here:

Mnaku Mbani of the Business Times also entered a story — but here we would like to highlight a recent story of his, not submitted as it was published too late for entry. It is about the banking sector in Tanzania, and illustrates how a business and technology-related story can also cover and reflect issues related to poverty. You can read it online here.

On that same note, it is also worth reading another article by Chelu Matuzya, on Tanzania’s Kilimu Kwanza – agriculture first – policy. You can find it here.

Another person who submitted an entry is Lutengano Haonga. His report is on Africa News, titled Tanzania Should Revisit Agricultural Subsidy.

Congratulations to the winners and to everyone for their great stories. Watch this space over the next two weeks for more news of the winners from Malawi and Botswana, and links to some of the articles and reports submitted.