Engaging the Media – A Training Programme for Women in Politics - Foundation Office Nigeria
Workshop
Details
As part of the activities to promote democracy and rule of law, KAS Nigeria helped to prepare women politicians in Nigeria for the coming election in 2015 by organizing media training for them.
The international trainer, Ms. Kudzai Makombe pointed out, nothing comes easily. Winning elections against the male politicians will not be on a platter of gold. So if you want to win, you have to work towards it. She implored the women politicians to make media their best friends, as this is the easiest way to get to the voters.
A newspaper editor, Mr. Abdulrahman Abdulrauf from Blueprint Newspaper, explained to the woman politicians what the media, especially print, is expecting from them to be able to make it to pages of the newspapers. He suggested that the women politicians research very well on any topic before granting interviews. They should stay focused on the issue under discussion. They should not be intimidated by the men politicians, as these face the same problems women face. He used excerpts from different newspapers where women politician featured to point out weaknesses
One participant, who was contesting for a senatorial ticket under Peoples Democratic Party thanked KAS and the trainer for making her change her disposition towards the media. As a woman politician, she tried to avoid scandals, and as a result, she distanced herself from the media. Only when necessary, she engaged the media, but after the training, she promised to engage the media more.
Mrs. Hildegard Behrendt-Kigozi, the Resident Representative of KAS in Nigeria urged the women politicians not to be shy but make their points in a better way than the men by speaking to the point of the problems, showing up with good plans for the future and also show why one can trust them to make their promises become reality.
At the end of the 2-day training, the women politicians appreciated KAS for organizing the training, and many requested for the training be conducted in their different locations, to bring the training to more women in politics, who could not be invited to Abuja.
