Media Capacity Development
UNICEF has been engaging with the media for over four decades and the process has been rewarding as we have nurtured key relationships with media outlets and individuals. During this journey the consistent feedback from our media partners has always been about the need for us to focus on developing their capacities on reporting especially in the context of child rights.
While our media partners are experts in their specific areas, such a health, education, nutrition, Hygiene and Sanitation, they have expressed interest to be equipped with skills to critically appraise these issues with a child rights lens. This process has been extremely beneficial for UNICEF and our media partners who equipped with these skills can now communicate holistically and with complete understanding of diverse facets of the issue. Going forward our media partners will be able to create a powerful and authentic knowledge base for children.
Oxford University and George Institute of Global Health
UNICEF has partnered with Oxford University and George Institute of Global Health, UK, to develop a special programme for media members reporting on public health with a focus on routine immunisation. This partnership will help us develop certified critical skills appraisal programme which will help in addressing the gap in media coverage on public health programmes. The program will have modules on Routine Immunization and will be offered to journalists as a 'certification program.
UNICEF has identified five mass media departments from different regions of the country namely, Punjab University, University of Hyderabad, Mumbai University, Guwahati University, Tejpur University and Manipur University to be the national partners for this initiative.
Media Workshops SAMYAK
UNICEF has partnered with Samyak Foundation to offer a series of Media Workshops to promote routine immunization. The workshops are being held for media persons from the nine low Routine Immunized states including UP, MP, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Assam and Odisha.
This partnership aims at creating a network of knowledgeable and committed pool of health journalists who will report on the issue in a sustained basis. Samyak Foundation is a developmental organization which works on health and social issues across different States in India.
IGNOU
UNICEF and IGNOU have come together to fulfill the need to develop capacities of media from difficult-to-access regions of the country. The key focus of the partnership is establishment of select media on the various issues and our initiatives, launch of an online platform to capture trained journalists’ writings on these topics and recognition certificates by veteran journalists Vinod Mehta and Mark Tully.
We use modern technologies like video conferencing, mobiles, blog coupled with face-to-face interaction and field visits to initiate and sustain balanced and informed reporting of the issue. Post-media analysis of this initiative showed us that there was 40 % increase in reportage on Routine Immunization issues from national and state (Madhya Pradesh) media after this initiative.
