NW Journalists equipped to mainstream Disability in propagating Humanitarian Crisis Services
Journalists in the Northwest Region of Cameroon have been equipped to mainstream disabilities in their messages and programmes as they raise awareness on the rights and needs of persons with disabilities in humanitarian contexts.
The journalists took the commitment during a one-day workshop on disability mainstreaming in humanitarian Crisis organized by the CBC Health Services Disability Inclusive Humanitarian Project (DIHA). The workshop took place on February 16, 2022 at the Baptist Center Nkwen and attended by 20 journalists including Station Managers and reporters from 19 media organs in the North West Region. Among the participants was a journalist with visual impairment who is the Communication Officer of the Coordinating Unit of the Associations of Persons with Disabilities. The socio-political crisis in the English-speaking part of the country has had devastating consequences on the populations of these two regions and increased the vulnerability and suffering of persons with disabilities in particular.
Apart from the fact that the violent nature of the crisis has caused more disabilities from gun shots, maiming and other actions that have resulted to loss of mobility, amputations, loss of sight and hearing among others, the crisis has also had heavy impact on persons with disabilities, ranging from direct physical impact, increase in the number of persons with disabilities to dependency, abject poverty and misery to death. Even in humanitarian actions, the specific needs of persons with disabilities have not been met and their rights grossly violated.
From this bleak background, the DIHA Project saw the need to capacitate journalists to raise awareness on the rights and needs of persons with disabilities during humanitarian crisis as their contribution in fostering the inclusion of persons with disabilities in humanitarian activities.
Welcoming participants to the workshop the DIHA Project Coordinator, Asheri Ngah said the objective of the workshop was to build the skills of journalists on raising awareness on the needs and rights of persons with disabilities through disability inclusive messaging and programming. She told them that the workshop was an avenue for the Project to chart ways forward with them towards the role of the media in fostering disability inclusion in humanitarian actions.
Presenting an overview of the Project to the participants, the Project Coordinator said the CBC Health Services through the DIHA project focuses on the health and protection sectors which are areas where they are specialized and competent in carrying out a wide range of activities to facilitate the inclusion of persons with disabilities by other humanitarian organisations.
During the workshop, the Coordinator of the Coordinating Unit of the Associations of Persons with Disabilities, Chick Sama said the crisis has grossly affected persons with disabilities. Besides crippling them economically, Mr. Chick noted that a survey carried out by the CUAPWD from September to November 2018, revealed that 31 persons with disabilities were killed as a result of the crisis in a short period of less than four months. He regretted the fact that humanitarian response activities have reached a very insignificant percentage of persons with disabilities because of barriers in the areas of communication, information, and inaccessible services and environments.
After situating the journalists on the importance of disability inclusion, they received knowledge on appropriate language and terminology in disability reporting to enable them avoid stigma and wrong language use on persons with disabilities in their messages.
Brainstorming on strategies to mainstream disabilities in their messages and programs the participants identified the following strategies;
- Create radio programmes on disability issues.
- Give persons with disabilities the opportunity to run radio programmes.
- Work with humanitarian organisations on disability inclusion.
- Make information accessible to persons with disabilities.
- Include persons with disabilities as resource persons for programmes/reports to tell their stories and contribute in topical issues.
- Create a network of media practitioners share experiences and content on disability issues.
They were also encouraged to raise awareness on the rights and needs of persons with disabilities within the context of this crisis, highlight the capabilities of persons with disabilities to participate in humanitarian services, making their media organs/outlets accessible to persons with disabilities, and question development and humanitarian actors on disability inclusion.
Earlier in his greetings to the participants, the DIHA Project Manager, Mr. Awa Jacques Chirac expressed gratitude to the media professionals for their commitment in the partnership with the SEEPD Program over the years in raising awareness in disability inclusion. He encouraged the participants to join a SEEPD Program platform for knowledge sharing for media practitioners.
At the end of the workshop, the SEEPD Programme Communication Officer, Fru Rita Ngum thanked the journalists for their active participation and called on them to maintain the steam to practice disability inclusion which they had exhibited during the training when they go back to their different media organs.
The CBC Health Services DIHA Project is aimed at facilitating disability inclusive humanitarian assistance in the North West Region, thanks to support from the German Federal Foreign Office through the Christian Blind Mission (CBM).