International Women's Media Foundation facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
International Women's Media Foundation

Type	Nonprofit organization
Industry	Journalism, human rights, social justice, women's rights
Founded	1990; 35 years ago (1990)
Headquarters	Washington, D.C. , United States

The International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) is a group based in Washington, D.C. It works around the world to help women in the media. The IWMF creates programs to support women journalists. These programs help them overcome challenges in their jobs and lives.

The IWMF offers many things. This includes special reporting trips in Africa and Latin America. They also give money (grants) to women journalists. The IWMF studies the role of women in media. They also give out important awards like the Courage in Journalism Award. The IWMF also speaks up for press freedom everywhere. They often ask governments to free journalists who are held captive. They also ask for protection for journalists in danger.

IWMF's Story and Mission

The International Women's Media Foundation started in 1990. It was created to support women working in news and media.

Celebrating 20 Years

In March 2011, the IWMF held a big meeting at George Washington University. This meeting celebrated their 20th birthday. Women leaders from all over the world came together. They talked about how women are doing in the media.

Important Research

Also in 2011, the IWMF released a report. It was called Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media. This report looked at the situation of women in news jobs worldwide.

Awards for Brave Journalists

The IWMF gives out special awards every year. These awards honor women journalists who show amazing courage.

Courage in Journalism Awards

The Courage in Journalism Award goes to women journalists. The Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award is for women who take news photos. These awards celebrate women who are incredibly brave. The IWMF says winners "face danger to find the truth." They also "raise the bar for reporting under tough conditions." The awards are given out each year in New York and Los Angeles.

• In 2010, the winners were Claudia Duque (Colombia), Tsering Woeser (Tibet), and Vicky Ntetema (Tanzania).
• In 2013, the winners included Najiba Ayubi from Afghanistan and Nour Kelze from Syria. Also honored were Bopha Phorn from Cambodia and Edna Machirori from Zimbabwe.
• In 2014, the awards went to Arwa Damon (CNN, Lebanon), Solange Lusiku Nsimire (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Brankica Stanković (Serbia).
• In 2020, Masrat Zahra, a photojournalist from Kashmir, won the Anja Niedringhaus Award. Other winners included Gulchehra Hoja (Uyghur American), Solafa Magdy (Egypt), Yakeen Bido (Syria), and Jessikka Aro (Finland).
• In 2022, Lynsey Addario and Cerise Castle from the U.S. won. Victoria Roshchyna from Ukraine also received an award. Huang Xueqin from China won a special award for journalists who are unfairly imprisoned.

Lifetime Achievement Awards

The IWMF also honors women who have had long and amazing careers in journalism. These are called the Lifetime Achievement Awards. The IWMF says these winners "broke down barriers." They made it possible for women everywhere to share their voices. Past winners include Alma Guillermoprieto from Mexico (2010) and Amira Hass from Israel (2009).

Leadership Training for Women Journalists

Since 1998, the IWMF has offered a special Leadership Institute. This is a week-long training for experienced women journalists. The training helps women succeed in media companies. It gives them the skills to become leaders in their newsrooms.

Experienced news women share ideas on how to lead. They talk about managing people and changes. They also give tips for salary talks and balancing work and home. These trainings happen in the U.S. and around the world.

Leadership in Africa

Leadership Institutes in Africa started in 1998 in Zimbabwe. The IWMF was one of the first groups to offer leadership training for women journalists in Africa. Training is done in both English and French-speaking African countries. For example, one was held in Uganda (2009) and another in Mali (2010).

Leadership in Europe

Leadership Institutes in Europe began in the 1990s. A recent one was in 2008 for women journalists from former Soviet countries. They talked about managing media and how women journalists are seen. They also discussed what makes a good leader. This institute was held in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Leadership in Latin America

Leadership Institutes in Latin America started in Mexico in 1998. Past trainings have been held in Nicaragua, Argentina, and Ecuador (2001). More training was also given online to Latin American women journalists in 2004.

Leadership in the United States

The Leadership Institutes in the U.S. teach important career skills. They also give women a chance to connect with other journalists. Women news leaders use role-playing and other activities to show leadership styles. They share helpful strategies. The sixth yearly U.S. Leadership Institute was in Chicago in July 2009. After the training, participants got one-on-one help to follow their action plans.

Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship

Each year, one woman journalist is chosen for the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship. This program is for journalists who cover human rights and social justice. The program is named after Elizabeth Neuffer. She won an IWMF Courage in Journalism Award in 1998. She was a reporter for The Boston Globe and died in Iraq in 2003. This fellowship keeps her memory alive. It also helps continue her goal of helping people understand human rights and social justice around the world.

This fellowship lets the journalist spend a year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They can also work with The Boston Globe and The New York Times. The program is flexible. It allows fellows to do research and improve their reporting skills. They focus on topics related to human rights. Past fellows have come from Colombia, Australia, Iraq, and the United States.

Reporting on Agriculture and Women Project

The Reporting on Agriculture and Women Project aims to change how media covers farming and rural development. The IWMF trains journalists to report better on agriculture. They also teach about the important role of women in food production in African countries.

The project wants to improve the amount and quality of farming news. It also wants more reporting on how important women are to rural economies. Another goal is to create more fairness between men and women in newsrooms. In February 2009, the IWMF published its research in a report called Sowing the Seeds. It found three main things:

• Even though farming is key to Africa's economy, it gets only four percent of media coverage.
• Farmers, both men and women, are rarely heard in farming news. Most sources are government officials or experts. Only 20 percent are farmers.
• Women are almost invisible in the media. Women produce 70 percent of food in sub-Saharan Africa. But only 11 percent of news sources and 22 percent of reporters are women.

The project also set up "Centers of Excellence" in Mali, Uganda, and Zambia. IWMF staff and local trainers teach journalists on site.

The Maisha Yetu Project

The Maisha Yetu project was started by the IWMF in 2002. It received a large grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Its goal was to improve reporting on HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria in Africa.

The first part of the project studied how media covered these health issues. This research was published as Deadline for Health. The second part created "Centers of Excellence" in three African countries. These centers helped African media improve their health reporting. A report on the project, Writing for Our Lives, was published in July 2006. A meeting was also held in South Africa. Representatives from the centers shared their experiences with other media and women's groups.

Reporta App for Journalists

In September 2015, the IWMF launched a free mobile app called Reporta. It was made to help journalists with security. At first, some experts had concerns about the app's safety. They worried because the app's code was not public. They also noted that the IWMF could see messages and user locations.

The IWMF later announced they would make the app's code public. In January 2016, they released the code for the app and its server. It became free and open-source software under the GPLv3 license.

See also

• Women in journalism and media professions