UN, TEF partner with media in Zanzibar

Unguja, Zanzibar – The United Nations and the Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) have jointly conducted a workshop for 20 journalists from Unguja and Pemba. The aim of today’s workshop is to build the capacity of journalists to better be able to understand and report on UN interventions in Zanzibar – especially on the upcoming Zanzibar Joint Programme which will be launched on August 28th. The workshop also focused on enhancing journalists’ ability to report on development in the context of achieving the Global Goals in a way that highlights the best practices being implemented as well as challenges that communities are still experiencing.

On August 28th the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar and the United Nations will launch the Zanzibar Joint Programme (ZJP) which is an area-based programme consisting of nine UN agencies working across four themes. The ZJP will be launched by the President of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, H.E. Dr. Ali Mohamed Shein. The launch will be preceded by field visits to existing UN activities in Unguja on August 27th. Having been briefed on the ZJP and other UN activities in Zanzibar, the journalists who participated in the workshop today will be invited to both the launch and the field visits.

Speaking on behalf of the UN Sub Office in Zanzibar, UN Coordination Specialist, Ms. Aine Mushi, said that the UN is keen to partner with the media to ensure that they can understand and be able to report on the ZJP. “The nine UN agencies participating in the ZJP will be implementing activities in four themes which are Maternal and Newborn Health; Women’s Economic Empowerment through Seaweed Value Chain Development; Ending Violence Against Women and Children; and Capacity Building for Coordination and Reporting of SDGs and Mkuza III,” she said. “Through the ZJP, we will continue working very closely with the government to reach communities in Zanzibar.”

Speaking at the training on behalf of the United Nations Communication Group (UNCG), an inter-agency group of UN Communication officers, UNFPA Communication Analyst, Mr. Warren Bright stressed the importance of partnering with the media. “We’re very happy to be training journalists from Unguja and Pemba today in partnership with TEF. Partnering with the media is important for the UN in Zanzibar as they are the ones that can give a voice to communities and communicate the successes and challenges of our work,” he said. “We have many UN agencies working closely with the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar to improve health services, economically empower women youth, and to end violence against women and children to name a few areas of our work. The media is an important partner in this work.

Note to Editors:

The Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) and the United Nations in Tanzania, through the United Nations Communications Group (UNCG), have been partners for over 5 years and this latest collaboration builds on this partnership by enhancing the number of activities that will be jointly conducted by the two parties. Today’s workshop is the fifth of seven workshops that will be taking place across Tanzania with the first four workshops having taken place on the mainland. The remaining workshops will take place in Kilimanjaro and Mwanza.