Somalia is a young country, where 75% of the population is under 35 years old. However, young people’s voices are often not heard in their communities. Vikes’ work aims to promote child-friendly, pluralistic and disinformation-free journalism, that supports peace and stabilization processes.
Vikes reached young audiences through four projects: supporting the production of children’s programmes on Somali National Television (SNTV), training peace ambassadors in schools, teaching young journalists the principles of peace journalism and organizing debates on peacebuilding on SNTV.
Vikes and Somali National Television produced children’s programmes and debates on reconciliation
Vikes has previously supported SNTV’s production of kids TV shows, which were now complemented by mini-documentaries broadcasted every two weeks on kids TV shows. The shows reached over three million viewers and contributed to reconciliation through the voices of young people.
The theme of reconciliation was also explored in televised debates where difficult topics such as civil war, war trauma and clan conflict were addressed. These debates were also broadcast on Radio Mogadishu and on the CAFIS channel and widely shared on social media.
Peace ambassadors were trained in schools and young journalists learned the principles of peace journalism
In Baido and Mogadishu, young people were trained as peace ambassadors to tackle school bullying tensions between clans. Students developed new skills such as problem solving, mediation and negotiation. The young people trained as peace ambassadors were equipped to tackle conflicts in schools and act as peacebuilders in their communities.
Vikes also trained 50 journalists on responsible journalism with CAFIS and the Federation of Somali Journalists (FESOJ). The main themes of the training were combating disinformation and promoting peace and reconciliation processes.
Gender equality was promoted in workshops for male managers in media houses
Vikes’ year in Somalia ended with the launch of a project which promotes gender equality in media houses. The training, carried out in partnership with Miessakit Association, taught male managers of media houses how to detect and prevent gender-based harassment of female journalists.
Training male leaders was a new way to promote women’s participation. The workshops helped the bosses to understand the challenges faced by female journalists and to commit to structural changes in their editorial teams.
The project was continued in 2024 and the training has received a lot of positive feedback. Vikes has an excellent reputation in Somalia and our work continues to support democracy and free media in the country.
