Project profile — Strengthening Media in South Sudan

This project aims to improve government accountability in South Sudan through strengthened capacity of the media to report on issues of importance to South Sudanese citizens. Through a mentoring approach, Journalists for Human Rights trains South Sudanese journalists to report on issues of service delivery, such as education, health and governance, using an approach that includes participatory reporting, non-discriminatory language, and how to put a human face on the issues. Training is based in local media houses so that capacity built through the project benefits local media directly. Media managers are also provided with increased capacity to run and manage their own organizations. The project works with representatives of the Government of South Sudan and civil society to facilitate increased understanding of the role of media in democracy and governance.

The Expected Intermediate Outcomes are: i) Strengthened coverage of service delivery, humanitarian efforts and governance issues by South Sudanese media; ii) Improved public dialogue amongst media, civil society, and the Government of South Sudan on service delivery, humanitarian efforts and governance issues; iii) Increased access to information for citizens and media practitioners.

Results achieved as of March 2019 include: 1) the training and mentorship of 226 journalists (women and men) on human rights reporting within media outlets, with a special focus on the rights of women and girls; 2) the publication of 481 high-quality human rights reports, including 250 gender-specific media stories, that reached more 2 million people across South Sudan and the diaspora; and 3) the training of 250 government officials (75 female) about media relations, engagement, and collaboration. Overall, the capacity of journalists to report on human rights and critical issues of gender equality has improved.