Participation of the Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (Jet) in Mama Misitu

Mama Misitu learning event, 29th September 2017

PARTICIPATION OF THE JOURNALISTS’ ENVIRONMENTAL ASSOCIATION OF TANZANIA (JET) IN MAMA MISITU CAMPAIGN

What is JET?

The Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) is a non-governmental organization working in the fields of environment and sustainable development. It is a membership organization comprising practicing journalists and institutions working in the field of environment. It was registered in February 1991 with the aim of raising public awareness and enhancing good governance in environmental management through media products including radio and television programmes, news and feature articles and, recently, through social media. Over the years, JET's mandate has expanded to include mobilizing communities to seek benefits from conserving the environment and natural resources.

What was the role of JET in the MMC? In the MMC, the role of JET has been to strengthen media oversight of good governance of the forestry sector to esure equitable sharing of benefits from forest resources among stakeholders. In the course of implementing this role JET has worked with communities living close to forests who manage the resources as well as district councils where forest resources are abundant. JET has also worked with traders in forest goods, government officials who directly deal with forest issues and other stakeholders. Views and opinions of these groups have been published in various media outlets as some of the evidence that justifies the need for governance in the forestry sector.

Activities implemented In our engagement with Mama Misitu Campaign we have conducted two major activities. The first was training journalists at various levels with the first training being conducted in 2014. A total of 20 journalists from various media houses in Dar es Salaam, participated in the training which focused on equipping them with basic knowledge in forestry relevant to Tanzania. Most of them had been practicing journalism for more than three years and so were conversant with the basics of journalism.

Under the circumstances, the one-day training stint focused on identifying sources of information and packaging of such information to suit the various audiences. Following completion of the training, the journalists embarked on coverage of forest issues basing on assignments given to them by their editors. For more information please contact insert mfugale's contacts Mama Misitu learning event, 29th September 2017

The second training was conducted in 2015. This drew 15 participants from Lindi, Mtwara and Ruvuma regions and was conducted in Lindi. The objective was to equip journalists in the three regions with knowledge in forestry issues and highlight specific issues that required media interventions. It was also meant to give participants investigative skills so as to enable them unearth issues in the forestry sector that had hitherto hampered equitable sharing of benefits from forestry resources between the various stakeholders, among other things. The training also revisited basic reporting skills.

A departure from the first training was that this involved mentoring; giving participants opportunity to select issues they would like to write about, taking participants through the steps of actually writing a good story and identifying varied and multiple credible and reliable sources. The training also involved a visit to field sites where participants observed situations on the ground and got first-hand information from members of communities. They were finally given funds to work in the field for one month and write stories which were however reviewed by a mentor before they were finally published in their respective media outlets.

The third training was a hands-on exercise in which 10journalists made guided field visits in order to document success stories, challenges in forestry governance and issues that still need the intervention of the media and other stakeholders. Only seven journalists were taken from the team of fifteen and selection was on previous performance, while three came from mainstream media outlets. Their work was also reviewed by a mentor before being published.

The final training was conducted for editors in June 2017. Having dealt with only journalists in the previous training sessions it was found worthwhile to take editors not merely as gatekeepers in their newsrooms but also to get their views on how best to provide ample space and airtime for forestry stories in their respective media houses. It was also meant to update editors on various issues pertaining to the country’s forestry sector as well as link them up with key sources of information in the sector.

Related to training was the production of stories in print and media outlets. After every training session, participants had the opportunity to publish stories which they had written following funding from Mama Misitu Campaign, as assignment given by their editors or as their own initiative. Production of such stories is meant to go on beyond the scope of Mama Misitu Campaign.

Lessons learnt: For more information please contact insert mfugale's contacts Mama Misitu learning event, 29th September 2017

* In order to promote results-coverage of forest issues, journalists need refresher courses that will enhance their knowledge of forest issues and sharpen their reporting skills. * In order to sustain coverage of forestry issues, journalists, particularly those who have undergone training, have to get a chance to write forestry issues either by being given assignments or taking part in various meetings discussing forestry issues. * Communities living adjacent to forests are always eager to have their views and opinions heard by government and other stakeholders. They crave to be linked with the media in order to have their voices heard. * Community members are good partners in fighting illegal trade in forest/wildlife products if they understand the issues and see tangible benefits as a result of their efforts. * Success of JFM reduces the burden on District Councils as village governments can fund their own social services from sale of products from forests which they own and manage * When traders of forest products participate in planning, decision-making and other processes pertaining to their work, they become compliant and can help reduce tax evasion, illegal trade of forest goods and illegal harvesting of forests. * Instituting forest governance in Tanzania is not solely the obligation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism; all stakeholders have roles to play. * There is a need for editors/media house to give priority to stories on forest issues in order to reach out to various stakeholders to take action that would conserve forests and ensure sustainable benefits for all Tanzanians.

Challenges: * Forestry and indeed environment in general is not a priority of the media in Tanzania. That is why such issues are generally not given space/airtime in various media outlets. * Related to this is the fact than the trained journalists are sometimes not available when they are required to do forest stories because editors don’t see these stories as priority. * Many journalists lack commitment to do forest stories even when they are funded. Such Stories need a lot of time to collect information and read relevant materials and journalists are not often prepared to do it. * Some villages where there are issues of national interest are not easily accessible to journalists. Value addition: Participation in Mama Misitu has added value in the following areas. * Journalists who have taken part in MMC have better knowledge of forestry issues than those who have not. Their reporting skills have also improved. * More stories on forestry have been generated and published during the period of MMC that any other period and these have focused on issues rather than events. For more information please contact insert mfugale's contacts Mama Misitu learning event, 29th September 2017

* JET has increased its network of like-minded organisations while improving its advocacy and administrative skills.

Recommenadtions 1.Sustain training for journalists on forest reporting so as to enable them to address current challenges 2.Whenever possible journalists should be given opportunity to update their skills through field visits and participation in meetings, among others 3.There is need to scale up training that integrates forestry reporting and other natural resources.

For more information please contact insert mfugale's contacts