WAN-IFRA Women in News Leadership Accelerator launches in Southeast Asia

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers’ (WAN-IFRA) Women in News (WIN) Leadership Accelerator program kicked off in Southeast Asia on Friday, with the inaugural program in Myanmar.

The three-month long (July-September) career training for women journalists and editors will include sessions on media management, financial management, coaching for creating a three-year career roadmap,  and gender balance in content. 

With Covid-19 changing the way news organizations operate, the program will help women journalists acquire new skills and build their capacity for more successful careers.

The launch in Myanmar builds on WIN’s successful Leadership Accelerator which has been offered in 12 countries across Africa and the Arab world. 

This is WIN’s flagship leadership development program funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.  

More than 600 women journalists and editors have benefited from the program since it first launched 10 years ago. 

“We are excited to be bringing the Leadership Accelerator to Southeast Asia starting with Myanmar. Newsrooms around the world have been under intense pressure with increasing digitization, decreasing advertising revenues, and increased competition for readers or viewers,” said Melanie Walker, executive director of WIN.

“This program will equip some of Myanmar’s leading women journalists to address these challenges and ultimately build a stronger and more representative business,” she added.

Typically held in-person, this year’s training has moved fully online due to concerns over the spread of Covid-19. Similar training will be organised in other countries in the region  throughout  2020.

“Women are being disproportionately disadvantaged by Covid-19 – a trend which also includes women journalists. As such, the training comes at a particularly important time for many of their careers, not only because of the skills that we are teaching, but the one-on-one coaching we offer,” said Jen Teo, director of WIN in Southeast Asia. 

“We are hearing from women across all industries about how much pressure Covid-19 has put on their home lives and careers. We are looking forward to creating a space for our participants to share their experiences and build much needed support systems.”

Journalists who are attending the training work in more than 11 media organisations. The training is provided by a group of local qualified trainers and who have expertise in areas including: media management, media law, human resources, data analysis, gender balance in news content, dealing with sexual harassment in newsrooms, financial management, and management and leadership.