IAWRT Newsletter- Vol. 1 2025

Dear Members,

Warmest greetings! This year has begun with much positive energy and activity from IAWRT chapters across the world.

Let me start with the Commission of Status of Women (CSW 69) where the parallel event panel discussion on Section J of the Beijing Declaration: Gains and Reversals, organized by IAWRT USA became a wonderful reunion of our colleagues. A brief report is available here and a more detailed report will be circulated later.

This was a good opportunity for those members who managed to travel to New York, and it was great to see all of them participating and working together to make the event a success. Some of our colleagues who attended the event were Violet Gonda and Rachel Nakitare (previous IAWRT presidents), Mandira Raut, IAWRT Secretary, Birgitte Jalov, previous board member, Josephine Karani IAWRT Treasurer, and IAWRT USA led by Sheila Katzman, Chapter head with members including Pamela Morgan, Rebecca Miles, Olivia Tumanjong, Bethann, Monica and others.

The month of March is indeed an opportunity for all of us women to hold different events to share our voices with the world. It started in India where the annual Asian Women’s Film Festival, with multiple workshops, screenings and panel discussions from March 6 to 8, 2025, was widely attended by participants from Delhi and IAWRT members from across India and Nepal. The report demonstrates what a vibrant event it was, with several other events, including a filmmaking workshop in February, a panel discussion and a film competition being organized as a part of the runup to the festival.

The IAWRT International also celebrated International Women’s Day by holding a webinar, on the theme ‘Urgency for Women Journalists’ Safety and Security’ moderated by Raziah Q. Mwawanga. Participants comprised IAWRT global members, chapter heads and stakeholders from the media sector. Presentations were made by Kenya, the Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Nepal, India and the United States chapters, who presented national perspectives and potential solutions. A detailed report has been prepared.

News from our Chapters

The Norwegian chapter board held its annual meeting in March, and soon after received funding for a project to train Afghan women in Norway to make podcasts – a continuation of the last projects it has done. It is now in dialogue with Zan Times, a promising and exciting collaborative opportunity. Zan Times is a wonderful online platform, which our board member Kreshma Fakhri is involved in producing, that powerfully brings out, through local voices, the predicament of Afghan girls and women.

The Philippines chapter held a Safety Conference for Women Journalists: Gendered Experiences in Election Coverage on March 8 and 9, 2025, dealing with the BARMM elections. The second day of the training included a public forum, extending the reach of the program to students and the wider community. The Philippines chapter also has various other initiatives, including research and advocacy.

IAWRT Nepal has organized various events, including a Safer Internet Day. The chapter also participated in theAsian Women’s Film Festival in Delhi and the Kathmandu PinkCareAthon.

Sisterhood is indeed heartwarming and energizing wherever we are. The CSW was an opportunity for many from IAWRT to meet. Additionally, IAWRT Board Members, Anjali Monteiro and Kreshma Fakhri met in California, USA. Kreshma has relocated to California and Anjali was visiting the US on holiday.

Abeer Saady and Nonee Walsh met in Germany in April. The two IAWRT members are responsible for the IAWRT Safety handbook “What if…”. Abeer is a previous IAWRT vice president, while Nonee is our past Board Member and our web journalist for many years.

We also came out with a statement on International Women’s Day to express our solidarity with all women journalists and media persons as they struggle for freedom of expression and for amplifying women’s voices in these difficult times.

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that our 40th Biennial meeting will take place in Kathmandu, Nepal from November 14-16, 2025, on the theme: Gender Justice in a Conflicted World. We do hope that many of you will be able to make it to the Biennial. This forthcoming three-day event symbolizes a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to fostering gender equality in media and also a critical moment for global gender justice advocacy. The sub-themes that we will be addressing, both through plenary sessions and workshops include the following:

Gendered Impacts of Conflict and the Response of Women in the Media

Digital Safety for Women Journalists

Climate Change, Conflict, and Gender

Media as a Tool for Gender Justice- Innovative Approaches

We also take this opportunity to seek your support through our crowdfunding campaign on the GoFundMe platform, which is one of the ways through which we are trying to garner resources for the Biennial:

As you would all be aware, the current situation is one where funding opportunities for all organizations have become increasingly scarce. We have formed a Biennial Committee and a local Secretariat in Nepal. All of us are working very hard to raise funds for the event. IAWRT International has been struggling to raise resources these past two years to keep the secretariat going and is trying every avenue to seek funding for the Biennial. The total amount we have to raise for the biennial is NOK 435,000 (approximately USD 38,000). Your support to this crowdfunding campaign, both by contributing yourself and by sharing it with your contacts, would go a long way in facilitating the event. Whether you contribute USD 10 (NOK 111) or USD 100 (NOK 1114) or any other amount, every little bit matters and makes a difference.

We look forward to your support, and to meeting you in Kathmandu in person or online later this year, for our Biennial and our General Assembly! We will be sending you more details about the Biennial shortly.

Always take care.

Best regards,

Jola