Participants

ADIPO Rachel Awuor

I am Rachel Awuor Adipo, a staff of Ugunja Community Resource Centre. I’ve worked with UCRC as a volunteer, in the department of sustainable Agriculture and Environment Programme (SAEP) where I interact with community farmers. I have learnt a lot through hands on practice and short courses that have added greatly to my capacity to carry on organizational activities. I have undergone courses in Organic Agriculture, Participatory educational theatres (PET), Active Non-violence, Radio Production techniques, and Gandhi and Cultures of Peace at Bija Vidyapeeth, Navdanya Trust in India. I have worked on radio scripts with Farm Radio International winning in two competitions a mini disk recorder under the Millennium development goals on Gender and an award in 2008 ‘George Atkins Communication Award’. I have the pleasure to be involved in media 21 training.

ACHARYA Keya

Qualifications: BA Honours in English, Calcutta University; Certificate in Journalism – London School of Journalism; Postgraduate diploma in Environment and Ecology, New Delhi.

Independent Journalist & Researcher; over 18 years’ experience in environment and development issues. Widely published; currently Correspondent for Inter Press Service- http://www.ipsnews.net ; Correspondent for Panos Features,London till 2007; Stringer for Down To Earth, New Delhi till 2003.  Regular contributor to Deccan Herald & The Hindu in India.

Visiting Faculty : School of Journalism & Media Studies, St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore; & Convergence Institute of Media Management & Information Technology, Bangalore.

Conducted several media training workshops on environmental conservation; water issues, human rights; media panelist for e-governance and other development issues. Have organized,as Vice Chair of the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India (FEJI), to organize and conduct the 5th International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ- Germany & USA) Congress in New Delhi in October 2009 on North-South differences in reporting Climate Change, with a study tour on Himalayan glacial melt.

Consultancies on writing media handbook on water and sanitation; assessment & evaluation of donor-aided development projects/ field status reports/ documentation on environmental education; renewable energy systems; forestry issues; rural development and others.

Research ( including film and production assistance)  assignments include climate change; adaptation methods to CC being used in the field in India;  urban solid waste management, rural alternative energy systems; implementation of laws on industrial hazardous wastes; human rights; ecotourism;wildlife issues;  transgenic cotton; corruption and environment; population and gender; e-governance, agribiotech; forests and encroachments and others.

Editor ( with co-editor Frederick Noronha) The Green Pen: Environmental Journalism in India and the South Asian Region.Sage Publications, Delhi, 2010.  Past Editorial Advisory Board-Member,Charkha Features-(South),Bangalore.

Covered several international conferences for IPS; Panos London, Planet’s Voice-France;  InfoSud-Geneva & for Deccan Herald- India.

Traveled on journalistic assignments to South America, South and Southeast Asia, South & East Africa and Europe; lived and worked as an Environment Correspondent in East Africa.

Fellowships & Awards: Fund for Investigative Journalism, Washington DC/  Press Institute-UNFPA/   Ministry of Environment & Forests / European Commission & IPS on Human Rights  / Award for Excellence in Human Development Reporting, Press Institute of India./ Prem Bhatia Award for Environmental Reporting; Green Globe Foundation award for Outstanding Individual Media Contribution.

AGAZZI Isolda

I am a free-lance journalist, writing for Swiss and international media, with a focus on North – South relations, globalization and human rights.

BACH Linda

Linda Bach is an editor with Standard Newspaper in Nairobi. She has been with the group for six years writing and editing science and news articles. She holds a post-graduate diploma in Mass Communication from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor’s degree from Kenyatta University. Linda has been to various international conferences. In 2008, she covered the 3rd Aid Effectiveness Aid Conference in Accra, Ghana.

BUTUNYI Cosmas

My name is Cosmas Butunyi. I am a Kenyan journalist, writing for The East African, a publication of Nation Media Group. This is my third year as a journalist. I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from Moi University. Due to my scientific academic background, my writing interests border on scientific issues such as the environment, health, agriculture and research.I have many published articles and this has earned me recognition, including emerging as second runners up for the Nile Media Award 2009 and finalist for the FitzGerald’s Prize, administered by Thomson Reuters, twice in a row. Last year, I was nominated for the David Astor Journalism Award.

CHEBURET John

Radio producer based in Nairobi, Kenya. I am 30 years old. My passion is media for development, particularly community media as it plays a big role in enabling access to appropriate information to rural communities.
I studied music, majoring philosophy of music and acoustics. However, I have always fancied being on radio. When I finished college in 2004, I decided ‘to get into radio’; to learn by experience. I volunteered with Radio Waumini, the Catholic Radio Station in Nairobi. Later I joined Education for Life – Kenya, an HIV&AIDS prevention project.
Currently, I work for The Organic Farmer, an information service for on ecologically friendly farming practices for smallholder farmers in Kenya and the East Africa region. TOF’s activities include monthly magazine, weekly radio program and Information Centers. I am the winner of 2009 Farm Radio International Script Writing Competition.
Short version:
John Cheburet is a radio producer based in Nairobi. His passion is media for development, particularly community media as he believes it plays a big role in enabling access to appropriate information to rural communities. He currently works for The Organic Farmer, an information service for ecologically friendly farming practices for smallholder farmers in Kenya and the East Africa region. He is the winner of the 2009 Farm Radio International Script Writing competition.

CHISHA Christine

I am a Journalist who joined the Zambia daily mail in 2002 and I am with the sister paper Sunday Mail, I value the covering of the plight of women and children in rural areas.

I have travelled widely writing features and stories on environment, health and good governance in Zambia’s countryside, where the local populaces are in dire need of education.
My aim is to widening my horizon on Global environment and health issues and become an eloquent writer on the same.
One of my aspirations is to specialize in this area, which has in Zambia, been relegated to the back seat, notwithstanding its importance to the very existence of mankind.
My mode of learning is interactive so given a chance to attend the conference; I hope to share information with other course participants on the landscape of the media in Zambia and also hope to learn from them.
I would certainly impart the knowledge I gain from the course to my colleagues at the Daily Mail through discussions, severally and individually.

DAUD Daud Abdi

Mr. Daud Abdi Daud is prominent Somali journalist and he was born in 1982 in Mogadishu, Somalia. When he was graduated from his high school namedly Mogadishu Boarding School based in Mogadishu, Somalia in 2000, he started to work as journalist because it was his hoppy and created his own newspaper called Daryeel in the end of 2000 till 2007.

During his work periods he was the deputy director of radio Abudwaak based in Cabudwak district in Galgaduud region and he was also worked for radio Shabelle based in Mogadishu as correspondent in 2004-2007 in Galgaduud region of Central Somali regions.

Mr. Daud played a vital role in the journalism field and his other work experiences are; he was the founder as well as first executive director of the Somali Journalist Rights Agency (SOJRA), co-founder of the National Association of Somali Science and Environmental Journalists (NASSEJ) and he was instrumental in the creation of the Somali Coalition for Freedom of Expression (SOCFEX).

ERASMUS Glenneis

I am a qualified secondary school teacher, who started my journalism career after five years of teaching in South African and London. I worked as the Western Cape Correspondent for Farmers Weekly for seven years, before being appointed as FARMING SA’s features editor last year. I love agriculture and the contribution that our magazine is making to the agricultural sector. Our magazine is practical and informative over a whole range of topics – I feel we provide our readers with valuable tools to improve their production practices and sustainability. In South Africa we are becoming increasingly conscious of the impact of climate change. By taking part in your programme, I hope to be in a position to provide farmers and agricultural role-players about ways to buffer the impact of climate change on production and food security.

GIRARDOT Clément

My name is Clément Girardot, I am a French freelance journalist based in Istanbul. I am 23 years old, I graduated from a Masters of Journalism at the School of Political Sciences in Grenoble, France. I am working for several French and Swiss media mostly covering Turkey, a topic on which I am also writing a blog : lebainturc.blogspot.com. Furthermore, Environment is another topic of interest for me. I see Climate Change as one of the biggest human challenges in which journalists have a very critical task : deliver accurate information to help understand this very complicated phenomenom. Thanks to Media 21, we have the opportunity to make very good reports on the ground and meet key experts. Actually I was working as an intern for them, preparing the last workshop on climate in september 2009 (https://climate21.wordpress.com/) and it was a very great experience.

GNINGUE Abdou

Abdou Gningue worked in various positions, including as a reporter, Chief of the Central Desk, Editor in Chief, Chief of the Marketing Desk, and General Manager, at Agence de Presse Senegalaise (APS) from 1976 to 2000.
Thereafter, he moved to Chicago and was a professor at Alliance Francaise.  Mr Gningue has been the General Manager at Kandy Communications systems since 2006.

KAMADI Geoffrey

I have been a journalist for the past 10 years. My works have been published widely in the Kenyan local media. My stories have appeared in the Nation Newspapers, The Standard Newspapers and HortiNews Magazine in Kenya. My stories have also appeared in The Sun of South Africa as well as in online publications such as SciDev.Net, Suite 101.com, IslamOnline.net and Ooska News.

I am a member of a number of journalist organizations such as Research and Media Network as well as Idasa.

KEBASO George Morara

My name is George M. Kebaso. I am a Kenyan trained journalist at Kenya Institute of Mass Communication. I hold a National Diploma in Broadcast Journalism and Translation. Besides, in my 7-year professional experience, I am widely trained in various national and regional issues that range from environment, media and constitution, health especially in the field of HIV and AIDS reporting, agricultural biotechnology among others. I write and edit on a number of topics including; environment and science; agriculture and health; education and culture among others. I am practical, creative, honest, dependable and self-motivated. Besides; I am always eager to work with and learn from different people in various professional fields. My objectives include; total commitment to call of duty at work place and willingness to work at all time to boost my competence and performance. I am also skilled in; in advanced/technical writing, good interpersonal communication, research work, writing for the print media (news and feature stories), public relations, computer skills including; Ms Word, Adobe PageMaker and Internet.

KEYA Nicholas Okeya

Nicholas started his journalism career in 1980. First as a correspondent with Nation Media Group, and later as a Staff Reporter with the same group and served until 2001 when he opted to pursue other interests. He however continued contributing articles on agriculture, health, science and technology to various news outlets, print and online. Besides writing, Nicholas is a community worker and a counselor. Being chairman of a community based organization (CBO), Nicholas and his colleagues provides Home Based Care (HBC) to those infected and affected by the AIDS scourge, train small scale farmers on sustainable agriculture, water harvesting and storage, tapping solar energy for cooking and ecological sanitation. Nicholas is proud to be part of the First Media21 conference.

KYAMA Reuben Maithya

Reuben Kyama is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya.
During his journalism career spanning over 10 years, he has covered developments in Africa for some leading media both locally and internationally, including The New York Times, Germany’s Deutsche Welle Radio and the Swiss National Radio – DRS.

He has recently contributed to the Voice of America, The New York Times, Japanese Kyodo news agency, and Kenya’s leading daily newspapers, the Nation and the Standard, respectively.

His area of interest is providing coverage to global issues of climate change, food security and health care.  .

Achievements
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Between 2005 and 2007, he undertook graduate courses in global communication and journalism from the Erasmus Mundus Masters Programme, in Aarhus University, Denmark, University of Amsterdam, Holland, and City University, London.

Kyama studied journalism at Kenya Institute of Mass Communication and political science at University of Nairobi, respectively. He is a former DANIDA Fellow at Danish School of Journalism, Aarhus and an alumnus of the Erasmus Mundus Masters; Journalism and Media within Globalisation. He is a member of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of East Africa (FCEA).

MATUZYA Chelu Kamlika Matuzya

I am a Tanzanian lady aged 27. I hold Bachelors of Arts in Journalism majoring in News writing. I am a young and energetic lady who is able to work under minimum supervision. Also I am eager to learn new skills.
Having graduated in Journalism studies, I am working as a news reporter with Business Times Newspaper. My duties include gathering news, conducting interviews with different stakeholders, businessmen, ambassadors and government officials.

Apart from taking the said duties, I am also working as a columnist for Vox Pop in the said newspaper. The column collects people’s views on current issues that keep on challenging the society.

In November 9th to November 21st I attended a short course in the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism.(South Africa)  on Freedom and Responsibility in the Media.

MOHAMED Mohamed Hassan

I am Somali journalist and also culture writer, I have been working media sector last 7 years , websites, news papers and radios, I really appreciate if I could share with participants broken dreams of my community (Somalis).

WAWERU Mugo

Holder of a Post Graduate Diploma in Mass Communication (University of Nairobi), Post-Graduate Diploma in Education and Bachelor of Science (Egerton University). Professional journalist with vast experience (more than 10 years) in writing human interest news and feature articles in diverse fields such as health, environment, science, technology and education. Has particular interest in gender, marginalized communities or peoples and development with a special focus on slums and rural Arid and Semi-Arid Areas (ASALs) in Kenya. Has knowledge of editing and public/external relations. Experience in communications, participatory and general research and with several years of teaching in high school.

MWAI Mercy Wangu

I mercy Wangu Mwai would like to attend the The The 1st Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Meteorology in Africa that will be held in Nairobi, Kenya on 15 and 16 April 2010 in order to widen my writing skills in science reporting.
I work for the people Daily newspaper as a correspondent and would be glad if I get the opportunity to attend the workshop.

NCUBE Ntandoyenkosi

Ntandoyenkosi Ncube is a Zimbabwean journalist. Current he is based in South Africa working as South Africa correspondent for Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS) and Africa-Regional Reporter for both New Africa Magazine and New Africa Women Magazine published in London. He also freelance to a number of international news organisations.
Ntandoyenkosi was born on 06 June 1980 in Harare.
He is South Africa reporter for Zimonline. And The Zimbabwe Times a USA based online publication owned by Zimbabwe veteran journalist and former The Daily News founder and Editor In Chief professor Geoffrey Nyarota.

NGOTHO Agatha Wamaitha

My name is Agatha Ngotho, Science Journalist writing on Environment, Agriculture and Health issues for The People Daily Newspaper. I have also been a correspondent with Science Africa Publication and JET (Tanzanian Environment Journalists) Magazine in Tanzania.

NJERU Charles

I  am a Kenyan Journalist specializing in science reporting for the last ten years. Part of my specialty involves health, climate change, food security, environment as well as water and sanitation.
I have published widely both in Kenya and abroad. Locally, I have published with the Daily Nation newspapers, The Standard Newspapers, Media diversity, Daily Metro and Africa Science. I also publish with Green Media
I currently publish agriculture related stories for Spore, a magazine for the CTA countries managed by the European Union in Brussels. I also publish at Scidev.net, Ooska News located in USA, and Womens News Network in Colorado United States.

NORO LALAO Razafimalala

My name is Noro Lalao Razafimalala, 49 years old, Malagasy by nationality and residing at Antananarivo city, Madagascar. I work for daily newspaper « Les nouvelles » as editor and responsible of social affairs which I have specialized in since I started working as a journalist since 1992. I have worked for two daily newspapers companies “L’express de  Madagascar” from 1997 to 2004. There after, I have been working for “Les Nouvelles” from 2004 up to present. In general, I have 13 years work experiences as reporter and editor in the print concerning social life as health, education, environment, human right, food security, disasters and so on…

NYIRENDA Daniel

When I was in secondary school between 1992 and 1995 in Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe, I always envied pieces of well written articles authored by up and coming journalists in Malawi. This time it was during the political transition in Malawi from one party system to multiparty democracy, and independent journalism was a phenomenon. As such, I used to spend hours on end reading articles by various journalists and columnists in my school library. With that interest in newspapers grew my ambition to become a journalist one day so that I could be able to tell a story the way the writers I read in the newspapers did.

Hence, when I was selected to a local university, University of Malawi, in 1996, I made sure that I studied languages and journalism. I graduated from the university in 2000, armed, however, with a Bachelor’s degree in Education (Humanities). Soon afterwards, I did not hesitate, but applied for a job as a reporter with Nation Publications Limited, one of the two biggest print media houses in the country.

They recruited me as a cub reporter on November 1, 2000, a date I refuse to forget. It was a milestone in my life and since then, life has been a long sweet tale. I rose within the ranks at The Nation and by the time I quit this company in 2003, I was a Senior Reporter.

All the same, I defected to Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL), where I am currently working, to become the Chief Reporter. I worked as Chief Reporter for three years before I was promoted to the challenging position of Deputy Editor for The Daily Times-one of the four publications BNL produces.

I am basically in charge of production for the oldest daily newspaper in the country.
My daily tasks include editing, writing news articles, the paper’s editorials and a column. However, as an editor, I also organise all departments of the newspaper so that we come up with the best of stories and opinions for the five editions we publish every week.

Now aged 34, I am hopeful that with the tasks my company has entrusted me with, coupled with attendance to the course on “Climate and food security: How will Africa feed her children?”, I should be able to acquire more expertise and professional exposure that will enable me improve my day to day work.

OMUNGO Rosalie Emily

I currently work as a TV journalist for the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). I specialize in reporting science, environment, agriculture and technology and hold a BSc from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from University of Nairobi, School of Journalism. I am responsible for producing ‘Earth Watch’, a weekly environment segment in the news, and also host a weekly one hour show on environment, ‘Eco Show’. This programme engages politicians, researchers and NGO workers, as well as communities, on various environmental issues concerning them.
I have attended several trainings on climate change, and each one of hem is always a fresh experience with new things to learn on this quite complex subject.
I believe Media 21 training will serve to promote my understanding on climate change reporting, and help to take my Earth Watch programme to the next level.

OPONDO Henry Herman Neondo

Henry Neondo is a Nairobi-based journalist working for Africa science news Service as an editor.
Since 1998, he has specialized writing on science, agriculture, environment and health in a number of news outlets including All Africa News Agency, News from Africa, East and Central Africa journal, Science and Development Network (UK), Womens eNews (US), New Agriculturalist (UK), Livestock weekly (US) among others.

His current job involve following current happenings in science across Africa, suggest topics to be followed, edit submitted materials and at times write articles which combine well with his special interests.

Henry lives 45 km away from Nairobi with his wife and a handsome son that he likes spending time with when not working.

ORENGO Mercy Adhiambo

My name is Mercy Adhiambo and I am 22 years old. I am a journalism student at the USIU Africa (Nairobi).  I  write for  Sci –Dev website, where I cover technological inventions and developments that can be used to improve Agricultural productions. I also write for the “Community outlook”, a newsletter production project that is being implemented by the marginalized community of Kisumu.
I recently wrote an article on how technology can be used to improve crop yield in the wake of climatic change.

James Ratemo

James Ratemo-tech journalist in Kenya

is an alumni of the International Institute of Journalism (Germany) and Commonwealth Press Union (UK). His background includes a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication and Media Technology from Maseno University in Kenya with a strong leaning on multimedia and online journalism.

A progressive Environmental and technology writer for the past three years his work revolves around how emerging technology interacts with climate and the environment. He currently works for the Standard Newspaper in Kenya as a print journalist and blogs on Technology in Kenya (www.ictcradle.com).

RODRIQUEZ Samuel

Samuel Rodriguez has worked as a photojournalist since 1999, following a visit to Palestine, where he conceived of incorporating photojournalism into his “Theory of Education” course he was undergoing in Barcelona. Subsequent trips back to Palestine and then to Morocco and Lebanon further developed Rodriguez’s “Educational Action” approach to his photojournalism.

In March 2007, Rodriguez travelled back to Lebanon and became involved with several Spanish NGOs working with children in South Lebanon after the July 2006 war. He returned to Lebanon again in October 2007, spending 9 months working with a Spanish NGO, Movimiento por la Paz (MPDL), and in collaboration with the Spanish Agency of Cooperation (AECID) he wrote and illustrated a book, “The view of the other: A pedagogic guide for the peace culture and conflict resolution” or “La mirada del otro: Guia pedagógica sobre cultura de paz y resolución de conflictos”. The book is scheduled for release in summer 2008.

During November and December 2007, Rodriguez also worked as Communications Officer for an EC Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) funded project for refugees who left their houses during the 2007 war at Naher el Bared Camp, and provided photographic coverage for the European Comission in Lebanon. This covered the living conditions for the palestinian refugees from Naher el Bared living in Beddawi Camp, and the reconstruction work at Naher el Bared.

SIBANDA Newton

I am a 40 year old Zambian journalist working for the Zambia Daily Mail as Weekend Mail Editor with 17 years media experience.
Besides the Zambia Daily Mail, I also write for Panos features, IPS (Inter Press Service) and the Norad (Norwegian agency for International Development) newspaper Bistandsaktuelt.
My main areas of interest are; environment in general and climate change in particular, energy, health, agriculture, and water and sanitation.
In addition to my routine duties, I have a weekly column called ‘Enviro-watch that discusses topical environmental and sustainable development issues.
I am a member of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ), member of the African Network of Environmental Journalists (ANEJ), president of ANEJ-Zambia Chapter, secretary of the Press Association of Zambia, and member of the Water Media Network.
I am also involved in media training, coaching and mentoring.

SISSOKO Bande Moussa

I have been working for L’ESSOR (Mali national daily newspaper), since 1993. Although I am in charge of international news. I write on agriculture and environnment. I started journalism in 1991 as a political reporter. I graduated from CESTI, a Senegalese institute of journalism in 1998. I have a bachelor degree in English from ENSUP, a Malian higher college which trains grammar and other secondary school teachers.
I have being working for scidev.net (Science and Development Network), which is based in London (Great Britain), as a free-lance journalist, since 2008.
In july 2007, I attended a 6 week training on agricultural information at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater (United States of America).

TREASTER Joseph

Joseph B. Treaster is the editor of 1H2O.org, an environmental magazine at the University of Miami with writers and readers in more than 50 countries. He teaches reporting and writing and holds the endowed Knight Chair in Cross Cultural Communication at the Knight Center in the university’s School of Communication.  He is a former reporter and foreign correspondent for The New York Times.  He writes a weekly column on the environment that is published on HuffingtonPost.com, True/Slant.com, NYTimes.com, UPI.com and other publications.He also continues to write occasionally for newspapers including The New York Times and the Miami Herald.

ZUSANNE Augustin

My name is Augustin Zusanné. I was born in 1980 at Bissi-Mafou, a village located in the region of Mayo-Kebbi West (southwest of Chad). I am a Chadian journalist working for N’Djamena Hebdo, a biweekly newspaper based in the capital of Chad. I have been dealing with society, culture and sports in the newspaper since January 2007 when I joined N’Djamena Hebdo. Prior to that, I worked for Le Miroir, a semimonthly satitical and humoristic newspaper settled in N’Djamena as well. After earning a B.A in Modern languages (English) in December 2003 at the University of N’Djamena, I joined the Department of sciences and techniques of Information and communication at the same university. I spent two years there looking for another B.A with a journalism orientation. Unfortunately, I did not complete any degree for I left studies on behalf of my current newspaper where I could earn my life. My social situation did not allow me to continue as I was living on my own.

Climate IV Workshop (Geneve + Mali) sept 2009.