Media leadership and innovation were key themes at the Women In News(WIN) Leadership & Innovation Summit series of events May from 7 to 9 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya.
frayintermedia MD and WIN lead trainer Paula Fray told participants at the summit that trust is the new currency in today's media.
The Azure Nairobi Hotel was a hive of activity, it hosted more than 140 journalists, media CEOs and HR managers.
The first event on May 7 was the "Reshaping Media leadership" media management workshop for more than 70 women journalists from 8 different Southern and East Central African countries.
frayintermedia MD and WIN lead trainer Paula Fray conducted the "Moving from Theory to Practice" media management refresher course.
Paula Fray said frayintermedia was honoured to be part of the Women in News programme since the first set of workshops in 2010.
"A number of participants have progressed in their careers, have started mentoring other women media leaders and have advocated for greater representation of women in the newsrooms and in the news," Fray said.
She said the successes were a sign that a sustained, co-ordinated and systemic programme for gender equality in the media can promote change.
According to WAN-IFRA director of media development Melanie Walker, the WIN programme has engaged with more than 500 journalists and editors since it started. She stressed that gender diversity is good for the media industry.
"We are active in more than 15 countries and engaging more than 80 media hours to promote women's voices in the news," Walker said.
The Harassment in the Media: A practical guide for employers & employees handbook gave participants at the summit an idea of the challenges faced by women.
Country Lead for Code for Kenya Catherine Gicheru, Tiso Blackstar head of digital Lisa MacLeod and the Nation Media Group's managing editor for digital Churchill Otieno delivered keynote addresses. They touched on "disrupting the media scene", "digital strategies" and "trusting the media in the digital era" respectively.
After case study presentations led by the WAN-IFRA Media Freedom Brain Trust with HR directors, the summit ended on May 9 with 25 CEOs and MDs taking part in a seminar and best practice share which included a parallel working session.