DVV INTERNATIONAL AWARDS JOURNALISTS FOR EXCELLENCE IN REPORTING ON ALE

By Dyson Mthawanji - DVV International Communications Officer for Southern Africa

Malawi: On Monday, 13 June 2022, DVV International recognised two Malawian journalists for outstanding Adult Learning and Education (ALE) reporting. Georgia Mbaghugho Chirombo of MIJ FM Radio (Electronic) and Clement Chinoko of Nation Publications Limited (Print) received laptops and accessories, which they described as a huge help and motivation for their ongoing work on ALE and other development issues.

DVV International presented the awards to the two journalists during a colourful ceremony in Malawi's capital city, Lilongwe.

The ceremony followed World Press Freedom Day commemorations held on 7th May 2022 in Nkhata Bay district by the Media Institute of South Africa (MISA), during which Chirombo and Chinoko were declared winners in the electronic and print ALE Media categories, respectively.

Chirombo won the award courtesy of her radio report entitled “When illiteracy became an iceberg that sank agriculture development in Malawi”, while Chinoko received his award for his article entitled “Bumpy road to adult illiteracy elimination” which was published in the Weekend Nation dated 26th March 2022.

Regarding her winning report, Chirombo said: “In this radio report, I brought to light the impact of high illiteracy levels among smallholder farmers on the productivity of the agriculture sector in Malawi. Through this enquiry, I established that illiteracy is a major factor impeding small-scale farmers from maximizing their productivity as their inability to read prevents them from accessing written agriculture information on modern farming techniques.”

“Furthermore, findings of this investigation exposed the threat posed by the inability of illiterate farmers to read and follow instructions on application of pesticides, which poses a health risk for consumers, as well as for the wellbeing of the environment,” said Chirombo.

Chirombo engaged relevant stakeholders in her report on the best strategies to implement to promote adult education for smallholder farmers as a means of improving their literacy levels and ensuring that they become more productive in order to promote food security in Malawi.

Chinoko's newspaper article, on the other hand, highlighted the challenges that Malawi's ALE sector is facing. Chinoko went on to propose possible solutions to these changes.

Chinoko said: “The article indicated that adult learning and education is not only about literacy and numeracy. The article talked about Integrated Adult Education (IAE) as one way of making ALE attractive as a crucial approach for sustainable development.”

“Through IAE, participants learn knowledge and skills in areas they need such as agriculture and entrepreneurship while simultaneously learning literacy and numeracy.”

David Harrington, DVV International's Regional Director for Southern Africa, emphasised the importance of the media in informing the public about the importance and diversity of ALE.

He encouraged all of the journalists in attendance to continue researching and writing about ALE. He emphasised that ALE is a multi-sectoral and cross-cutting issue that is critical to development at all levels.

According to Harrington, there will be a significant improvement in journalist entries for the ALE category in 2022.

He did emphasise, however, that while DVV International celebrates this good news, journalists must continue to engage with and expand their understanding of the scope and importance of Adult Learning and Education.

“Historically, ALE in Malawi has been viewed in a very narrow way as just literacy and numeracy. We need to move away from this old-fashioned way of thinking,” he said.

Since its inception in Malawi in 2017, DVV International has collaborated with the media to promote ALE.

DVV International, in collaboration with MISA Malawi, launched the ALE Media award in 2020 to encourage journalists to pursue ALE reporting in both print and electronic media.

Chimwemwe Mikwala of Yoneco FM (Electronic) and John Chirwa of Nation Publications Limited were the winners in 2020. (Print).

Brenda Kaonga of MIJ FM (Electronic) and Wezzie Gausi of Times Group were the winners in 2021. (Print).

Aside from the ALE awards, DVV International and MISA Malawi have been organising media training to provide journalists with ALE knowledge and information so that their work accurately addresses the major issues and challenges confronting the ALE sector in Malawi and the region.