Disability Reporting in the Media: A Training Manual for African Journalists (2021)

An estimated 60-80 million persons with disabilities (PwDs) live in Africa (WHO, WB 2011). Most of them live in poverty and are excluded from opportunities to work and study. The inclusion of Africans with disabilities needs to be enhanced in all sectors of community life in order to protect and promote their human rights. Persons with disabilities should be included in the society and have opinions, experience, and are knowledgeable in an array of issues. They are not only interested in disability related matters.
Internews as an international media development organization aims to empower journalists worldwide to produce trustworthy, high-quality news products to not only support informed decisions, but also enable people to participate in issues concerning their communities, promote inclusivity and hold power to account.
Towards the end of 2020, Internews received a grant support to carry out a series of journalism training workshops that will focus on including the voices and participation of persons with disabilities to improve media coverage of disabilities in key target countries in Sub-Saharan Africa namely Liberia, Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire, and Democratic Republic Congo (DRC).
As part of our capacity-building efforts, Internews will also offer story grants to participating journalists to do follow-up enterprise reporting on issues impacting persons with disabilities (PwDs). The two-year project will help boost the quantity and quality of media coverage of PwDs in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on producing news reports, articles and stories that provide accurate and balanced portrayals of disability issues as a part of everyday life.
Click here to access the full report and guide (English & French).