INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTRE KURDISTAN

July 15, IMCK started its second week in the training of Kurdish female graduates in the basics of civil and professional journalism. Fifteen participants attend the second week that focuses on how to use Internet and social media in a professional way. Also attention to the use of infographics will be given. Khaled Suleiman and Internet-expert Sardasht Aziz are the trainers during this workshop. Last week the participants got an introduction to the basics of journalism and what news is. Media in Iraqi Kurdistan need more female journalists. They are needed to make the media more interesting for the big target group of women that are hardly reached now. Even though women make up the majority of all Iraqi's, they are hardly to be seen in the media. The training will last for six weeks with a focus on different subjects. The training started with a week on news and basic journalism, and will be followed by a week on print-journalism, two weeks for TV-journalism, a week t...

July 8, IMCK opened a starters' course in journalism for fifteen Kurdish female journalists in Sulaymaniya. IMCK wants to teach young, female Kurdish graduates the basics of civil and professional journalism in a post graduate training specially organized for them. Media in Iraqi Kurdistan need more female journalists. They are needed to make the media more interesting for the big target group of women that are hardly reached now. Even though women make up the majority of all Iraqi's, they are hardly to be seen in the media. News is mainly about politics, and if not, about subjects that are of interest to men. Women news in Iraq is often news about honour killings, violence against the family, the plight of widows - or perhaps about a famous singer. The fact that women play also a professional role hardly gets any attention. That political decisions also have effects for women, is neglected. Stories about business women or the career chances of young women are not found ...

Editors in chief of Iraqi media visited on March 14th the workshop 'Women on the front pages!'. IMCK and international trainer Harriet Salm presented a two newspapers (with two front pages) in Kurdish and Arabic covering only women issues made by the female participants. The main goal was to convince and make the editors in chief aware of the importance of women issues on the front pages of newspapers. Women as an extra target group (almost 60 percent of all Iraqi's is female) can be the cause of an increase in revenues by selling more copies. The editors in chief or representatives present on the last day of the workshop were Karwan Anwar (PUK media), Cheman Musa (Avro), Abdul Razaq (Paymner), Luqman Ghafur (Kurdistani Nwe) and Adnan Said Husen (Rudaw). After seven days of training thirteen female participants were rewarded with an IMCK certificate. They learned how to write for a broader public, and how to recognize women stories that are worthy of the front...

International trainer Harriet Salm started a seven day training for female Iraqi journalists, to get more stories about women on the front pages of their papers. Even though almost 60 percent of all Iraqi's is female, only few stories about then can be found in the first (and most read) pages of the media. The journalists will learn how to write for a broader public, and how to recognize women stories that are worthy of the front pages. The workshop started on March 7, 2012 at the traininghall of IMCK in Sulaymaniya. The 14 participants for the course come from all over Iraq, and the training is taught in Kurdish and Arabic. Co-trainers Koral Noori and Khidher Domle will make sure all the participants understand and digest the material offered. To convince the editors in chief that women stories are important for their media, and will help them sell more copies as they will be able to reach an extra target group, they will be invited for the last day of the training. The ...

In the IMCK traininghall in Erbil a group of women gathered on July 20, 2010 for a workshop on making a magazine. Magazinemaker and freelance journalist Paulien Bakker leads the workshop which focusses on many different aspects of magazine making: content, the reader, targets groups, budgets, internet etc. The workshop takes seven days and is organised in cooperation with the KRG Ministry of Culture. Participants are different female journalists active in Erbil.

How play a more visible role inside the party, and how to get through the glass ceiling. Those are questions raised during a 5 day workshop for around 20 women inside PUK, which started on May 11, 2009, at the provincial PUK office in Sulaymaniya. Trainers are Sabina Gazic (member of the Amsterdam city council) and Gregor Niessen (trainer on political cadres in different countries).