Hi Ashley, thanks for your comment! I am submitting on behalf of Water Journalists Africa, a nonprofit based in Uganda that represents the largest network of journalists who report about water on the African continent. Also leading this project is Fredrick Mugira, who founded Water Journalists Africa. Our main partners in this initiative are UNESCO-IHE Delft Institute for Water Education and the Nile Basin Capacity Building Network.

The Media Challenge Initiative is a powerful force for change that has exploded into the Ugandan media landscape in just the past year, demanding a new quality of news reporting in Uganda. Driven by an engine of talented, passionate youth seeking positive change in their communities, the Initiative harnesses this energy to transform the poverty-centered narrative in stories about Africa and empower rising journalists with the tools to provide critical, multi-layered journalism shining a lens on 21st century Uganda.

As an American J-school graduate, I was privileged to have access to such multiplatform trainings necessary for a journalist of today. But since moving to Uganda, I have realized that so many media students here simply do not have those opportunities. The MCI, with the SRTS, seeks to fill those critical gaps.

Visiting the MCI and witnessing the huge turnout and professionalism of the Inter-Institutional Media Challenge and Media Challenge Awards, I was amazed at the fervor of these youth to empower their peers and recognize their work. I have never before seen such fierce dedication to a cause. This team works tirelessly, day and night, to fight for the skills in TV, radio and print journalism that will help them to report insightfully on their society; to hold their leaders accountable; to fight for their ideals: equity, inclusivity, access, empowerment, a more just world.
Please give this movement of rising leaders the means to work toward their dream.