Since 1996 ACI has been actively involved in improving coverage of health issues by the African media, with special attention to women journalists. Partners have included Population Reference Bureau (PRB), the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF)/Centre Africain des Femmes dans les Médias (CAFM), the American Center of Dakar , Family Health International (FHI), the Soros Foundation’s Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Center for Research on Population and Development (CERPOD), PANOS, Pop'media Burkina and others.

Please click here for a poster that provides an overview in French of ACI's activities with the media in Africa from 1996 through 2008.

Pop’Mediafrique (1996-present)
Pop'Mediafrique is a media project of the Population Reference Bureau in Washington, DC that has been funded by the Africa Bureau through MEASURE Communication. Since 1996, ACI has brought together senior-level journalists and communications experts from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania and for a series of innovative workshops on reproductive health issues. The workshops have covered adolescent reproductive health (Dakar,1996), HIV/AIDS and the media (Abidjan,1997), STI's (Ouagadougou,1998) and Health Advocacy (Dakar, 1999). A workshop for print, radio and television journalists in November 1996 was also part of this program.

After each of these seminars, the journalist participants prepared a print/broadcast supplement for their media organization. The 1997 workshop on HIV/AIDS and the Media resulted in the development, printing and distribution of a poster of Guiding Principles for covering HIV/AIDS-related issues in the media. In 1998, at the conclusion of the seminar on sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), the journalists made a request to Population Reference Bureau (PRB) for advocacy training that would prepare them to become AIDS advocates in their own countries and train their media colleagues on the topic. In response to this request, ACI - with support from PRB - organized and facilitated an advocacy seminar in Dakar in 1998.

In the context of this program, study tours for West African editors were organized to the five year follow up to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD+5) in the Hague in 1999, the International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, and the African AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infecitons Conference (CISMA) in Ouagadougou in 2001.

Fem’Mediafrique
In 1999, ACI, in collaboration with PRB, launched a supplementary media project, called Fem’Mediafrique, for women journalists in positions of editorial responsibility, health experts, and leaders from civil society. The Panos Institute helped to implement the project. A Fem'Mediafrique seminar on Women and AIDS took place in 1999 in Saly. Pop'media and Fem'media came together for a joint workshop in Dakar (September 2004) on Reproductive Health and Women's Leadership.

Cyber training for women journalists in West Africa (2001)
In 2001, working with the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF)/Centre Africain des Femmes dans les Médias (CAFM), and in collaboration with the American Center of Dakar, ACI organized a five-day cyber training program for women journalists across West Africa.

National Workshops for Editors (2001)
The Pop'media process gave birth to a series of National Workshops on Reproductive Health issues for about 30 in-country Editors-in-Chief in Mali (“Young people and AIDS”, November 2000), Burkina Faso (“Preparation for CISMA coverage”, December 2001) and Senegal ("Roles and responsibilities of the media in response to HIV/AIDS" in November 2001with co-funding from FHI, PRB and the American Center of Dakar). These workshops responded to the initiative of the senior editors trained in previous PRB/ACI workshops, who served as organizers and resource people for their national counterparts. The workshop produced a new poster in French, laying out four major principles for use by the media in covering HIV/AIDS. The poster was distributed widely to all centers of publication and broadcasting in Senegal and surrounding countries. A workshop participant started an electronic forum that continues to link journalists and other stakeholders in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Decentralized Workshops for Journalists (2002 - 2003)
In the context of a sub-agreement with the FHI project, ACI organized five regional workshops for journalists from seven regions of Senegal. The goals of these workshops were to raise both awareness and skills in covering HIV/AIDS-related issues among Senegalese journalists. The workshops included a thematic session on the development impact of HIV/AIDS for journalists specializing in economic issues, and a workshop organized for all the regional correspondents of Walfajri, a major Senegalese daily. To assist journalists in their coverage of HIV/AIDS, ACI also began publishing a monthly HIV/AIDS Media Flash providing information on specific themes and suggesting subjects and angles of coverage for those wishing to develop articles or broadcasts on HIV/AIDS.

Training women journalists in East and Southern Africa (2002)
In 2002, ACI organized a weeklong, intensive workshop in Uganda on Women and HIV/AIDS for women editors and journalists from countries in East and Southern Africa. The workshop resulted in an electronic forum, called ESAWomen, which continues to link the participants to this day and allows them to share information, articles and ideas.

Designing a Youth Radio Campaign (2002)
Also in 2002, ACI provided assistance to FHI in the design of a nationwide FHI/MTV radio campaign and the training of Senegalese radio editors and reporters for the implementation of this program.

Training women journalists from community radio stations in Senegal (2003 – present)
In 2003, through funding from PRB (Population Reference Bureau), OSIWA (Open Society Initiative for West Africa) and the American Center, ACI began a process that continues to this day, of training women community radio broadcasters on reproductive health issues (STIs, family planning and fertility and HIV/AIDS). ACI brought in technical experts, as well as experienced editors and journalists from previous programs to help improve the skill and knowledge level of these often neglected rural communication agents. In doing so, ACI has helped to empower these community radio journalists who are, in fact, influential information resources for the rural women who listen to them.

This training has continued with the compilation and distribution of the local language broadcasts of these women, the organization of follow-up workshops and rural exchange visits, the development of an inventory of community radios and the regular distribution of information on reproductive health subjects. A video in French of the original September 2003 training of Women from Community Radios is available from ACI.

Workshop on contraceptive security (2005)
In May 2005, in collaboration with PRB and The John Snow International Deliver Project, ACI organized a workshop on "Mobilizing the Media for Reproductive Health Commodity Security in West Africa.” The seminar designed to advocate with governments for guaranteed availability of and and access to contraceptive products included teams of journalists and technical experts from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal and as well as one member of parliament/policy advocate from each country.

Muslim Religious Radio Broadcasters (2005)
In collaboration with FHI (Family Health International), ACI organized a one-day workshop on discrimination and stigmatization of People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) for experts and Muslim religious radio broadcasters in September 2005 at the Islamic Institute of Dakar.

Anti-Stigma Campaign for Media in Guinea (2006)
Working with FHI/Guinea, ACI worked with Guinean journalists on a media campaign to reduce stigma and discrimination against People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The participants wrote and produced a poster to guide editors and journalists in covering HIV/AIDS issues. The poster, called “Ten Principles to Inform and Contribute to the Reduction of Stigma and Discrimination Against PLWHA,” was distributed and posted in media offices and journalism schools throughout West Africa.

Mainstreaming AIDS training in Schools of Journalism and Media Regulatory Agencies (2006 – 2008)
From October 2006 through December 2008, the Soros Foundation’s Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) supported a series of activities by ACI to «Strengthen the Capacity of Journalists on HIV/AIDS in West Africa». ACI organized two francophone West African workshops to raise awareness and train representatives of schools of journalism and media regulatory agencies. Following the workshops, ACI media trainers visited 18 schools in seven participating countries, resulting in the introduction of HIV/AIDS curricula in journalism schools across the region.