Empowering women in media 

Women remain underrepresented in leadership roles in media organisations despite a higher proportion of female students graduating from university journalism courses worldwide.

In a bid to challenge this disparity the Thomson Foundation is launching The Bettina Fund – Empowering women in media.

The first and pilot phase of the programme is taking place in Kenya where, despite 61% of journalism graduates being female just 8% of media houses are run by women.

The foundation has teamed up with Baraza Media Lab, an initiative working to promote a strong and diverse media ecosystem in Kenya from its collaborative space in Nairobi.   

The detail

This is a highly personalised programme with each participant having an individual mentor so places are limited. It will start in September 2021 and run for three months.

Because of the continuing uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the programme will take place virtually, through a learning journey made up of one to one online mentoring, webinars and e-learning courses.

We encourage applications from women based across Kenya.  

Who can apply:

• Women living in Kenya
• With at least 2 to 3 years’ experience working in the media
• Working for one or more media focussed organisation. These need not necessarily be in the traditional or legacy media. We welcome applications from women working in small or start-up organisations in the digital media sector and media entrepreneurs.    
• You must have a good understanding of the English language as online courses and webinars/meetings will be conducted in English.

The closing date for applications: 1st August, 2021 (midnight BST – London) 

Find application form here.

The Bettina Fund

Bettina Peters was Thomson Foundation’s Director of Development who died in 2020.

She was a tireless advocate for equality in media.

The fund was set up in her memory with the aim of addressing the gender gap in media organisations by fostering the next generation of women leaders.

The fund wants to foster change and empower women in media, by providing mentorship and guidance but also creating connections and a network which will expand to include other countries in Africa and other regions of the world.