PIWDW's Newest Global Training Site Welcomes Five New Journalism Trainees!

February 27, 2007
Contact:
Cristi Hegranes, President, Founder
The Press Institute for Women in the Developing World
400 Derby Ave. Ste. 11
Oakland, CA 94601
415-516-3012
Cristi@piwdw.org

The Press Institute for Women in the Developing World Launches Second Global Training Site, Hires New Class of Citizen Journalists in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The Press Institute for Women in the Developing World announced today a new class of citizen journalists was hired to work in the organization’s second Global Training Site in Kathmandu Nepal.

The Press Institute for Women in the Developing World is an international nonprofit organization and citizen journalism initiative. The Institute was founded on the belief that journalism is an empowering tool that can bring voice, strength and light to issues that are hidden and people who are oppressed. It is in this vein that the Institute trains women in the developing world to serve as reporters in their own communities. The Press Institute emphasizes reporting on six core issues that most affect women in their communities and are scarcely subjects of international media coverage: HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, poverty, reproductive rights, political oppression, and community development.

Today, The Press Institute welcomes Kamala Gautam, Anju Yogi, Tara Devi Bhattrai, Kalpana Bhusal, and Sunny Shrestha. This class of Nepali journalists ranges in age from 20-41 years old. Some are formally educated, while others only attended school as young children. They are housewives, community activists, teachers, mothers, and members of different castes. Each woman is bright, brave, and excited to begin her new career as a journalist. (Bios of each new citizen journalism trainee are available upon request.)

The Press Institute's citizen journalism training program is a six month course. The training in Nepal will begin on Monday March 19. Using an original curriculum that is steeped in ethics and solid journalism techniques, the Institute will edit, coach, and train these five women to cover breaking and feature news in Nepal. Over the course of their training, each woman will produce articles that will be published on The Press Institute's Nepal Newswire, so that other media organizations all over the world can reprint the strong, on-the-ground reporting produced by Press Institute reporters. News from the Institute's first Global Training Site in Chiapas, Mexico can also be found on the Chiapas, Newswire at www.piwdw.org.

"Our staff and each of our new trainees are dedicated to the principles of journalism and the need for creating this unique platform for human rights and human dialogue," said Cristi Hegranes, president and founder of The Institute. "Thanks to the hard work of our editorial team in Mexico, we've been able to demonstrate the success and the potential of our journalism training model. So I am thrilled that our program has launched in Nepal, it is a place that has long been very important to me. I look forward to the work our new reporters will do to further the dissemination of quality journalism, while continuing to create this unique archive of human experience."

For interviews, photographs, and more details about The Press Institute's Global Training Sites in Nepal and Mexico, please contact Cristi Hegranes at cristi@piwdw.org.

"Through brave reporting and an unending quest for truth, we believe ours will be a significant step in the great goal of human understanding."
-- THE PRESS INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD