An Overview of PANOS’ Involvement

in Sudan

What is Panos Globally?

Panos works towards stimulating informed debate and discussion

on development issues both at country and regional levels. Panos

aims to raise awareness on neglected and poorly understood issues

and works towards providing marginalized sectors of society with

the means of communication for providing their own agenda. Panos

supports journalists in their reporting on development issues with

focus on pastrolism, gender, the environment, health, media, conflict

and other development concerns.

What is Panos Sudan?

(The project started in Feb 2002 as pilot project for one year)

PANOS Sudan started as a pilot project of Panos Ethiopia, which

is a country office of Panos Eastern Africa, based in Kampala Uganda?

Panos Eastern Africa is regional center working under Panos London.

Panos eastern Africa works in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan Uganda,

Somalia and Tanzania. Panos Sudan now expand to be as country office

under Kampala office.

Activities of PANOS Sudan.

• VAW Project

  Coordinating the implementation of the pilot project aiming

  to end violence against women in Sudan through advocacy activities

  such as;

  -Commissioning monitoring activity to identify the violent cases

  at the level of courts, prisons and awaiting harassed.

  -Conducting a survey identify types, forms, incidence of VAW

  experienced by women in Sudan and also knowing the effective

  methodology in dealing with this phenomena, since, as a concept

  it is still not yet clear from a Sudanese prespective putting

  the fact that it is imported and the dealing with it is internationally

  even new.

  -Commissioning research to clarify the concept of VAW in the

  Sudanese context and to identify the trends and perceptions

  of VAW by the Sudanese women themselves ending up with strategies

  to combat the phenomenon.

• Gender Advocacy

  – Awareness raising on gender and violence targeting law

  enforcement and media agencies.

  – Publishing a Gender page with Al Ayam Newspaper targeting

  the public at large and aiming to stimulate public debate on

  gender issues.

• How do we work?

  Through partnership with the relevant concerned organizations

  as Mutawinat, Gender Center, salmmah and Teeba press (media

  Agency)

What we have experienced so far

To achieve an easy result for any development, we have to involve

the media who could easily disseminate and owned the outcome of

any activity if they internalized the objectives and means. In addition

to this, the fact that the peace process is ongoing aiming to have

a sustainable peace building for the whole community in Sudan expecting

that after the peace achieved, lots of awareness and capacity building

programs is needed. And this can not be achieved without the involvement

of the media who’s interns require to be competent. To achieve such

purpose the media, specially print media, has to build its training

capacity so as to fulfill the peace building period requirements.

At this point Panos Sudan would like to intervene .To do so we have

to start relying on the journalists themselves to identify and assess

their training needs referring to what has been identified by Panos

so far such as;

· Information collection and analyses of the information

· Documentation and documentaries

· Reporting

· Other additional topics could be identified

Prepared by, Manal Ali Bashir, General Program Manager

Panos-Sudan

On the purpose of the Journalists Assessment Training workshop