IV production workshop plugs good governance

Pacific women in television and

production opened their annual

regional training in Suva last month with a twist - they started a documentary production workshop with

training in good governance.

The good governance focus for the group, which has been part of a project now running for eight years, comes as regional leaders eye good governance and what it means for their countries.

Ten participants from the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji attended the two-week meeting, funded by UNESCO, British Aid (DFID) and the SPC through its Regional Media Centre (RMC) in Suva and the Pacific Women’s Resource Bureau (PWRB) in Noumea.

“Good governance is a very broad term and it has many interpretations for different people,” says Conrad Mill, Team leader at the RMC.

Mill has been closely involved with the project and its development over the last eight years. He says the most important

aspect of incorporating good governance training with documentary is that women producers are part of the information networks in their own countries and can pass on what they have learnt from the

meeting.

“The good governance workshop before the planning workshop will give the women a sound knowledge of the concepts of good governance, which they can then weave into their documentary topic,” he says, “so not only will these documentaries inform the public about good governance, but the women producers become ‘ambassadors’ of good governance as well.”

Among other areas, the good governance workshop will focus on

responsibility and accountability of

governments, corruption in public office, and political institutions such as the police and media.

The production component aims to provide training opportunities to women working in television and to increase local content from Pacific Islands broadcasters.

Lead Trainer Margot Nash and counterpart trainer Lisa Williams will run it. Williams, the Communications Officer of the PWRB, was part of the inaugural Pacific Women Producers training project in 1992 and is now able to combine her previous experience with support from the regional women’s bureau for the Women Producers network.

“It’s a positive step to combine issues of good governance with production training and documentary, because women will be able to see more clearly how their everyday lives are affected by issues of good governance,” says Williams.

She says breaking the broad concept of good governance down into everyday issues that can be told via television, offered a new and important challenge to the Women Producers group.

“I hope that talking about good governance will start us thinking of the accountability we have as media people to keep our publics thinking and informed,” she says. ■