JHR trainee Kouane Diarra is on an award-winning roll.
Diarra has won the special ‘Eve Award’ for his radio report on child marriage at the 2021 Mali Media Awards, held in Bamako on August 21, 2021. In his report, Diarra explores the consequences of early marriage for students at the Mafouné primary school. This latest honour follows his runner-up position in the radio category at JHR’s inaugural Human Rights Journalism Awards in June this year.
Diarra is a student at the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme et des Sciences de la Communication de Bamako (ESJSC), one of JHR’s key implementing partners in Mali. He first participated in JHR training at a workshop on human rights journalism at ESJSC in March 2020. Following the training, he was awarded JHR’s story production grant and participated in several JHR-supported reporting field trips. During one such trip in the Fana region, Kouane was recognized by his school for his report on the difficult study conditions of children in the region.
About his latest win, Diarra said, “All these recognitions are because of JHR’s support thanks to whom I have learned how to involve all the parties in a report while using the P.A.N.E.L approach for good journalism.”
The 2021 Mali Media Awards, or MAMI 2021 for short, are organized by Tuwindi, a local not -for profit organization whose main mission is to strengthen good governance practices and democracy in Mali.
Since 2020, ESJSC has been teaching Human Rights Journalism using a curriculum developed by JHR as part of the “Strengthening the Media to Promote Inclusive Democracy in Mali” project supported by UNDEF.