Communicating Justice

Ugandan Communicating Justice trainees in October followed a second training course, which focused on reporting transitional justice issues. The training took place in Gulu, in the heart of war scarred northern Uganda. Local trainer Paul Kavuma reports.

BBC WST trainer Paul Kavuma with Communicating
Justice trainees

Gulu, a town in the north of Uganda, has for the past twenty years been red-flagged as a no-go area for foreigners by most embassies in the country’s capital Kampala. With stories of abductions, mutilations, killings, rape and torture taking place in the town, even the locals stayed clear of it.

During these years, Uganda’s media repeatedly ran the image of a small dreadlocked man called Joseph Kony – leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army - as the root cause of rebel activity in this region. Rarely were other faces shown, rarely were ordinary people’s stories told.

Statistics dominated the headlines: so many soldiers killed, so many rebels killed, so many people abducted, so many people displaced, so many schools hit. The monotony of statistics on the war eventually created apathy about it in those parts of the country not directly affected by it.

In these statistics the local and international media only offered a glimpse of what was going on.

The BBC World Service Trust is taking a leading role in getting the untold stories of people from Gulu and other parts of northern Uganda that were affected by the war told through local media.

Through a mix of face to face training and online mentoring, twenty journalists have received training from BBC WST on how to report on the human rights abuses and injustices that happened during the war, and on its aftermath. This is part of its Communicating Justice project.

The most recent training took place in Gulu in October at the Internews media training centre.  

Ten of the original twenty trainees were selected on a competitive basis for this, the second training course. Unlike the first training which sought to give the trainees (journalists) an understanding of what transitional justice issues are, this second course was practical, and focused on sharpening the journalists’ skills in writing and reporting.

Every trainee on the course came up with a story idea which was discussed with one of the trainers running the course. Story ideas, angles, questions, choice of interviewees and the structure of the story were reviewed. Trainers included Claire Ziwa, a seasoned BBC producer and trainer, and Paul Kavuma. 

Stories produced by the participants covered a variety of issues, including the challenges met by people moving back to their villages from Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) Camps, the call for justice by war victims, missing children, the challenge of reintegrating former rebels into society, and the trauma of war on children. Without exception, all the stories focused on the impact of the war on ordinary people, a departure from the traditional coverage of the conflict which focuses on events and prominent individuals.

At the end of the course, winning reports were selected in both the radio and print categories. The winner in the radio category was Julian Amutuhaire, who produced a 20-minute piece on traumatised children.

Best print report went to Bill Oketch for his story on a war victim seeking justice for a dead relative. Click here to read his report.

Julian’s piece has subsequently been run on her radio station, KFM, in a two part series, while Bill’s story has been uploaded on the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) website.

Local journalists and Internews staff at the training centre were invited to listen to the presentation of all the pieces on the last day of the workshop. Helen Mshilla, an Internews trainer, said she was so moved by Julian’s story that it nearly drove her to tears. “ Julian’s piece tells the real story of the war in northern Uganda,” said Mshilla. “Anybody listening to it begins to understand the real impact of this war on the people.”