GoK-UN Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment brings together the work of 14 UN agencies in Kenya under one umbrella. In partnership with the Standard Media Group are steering a joint campaign to raise awareness around accelerating the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 3 to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women in Kenya. The campaign will be a two-way communication process to inform and at the same time create gender champions within the youth in Kenya.

Storyboard for the initiative
It all began in 2000…but now we are reaching the deadline for the UN MDGs in 2015and it is time to highlight the achievements in Kenya thus far. Instead of development workers promoting their own work, the images and short stories/case-studies as narrated by the youth to capture the positive results of the various initiatives on MDG 3 while highlighting the challenges still ahead of us. These youth champions will be our voice for the future.

In 2000, 189 nations made a promise to free people from extreme poverty. This pledge turned into the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015. The MDGs are a unique international agreement that is time-bound, can be measured and have the public commitment of every Head of State in the world.

The Third MDG is ‘Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment’. Across the world, women and girls face a tougher life than men and boys. This is not due to a ‘natural’ or biological reason but on societies treating us differently. In an ideal world, we would all have gender equality. Equality does not mean that women and men will become the same but that our rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether we are born male or female. As gender is all around us in our every-day life and society in general, MDG 3 also plays a role in the achievement of the other MDGs. For our societies to improve, we simply cannot leave behind half of the population.

Activities
Writing human interest stories and taking photographs on MDG 3 initiatives in Kenya.

Who can participate?

Age limit – 18 to 30 years
Target youth – Students of Media/Journalism/Communications from colleges and universities across Kenya.

Winning Prizes:

Internships at Standard Media to shadow and learn journalism and photography from professionals.
Samsung Tablet
Samsung camera

The winners for the best photography and stories will receive prizes at a gala event that will also showcase the 10 top products submitted on November 1st 2013

How to participate…
Submit entries to MilleniumDG3@gmail.com using the specifications below;

Length of human interest story – 1500 WORDS
Number of photos that can be submitted – 2 (NOT LESS THAN 1024*768 px)