Africa Women Journalism Project - AWJP

19/08/2026

When Crisis Hits, Start by Listening to Those Living Through It.

For World Humanitarian Day 2026, AWJP is sharing two stories that bring us closer to the everyday realities of women and girls living with climate pressures in Kenya.

In Kwale County, AWJP Gender + AI Reporting Fellow Asha Bekidusa meets girls who wake before dawn to fetch water before school.

Their journeys cost them sleep, study time and, sometimes, their safety. Yet the full weight they carry is rarely visible in the data used to plan water services.

Read Asha’s story in Willow Health Media: https://bit.ly/4cZge8o

In Kisii and Nyamira counties, AWJP fellow Elizabeth Angira reports on women farmers using digital weather alerts to make decisions about when to plant, apply fertiliser and prepare for unpredictable rainfall.

Timely information can help protect crops and livelihoods. But the story also asks whether the technologies meant to support farmers reflect the realities in which women live, farm and make decisions.
Read Elizabeth’s story in The Mt Kenya Times: https://bit.ly/4xi7gdt

To is to keep people and their lived realities at the centre of how we respond to crisis.

Listening means recognising local knowledge and ensuring people’s experiences help shape the systems and decisions meant to support them.

This is where journalism matters.

Explore more stories by AWJP fellows: https://bit.ly/4g54DGl/



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In coastal Kenya, water scarcity is shaping girls’ health, education, and safety, yet the systems meant to manage water rarely account for their daily realities.   At 4am, while most teen…

13/08/2026

When a business operates mainly in cash, can a digital lending system see its true value?

In a two-part radio investigation for Lubao FM, journalist and AWJP Gender + AI Reporting Fellow Irene Nasimiyu examines how mobile lenders assess women traders in Kakamega.

🎧 Part 1 documents the experiences of women who applied for business loans but received amounts too small to buy stock—or were denied credit.

🎧 Part 2 investigates why cash-based businesses can become almost invisible to digital credit-scoring systems and what lenders could do differently.

The findings raise an important contradiction. Kakamega County Microfinance Corporation says women receive more than 70% of its loans to small-scale traders and have a repayment rate above 92%. Why, then, might some digital lending systems still classify them as high-risk?

The investigation asks:

▪️ What information determines who receives a loan?
▪️ Can borrowers understand or challenge a lending decision?
▪️ Do digital systems reflect how informal businesses actually operate?
▪️ Could chama records, county licences and other business records provide a fairer picture?

Listen to both parts: https://bit.ly/3S1OOqC

We invite fintech companies, regulators, financial-inclusion organisations and women’s business networks to engage with the findings.



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Makala haya yanasimulia jinsi mfumo wa teknolojia wa AI unawanyanya...

12/08/2026

Different contexts. Common aspirations—but young women need both opportunity and safety in the digital world.

This International Youth Day, AWJP is highlighting reporting by women journalists examining whether young women can participate fully in the digital future—without being confined to its margins or driven out of online spaces by technology-enabled abuse.

In Kisii, AWJP Gender + AI Reporting Fellow Elizabeth Angira investigates whether digital and AI training is preparing young women to design and shape technology—or directing them towards lower-paid, entry-level work supporting systems developed elsewhere.

Read Elizabeth’s investigation in The Mt Kenya Times: https://bit.ly/4sxpEMX

In Nairobi, AWJP Fellow Maryann Muganda examines how algorithmic systems and digital platforms can amplify harassment and other forms of technology-facilitated violence against women. Her investigation centres the experience of a 19-year-old university student whose online participation has been shaped by digital harm.

Read Maryann’s investigation in The Standard: https://bit.ly/4rIKAAm

Together, the stories raise an urgent question:

Can young women help shape the digital future if they are offered only limited pathways into technology, or made unsafe when they participate online?

This is the journalism AWJP supports: women journalists examining how technology, policy and power affect the opportunities, rights and public participation of women and girls.

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In a computer lab in Kisii, it’s not unusual to find a young woman staring down lines of code in a room where she is one of a handful. For many, getting there has meant pushing past expectations about what women should study and who belongs in technology.

30/07/2026

A deepfake can spread in minutes. The harm can last much longer.

Kenya’s proposed Artificial Intelligence Bill recognises the risks posed by AI-generated content. But will it help women get harmful deepfakes removed quickly—and hold those responsible to account?

In a new investigation published by Talk Africa, AWJP Gender + AI Reporting Fellow Joyce Kimani examines the legal gaps surrounding:

▪️ rapid removal of harmful content
▪️ clear reporting channels
▪️ compensation and other remedies for survivors
▪️ preservation of digital evidence
▪️ accountability when international platforms host the content

The investigation was produced through the AWJP Gender + AI Reporting Fellowship, implemented in partnership with DW Akademie DW Akademie Africa

Read and share Joyce Kimani’s full story: https://bit.ly/4gHmSlY

What protections should Kenya’s proposed AI law provide for survivors of deepfake abuse?

By Joyce Kimani Nairobi, Kenya: While relaxing at home, 23-year-old Valerie Shigholi Kulola encountered the dark side of the internet. A friend forwarded

10/07/2026

For Rose Bwari, living with diabetes quickly became a question of money: medicine, food, transport to hospital, and the daily cost of staying alive.

In Kisii County, a women’s savings group that began as a table-banking initiative has become something much bigger: a health emergency fund, a support network, and a lifeline for people living with diabetes.

Members of Kanyimbo Community Unity contribute small amounts every week to help each other buy insulin, get to hospital, manage special diets and keep up with treatment. But their story also raises a bigger question: why are communities having to do so much of the work that the health system should be doing?

AWJP Gender + AI Reporting Fellow Elizabeth Angira reports on the women turning savings into survival — and on the gaps in diabetes care that still need urgent attention.

Read the full story: https://bit.ly/4f4vh0v

Rose Bwari, a 60-year-old smallholder farmer in Bomuri Village in Kisii County, was looking forward to ageing gracefully.

09/07/2026

Represented by our very own founder, well done!

Welcome to our four new Global Reference Group members!

🔵 Catherine Gicheru, Africa Women Journalism Project (AWJP), Kenya

🔵Daniel Nardin, Amazonia Vox, Brazil

🔵Prof. Dr. Jude William Genilo, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), Philippines and

🔵Ayman MHANNA, Samir Kassir Foundation (SKF), Lebanon (not pictured).

Special thanks to the initial members for their good work during the Group's first two years.

🔵Blandine Angbako, Centre for Education for a Sustainable Society (ESD Centre), Côte d'Ivoire

🔵Htaike Htaike Aung, Myanmar Internet Project, Myanmar

🔵Dr. Soumaya Berjeb, Institute of Press and Information Sciences (IPSI), Tunesia

🔵Erick Huerta Velázquez, Redes por la Diversidad, Equidad y Sustentabilidad A.C. (REDES A.C.), Mexico (not pictured)

🔵Natalia Kurdiukova, Kharkiv Media Hub, Ukraine

🔵Zenzele Ndebele, Centre for Innovation and Technology Zimbabwe (CITEZW), Zimbabwe

🔵Michelle Nogales Cardozo, Muy Waso, Bolivia and Hamouda Soubhi, Forum des Alternatives Maroc (FMAS), Morocco.

❓ What?

Twelve international experts in media and media development form DW Akademie's "Global Reference Group" – an independent advisory board that consults the organization on strategic issues and provides feedback.

❓ Why?

Representation and participation are extremely important in our work. We work with local partners in developing projects. The group's mandate is to offer an outside perspective and contribute new topics and recommendations, relying upon the members' wide range of experience and expertise.

❓ How?

Founded in June 2024, the Global Reference Group meets at least three times annually. Its first term lasted two years; the current term is one year.

🚀 Let's continue the good work together!

09/07/2026

What happens when women have to use coded language to look for healthcare online?

In Kenya, "stranger removal" has become part of the digital vocabulary around abortion. But behind the phrase is a much bigger story: legal uncertainty, stigma, high costs, algorithmic blind spots and an underground market where women can be exposed to misinformation, unqualified providers and serious health risks.

In this investigation, AWJP Gender + AI Reporting Fellow Elvine Tina Ouma looks at how social media platforms are shaping access to reproductive health information—and why platform accountability matters when online searches can lead women into unsafe spaces.

Read the full story: https://bit.ly/4alCMOR

Abortion in Kenya exists in a legal grey zone. It is permitted under the 2010 Constitution in specific circumstances.

26/06/2026

Torture isn’t hidden. It’s often left undocumented.

June 26 marks the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

For many survivors, the story does not end when the incident is reported—or when they are released. It continues in investigations that stall, court processes that drag on, missing evidence, and systems that can be difficult to access and even harder to challenge.

Too often, these cases fade from public attention long before accountability is achieved.

At AWJP, we believe journalism has an important role to play in ensuring they don’t disappear. Reporting helps create a public record, preserve evidence, document patterns, and keep critical questions in view long after the headlines fade.

When stories are followed beyond the initial incident, through investigations, courtrooms, oversight processes, and the search for justice, they become harder to ignore.

Because accountability begins with a record.

23/06/2026

Justice begins with visibility.

Some of the most important stories about women’s rights begin with a death certificate.

For many widows across Africa, the loss of a spouse can be followed by battles over land, inheritance, property, financial security, and decision-making power. These struggles often happen quietly, in homes, local offices, family meetings, and court files, far from public attention.

This International Widows’ Day, communities across Africa are marking the day under the theme Justice, Dignity, and Economic Power for Widows.

At AWJP, we know that issues that remain invisible are often the easiest to ignore. Journalism plays a critical role in documenting these realities, questioning systems, and ensuring that women’s experiences are part of the public record.

Because visibility is not the end goal.

Often, it is where justice begins.

22/06/2026

🚀 Meet Cohort 2 of the Gender + AI Reporting Fellowship.

Supported by DW Akademie, the fellowship brings together journalists reporting on the intersection of gender, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies.

The fellows are part of a growing community exploring how AI is shaping people's lives and what it means for inclusion, rights, and accountability.

👉 Swipe through to meet the cohort.