Enabling engagement with the media

Over the last decade CFAR has been training and building capacities of communities, especially  marginalized communities, organizations and networks to engage with the media, be their own spokesmen and present issues lucidly and comprehensively while retaining the media's interest in the issue. We have also been working with NGOs across the country to create a nation-wide network that will enable them to access and inform the media about their work.

Our work among marginalized communities like sex workers, transgenders, sexual minorities, drug users and people living with HIV/AIDS has focused on enabling them to present their issues and voices in the media on their own terms and in facilitating a direct dialogue between the community, the media and its audiences and between the community and policy makers. Today our efforts in this area is amply visible among such groups as the devadasis of Karnataka and the Aravanis (transgenders) of Tamilnadu who are shaping their own stories and ensuring that the middle class lens gives way to perspectives that lend greater dignity to their lives and struggles.

We have also been building the capacities of activists, resource persons and concerned stakeholders on issues ranging from sex selection and female foeticide to domestic violence and issues concerning people living with HIV/AIDS. And of organizations like CRY and networks like the Positive Women's Network (PWN+) to engage with the media, undertake qualitative research and communicate effectively on issues that concern them.

Training modules have also been created for grassroots practitioners with simple effective pointers on how to interact with the media. Read More