A faith based organisation known as Scripture Union West Africa (SUWA), have intensified collaboration and partnership with journalists and stakeholders in mitigating the menace of conflict and gender based violence (GBV) reporting in Plateau.

A one-day interaction champion by SUWA in partnership with interested friends of the ministry for journalists, traditional rulers and religious leaders, held in Jos on Tuesday aimed to acquaint journalists with requisite knowledge on conflict and gender based issues as they navigate media space.

However, the wrong narratives associated with gender based issues and conflicts overtime has generated prejudices rather than good, hence the need for journalists to upscale their responsibility of positive reporting for healthy society.

Emphasizing a rationale behind the interface, programme manager of SUWA, Mr. John Fakule, expressed worry over escalation of sexual and gender based violence in internally displaced person camps in conflict prompt areas.

He revealed that the which had a privileged working with media for years have thematic areas of intervention, thus includes; peace building, disaster preparedness and humanitarian response, sexual and gender based violence, livelihood and economic empowerment as well as environment.

Navigating the topic, "understanding the media landscape on conflict and GBV, the facilitator, Mr. Wika Gofwen task journalists to embrace peace journalism that advocate for " balance news coverage, positive education of people about what is going on in a divided society, controlling dangerous rumours and providing a trusted sources of information for all parties in a conflict."

He further stated that media must first prioritize survivors safety and based interest while reporting GBV.

"Never report details that could put survivors at further risk. Consult GBV experts who are familiar with the context. Provide information on local support services and organisations who are addressing GBV in the context."

On the way forward, participants have alluded with the fact that the interactive session is another wake-up call for journalists to do more in fighting against gender based violence and conflicts taking into cognizance it is a collaborative efforts among all stakeholders concerned 

The stakeholders also identified culture of silence and stigmatisation as major hindrance to GBV survivors most often time to be open up and narrate their ordeals.