Background

“The Somali media is a hostile environment for female journalists. They are frowned upon by a society that believes a woman’s role is to stay at home, cook and have children,” says Laylo Osman, chair of the Somali Women Journalists Rights Association, in a recent assessment done for UNDP Somalia.

Women journalists are harassed on the street as soon as they take out a camera or try to conduct an interview. Official figures sometimes refuse to talk to them - demanding that a male journalist asks the questions instead. Even inside their own offices, women face harassment from colleagues and are routinely denied training opportunities and promotions. And when a woman does reach a position of authority, she is often ignored while more junior figures get to call the shots.

As a result, women’s careers are stymied and Somali media fall short on covering issues of concern to half the population.

Bilan has created an enabling environment for women to produce great journalism. Their work shines a light on issues that are usually ignored, gives a voice to those who are regularly silenced and helps hold the powerful to account. At the same time, Bilan is normalising the idea of women reporters in Somalia, making it easier for other women to find jobs and success in the media.

Ultimately, we hope the new unit will provide a model of well-researched and informative reporting that journalists across the country will come to respect and will want to emulate, irrespective of their gender.

Meet the team here: www.bilan.media

Project achievements so far

A game changer for Somali media

• Supported Bilan to win the 2024 One World Media Press Freedom Award

• Enabled the production of reports twice a week on one one Somalia’s largest TV and radio networks on issues ranging from the rising problem of women’s drug use and the effect of HIV on families to features on successful female politicians and women farmers who plant their way through university. These have achieved more than 10m online views inside Somalia (regularly outperforming content produced by male journalists on the same channels) and reached millions more through commissions with international media.

• Brought in household-name female and male journalists, including the BBC’s Lyse Doucet and Mishal Husain, ITV’s Rageh Omar, the New York Times’s Abdi Latif Dahir and Channel 4’s Lindsey Hilsum, to provide training and masterclasses. 

• Set up networks with the Guardian, the BBC, El Pais, the Toronto Star and New Humanitarian to bring Bilan’s reports to an international audience and raise the profile and prestige of Somali women journalists. 

• Secured global visibility in major print, radio and TV media and developed a network of reporters and media groups who are keen to work with Bilan and see it succeed. 

• Achieved huge recognition inside Somalia, from the PM’s office, which has involved Bilan in policy consultations and ministries that have responded to Bilan’s stories, down to individual women in local communities who call up to say thanks for bringing women’s voices to the TV and radio. Bilan is quickly becoming a well-respected household name, blazing a path for women in the media and creative sectors.

• Established an internship programme to provide women journalism students and recent graduates a first opportunity in the media.