Kenya Media Roundtables: Media & Political Party Culture, Oct. 25 @ Alliance

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Media Focus on Africa and its partners, the University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism, Kenya Editors’ Guild, Alliance Francaise and Media Institute has the pleasure of inviting you to October’s Media Roundtable

Date: Tuesday 25th of October, 2011
Venue: Alliance Francaise
Location: Corner of Monrovia Street and Loita Street
Time: 12 noon and 2 pm.

The topic of discussion: Media and political Party culture: What role can the media play in shaping political parties towards the next general elections?

Panelists include:
1. Peter Aling’o: Executive Director of the Institute for Education in Democracy (IED)

2. Njeri Rugene: Parliamentary Reporter and Editor at Nation Media Group

3. Emman Omari: Veteran Parliamentary Reporter

Moderator: Kwamchetsi Makokha – Media Consultant

The format of the roundtable will include brief presentations by the panelists and an open public discussion session.

Download 0ctober Media Roundtable programme

Exhibit: ‘CONDEMNED’: mental illness in Somalia, Oct 10-23 2011 @ Alliance Francaise

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“CONDEMNED” is a project undertaken by photojournalist Robin Hammond and it sets out the challenges faced in Somalia and the Dadaab refugee camps in dealing with the problem of mental health and Somali living with mental disorders. It is estimated that in war-tom Somalia, with a population of 8 million people, one person out of three has been affected by some kind of mental illness. Yet in the entire country there are only three psychiatrists working in mental health facilities. By contrast, the United Kingdom has one psychiatrist for every 10,000 people.

Most of the incidences of mental illness are caused by a traumatic event. Mental health care in Somalia often relies on placing people in jails or hospitals, where they are regularly chained to the wall or walk around with shackles. Conditions in many of these settings are deplorable. They violate an individual’s right to be treated humanely and live a life of dignity. The mentally ill in these jails and hospitals are forced to live a life of incarceration.

The exhibition has been supported by the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Migration, GRT, OCHA Somalia and European Commission.