
To increase women's participation; these four words, written down in four seconds, in a proposal can take months, if not years to achieve.
Especially, when the context is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province in north western Pakistan, where women make up almost an equal share of society (49%) but are far away from equity. Newsrooms remain male-dominated, 10% are women on average, which results in male editorial agendas and male protagonists in stories or interviews sharing their perspectives of life.
At the start of our Valley Voices project, a similar picture could be drawn for our partner TNN, the Tribal News Network based in Peshawar where contributions by women writers stood at 10% and two out of 11 staff in the newsroom were women.
Through training and involving more women over the past three years, women's contributions have increased by 40% and the ratio to men in the newsroom is closer to parity, 38.5% at the time of publication.
Measuring Success Such was the phenomenal response to our Valley Voices project; it was extended twice. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office through ifa (Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations) as part of the Zivik funding programme, the result, after three years, is that more women living in a traditional, male-dominated remote district of Pakistan have found their voices. Women have been able to access journalism training and management roles as well as news which relates to them.
We're not just talking about the women journalists we helped to train with our partner Tribal News Network (TNN), but the audience themselves. Women living in KP's Mardan district were asked directly what stories they wanted and needed to hear, the outcome included radio shows for women on issues like health and education and a wealth of everyday stories that included a woman's point of view.
Amna Istemrajs story
I decided to become a journalist in 2019 after finishing secondary education.
At the start it was quite tough because I come from an extremely conservative background. Whilst my parents were very supportive, my uncle, aunts and grandparents were all against my decision.
For the last four years I've worked as a multimedia journalist, covering major topics which are considered taboo in our society such as interfaith harmony, women, land inheritance and female heroes. I've also covered climate change, recently working on the issue of flooding and how it's affecting the lives of women.
Now, when my family see my stories on social media, they are proud and everyone in the family has started supporting me. I like being a journalist because the job has introduced me to people and communities I would never have met otherwise. I like telling their stories and feel honoured that they trust me to do so.
As a woman journalist working in a conservative area, I want to give credit to Tribal News Network who have supported me all along and provided me with opportunities and training that I never imagined. They have worked really hard to polish my skills and I owe my success to them.
"I like telling their stories and feel honoured that they trust me to do so."
Amna Istemraj, a trainee and TNN journalist
The Domino effect: TNN has successively grown its women contributor's network, initially with young, aspiring citizen reporters like Amna, who were keen to pick up practical skills in radio production and digital storytelling after their theory-laden journalism degrees. They were joined in 2022 by women bloggers, literate and educated, full of thoughts and opinions that they want to share but confined to their households.
Making women visible in the media, as reporters as well as effective and accomplished citizens has had a ripple effect on other women. In 2022 alone, 27 women approached TNN asking if and how they can get involved.
The Maverick effect: TNN started out as a radio station in 2013. It has become digital-first since then but knows of the power of radio in rural areas with low literacy rates. The team discovered quickly that the reflective blog format would lend itself well for audio storytelling.
The 40 blog posts produced by women over a six-month production phase in 2022 were professionally recorded with the help of female voice artists and first published on Facebook and YouTube before turned into podcasts on Soundcloud, a new platform for TNN.
The devastating floods coincided with this phase, reinforcing the importance of audio recordings and making these first-hand accounts a valuable resource on the supply situation and issues, especially for marginalised groups such as pregnant women and children.
The blogs have inspired TNN to work with a new format, podcasting, which is true to their mission of providing independent and reliable information that empowers local communities in KP Province and that takes its radio expertise into the digital world. It has also opened up access to one of its target groups - illiterate women - who may seek an education after learning that other women have done the same.
Women's visibility To increase women's participation, there is the need for women's visibility, which has proven to be the biggest motor of motivation in our project. And of course, the motivation from our partner TNN to tackle this inequality in the first place.
Read more about our valley Voices from our latest annual review: Access All Areas
Explore our projects across the globe
Most recent headlines
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
18/12/2025
Long-term agreement includes the SES SCORE platform and hybrid distribution worldwide to deliver more than 5,000 hours of golf tournaments annually featuring th...
17/12/2025
Investigative journalists across the Western Balkans and T rkiye continue to con...
17/12/2025
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Inducts 10 Industry Icons During Unforgettable ...
17/12/2025
ESPN to Debut MNF Playbook with Next Gen Stats, a New AI-Driven NFL Data-AltCastThe series, powered by Adrenaline TruPlay AI, launches Dec. 22 and runs through ...
17/12/2025
Inaugural Optum Golf Channel Games Debut Under the Lights' in Primetime on ...
17/12/2025
The right playlist is essential on New Year's Eve, building the energy as you get ready and keeping it high as you count down to midnight. This year, Spotif...
17/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
17/12/2025
Audiences Watched Over 103 Billion Minutes of TV on Thanksgiving Day
NFL Games ...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
17/12/2025
KPop Demon Hunters Stars Visit Berklee for Weeklong Celebration Andrew Choi and EJAE, who voiced the film's main characters and contributed to its soundtr...
17/12/2025
December 17 2025, 17:00 (PST) Dolby and LG Unveil a New Era of Home Audio With ...
17/12/2025
Wednesday 17 December 2025
Heated Rivalry will be coming to Sky and streaming service NOW on 10 JanuaryTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy opti...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Inside The Unseen World Of Indian Customs: Netflix Reveals The...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix announces PAPARAZZI KING: the docu series coming to Ne...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First Look at Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole Pr...
17/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Welcomes Warner Bros. Discovery Board Recommendation
Business
17 December 2025
Global
Link copied to clipboard
After Careful Revi...
17/12/2025
RT has announced that Kathy Fox has been appointed Commissioning Editor with re...
17/12/2025
The Hao AI Lab research team at the University of California San Diego - at the forefront of pioneering AI model innovation - recently received an NVIDIA DGX B...
17/12/2025
Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...
17/12/2025
With the new season of Dancing with the Stars shimmering in the not-too-distant future this New Year, the celebrity and dancer pairings of the twelve couples ha...
16/12/2025
Hawkins has landed on Spotify, just in time for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume...
16/12/2025
Wherever you are, your favorite music and audio content should go seamlessly with you. That's why Spotify has partnered with NAVER Corp, Korea's leading...
16/12/2025
2025 Wrapped arrived bigger and bolder than ever. This year's experience is designed to be ultra personal and shareable, with new features like Wrapped Part...
16/12/2025
Three 12-kilowatt Advanced Electric Propulsion System thrusters, supplied by L3Harris Technologies, form the core of Gateway's propulsion system. Pictured i...
16/12/2025
The challenge facing America's defense industrial base is not just about speed - its about rebuilding the foundation that makes speed possible. Our nations ...
16/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
16/12/2025
SEVILLE, Spain Canal Sur, the public broadcasting service for Andalusia, Spain, has completed a total technology refresh based on Pebble's resilient, softwa...
16/12/2025
NEW YORK Teleprompting hardware provider Telescript International has acquired all software code and intellectual property previously owned by Telescript West. ...
16/12/2025
As cable operators face increased competition from 5G fixed wireless access providers, a new report from Ookla Research finds that T-Mobile is the FWA speed lea...
16/12/2025
Apple has announced a major upgrade to the Apple TV app for device owners outside the Apple ecosystem with news that the Apple TV app for Android now supports G...
16/12/2025
Space42 grows Direct-to-Device partner ecosystem through a Memorandum of Underst...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON Announces Release Date for Full Year and Fourth Quarter 2025 R...
16/12/2025
16 Dec 2025
VEON's Kyivstar Invests in Renewable Energy in Ukraine with Acq...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Emma Appleton, Fares Fares, Frida Gustavsson and Jakob Oftebro...
16/12/2025
Back to All News
Docu-reality My Korean Boyfriend Gets a Trailer and Premiere D...
16/12/2025
Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor Improves Streaming Video Quality and Boosts Viewer Engagement SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 16, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: ...