{"id":3654,"date":"2025-11-10T11:08:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T10:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fojo.se\/en\/?p=3654"},"modified":"2025-11-10T15:07:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T14:07:50","slug":"building-resilience-stress-and-trauma-education-for-african-journalism-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fojo.se\/en\/building-resilience-stress-and-trauma-education-for-african-journalism-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"East Africa: Building resilience through stress and trauma education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by\u00a0Kemiso Wessie<\/strong> for AJEN<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When news breaks, journalists are often the first to witness distress, conflict, and tragedy yet the psychological dimensions of their work remain underexplored in journalism education. To address this gap,\u00a0Fojo Media Institute<\/a>, through a EU funded global consortium called AGILE,\u00a0has launched a new initiative to co-design new extracurricular courses focused on\u00a0stress and trauma in journalism education<\/a>\u00a0across Africa and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AGILE unites leading organisations in journalism and media development, including Fojo Media, CFI D\u00e9veloppement M\u00e9dias<\/a>, Thomson Media<\/a>, ARTICLE 19<\/a> and Internews Europe<\/a>, which is the lead on the pilot project. Running until 2028, the programme is designed to strengthen journalism worldwide by highlighting tools, innovations, and sustainable practices that support media development. The initiative also has grants and mentoring opportunities connected to each course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fojo leads Workstream 5: The Future of Journalism, which focuses on universities and bridging the gap between academia and practice. In this capacity, Fojo is collaborating with approximately 30 universities across 13 countries to co-design and implement, alongside the stress and trauma course, three additional extracurricular courses: Closing the Climate Gap, Dig Deeper: Investigative Journalism for Female Students, and WMLT (Women Media Leaders of Tomorrow).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AJEN spoke to Sofie Byrnes Gullberg and Zelalem Tesfaye for details on this one-of-a-kind course. The aim of the stress and trauma co-design is to develop teaching models that are both collaborative and locally grounded, ensuring that journalism students are better equipped to manage the emotional and psychological challenges of their future profession. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sofie Byrnes Gullberg, Project Manager at Fojo<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sofie Byrnes Gullberg, Project Manager at Fojo, leads this ambitious multi-country project. \u201cThe scope is very wide,\u201d she explains. \u201cBut developing solid and sustainable relationships with key partners is super important. Investing in that in the beginning [gives] so much back further down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project, still in its early stages, is being piloted through extracurricular courses co-designed by educators from different countries. Among the first modules to be implemented are on stress and trauma as well as climate change reporting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is very much focused on the university setting,\u201d says Gullberg. \u201cIt\u2019s about putting pedagogical approaches to the test, but also [ensuring] that the universities themselves will own the course.\u201d To achieve this, they have conducted workshops with lecturers from various universities, bringing together educators from different countries to collaboratively co-design the course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gullberg calls the co-design process \u201ca different way of developing courses,\u201d drawing on the expertise of educators from diverse national contexts. The stress and trauma pilot highlights this collaborative, context-driven approach, led by educators from Ethiopia, Somalia, and Rwanda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a very timely course,\u201d says Zelalem Tesfaye, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Director of Broadcast Media at Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia. \u201cIts actually targeting countries which are currently stricken by different trauma-related crises like war, stress, workplace stress, burnout, conflict, and civil war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zelalem Tesfaye, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Director of Broadcast Media at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When journalism curricula were examined, they found that the issue of stress and trauma had been given little attention. \u201cThis project will prepare students who will be journalists tomorrow to be equipped with strategies for managing stress and the trauma in their careers paths,\u201d explains Tesfaye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gullberg agrees. \u201cWe really want to raise the topic and start the conversation about stress and trauma, how it affects you as a person but also how it affects you in your professional job as a journalist,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extracurricular format allows flexibility across diverse educational systems, with the hope that universities will eventually push to integrate these topics into their formal curricula. In total, nine countries will participate in the stress and trauma pilot with each journalism school bringing its unique strength, perspective, and academic approaches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapting to local realities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the core strengths of the initiative is its adaptability. As Tesfaye explains, \u201cWe\u2019re designing extracurricular activities tailored for Ethiopian journalism educators and students in particular. It\u2019s context-specific and culture-specific.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workshops are first held at the regional level, bringing together educators from several countries and then \u201clocalised\u201d through national sessions. \u201cIt\u2019s important to bring in experience from other countries,\u201d Gullberg says, and then ground it in the local context so it works in each country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Tesfaye, this local grounding also means bridging academia and the newsroom. He explains that they are trying to connect the classroom with the newsroom by inviting experts who have years of experience managing stress and trauma, \u201cIt\u2019s [also] an opportunity for students to get connected with veteran journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preventing re-traumatisation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the sensitive nature of the topic there is consideration of the emotional risks involved. Tesfaye emphasises that safety and confidentiality are integral to the design process. They are currently consulting with psychologists and working journalists to ensure the course avoids re-traumatisation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gullberg adds that while the course will address emotional well-being, it is not intended to be therapeutic. \u201cEducators won\u2019t go in and do any clinical work,\u201d she says. If there\u2019s someone who needs professional help, they will be referred to the right people, \u201cThey [educators] are here to start the conversation but not act as a therapist,\u201d Gullberg explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both agree that avoiding these discussions would be more harmful than confronting them. \u201cNot talking about stress factors or what happens to your brain is a much bigger worry,\u201d Gullberg notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Institutional change\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, stress and trauma education remains extracurricular, a strategic choice, given the challenges of curriculum reform. \u201cWe realise that trying to push this into the curricula would be a mammoth task,\u201d Gullberg admits. \u201cWe\u2019re here to show the relevance and the need of the [course] and provide the support we can.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ethiopia, however, Tesfaye sees a long-term path to integration. As time goes by, he hopes the programme\u2019s success can lead to mainstreaming stress and trauma education into journalism curricula and other disciplines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shifting cultures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early lessons from the project point to a clear hunger for change. \u201cThere\u2019s a genuine interest to learn more about the topic because it\u2019s relevant everywhere,\u201d says Gullberg. \u201cIn many newsrooms, we still see that it\u2019s still a bit of a stigma to talk about these aspects. But it\u2019s about asking your colleague, \u2018How are you feeling today?\u2019 and genuinely listen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fojo\u2019s regional approach, combining African experiences with cross-country collaboration has already sparked new forms of knowledge exchange. Gullberg adds that the method they\u2019re implementing is particularly exciting, bringing a regional perspective and seeing what each country can bring to the table, \u201cI think these countries really can share and learn from each other,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tesfaye echoes the sentiment, noting that this initiative fills a critical gap in African journalism education. In the Horn of Africa, ongoing conflict, newsroom pressures, and economic challenges have made stress and trauma common, yet largely ignored, issues. Long considered taboo, even in academic circles, these topics have lacked intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The programme is a timely and essential step in equipping future journalists to navigate a challenging and often perilous media landscape. As journalism continues to evolve, this programme offers a hopeful model that equips tomorrow\u2019s storytellers not just with skills, but with the emotional resilience to use them wisely.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article first published<\/a> by AJEN, The African Journalism Education Network. <\/pre>\n\n\n\n
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