Anne Ndung’u, a kenyan that was doing her masters in International Media studies is about to complete the program and head home. She hopes to return to Kenya and work as a teacher/lecturer to help improve the education of Journalists.
Your program ends end of August, what do you feel about this?
I’m partly sad because this phase is ending as we were a very close group and I got to make very many friends within the 2yrs I spent in Germany. On the other hand, I’m happy I’ll be going back to Kenya
to see my family as well as work there.
You’re currently applying for jobs in Kenya, which field would you like to work in?
I’m applying to NGOs. I’d like to develop and implement communication and media strategies for organization. Before the Masters program, I worked as an editor for a TV weekly tv show in Nairobi. Now, I’d like to work with new forms of media and show others the potential on new technologies.
Which new developments in technology play a major role in Kenyan media?
At the top of the list is development of the cellular communications’ market and mobile content i.e. Apps for cell phones; this is because most people in Kenya surf the web from their phones. There have been many successful and useful apps in Kenya, the most successful being the mobile money transfer but there are many others for agricultural and health sectors. Also the use of social media has gained ground especially for organization, correct use of social media is paramount.
Which qualifications from the masters program will you be able to put into use in your new job?
In the course, I mainly learnt how to understand the background and the context of media. As I began to work as a journalist, I lacked the theoretical background but I get it during this course. With this knowledge I’d like to develop and improve communication strategies. I already wrote about “Strategies for the distribution of media content” in my masters thesis.
How would you describe the situation for journalists in Kenya?
In comparison to other African countries, the Kenyan media are very free. This has improved a lot in the recent years. What still lacks in Kenya are the knowledge and resources to train journalists
What are your hopes for the future for yourself?
I hope to work in Kenya; gain experience; apply what I learnt in the IMS program and later gain a doctrate and work as a lecturer. I can imagine coming back to Germany but Kenya is my first choice because media professionals are needed there.
Interview by Charlotte Hauswedell.