By Ndefru Melanie in Bamenda
Over 50 Journalists and some Civil society Organizations brought together by Draufsicht in Bamenda to learn about the Do Harm Principle, the essence of fixing society morals in times of crisis than fueling an already existing armed conflict.
Some experience sharing revealed that there is so much to be done at the level of reporting, giving out content that unites than break people. Journalists shared their stories as they go about their reporting on the field, talked about the existence of under-reported stories that pile up by the day due to lack of skills in reporting them right.
“We have encountered challenges on the field in the ongoing crisis, cases of persons brutalized, a few persons who are part of the armed groups have shared their stories with us but how do we report some of these stories is the question. The fear of being threatened or tagged keeps us from doing our duty, so we store the stories in the fridge only to report when the dust has settled. To me this is also a kind of Do no Harm Principle” A reporter with Radio in Bamenda explained to The Sun Newspaper.
Dzebam Godlove being one of the facilitators at the workshop in Bamenda and CEO of Draufsicht, explained that the essence for the workshop was to have Journalist, CSOs pay attention when going about their humanitarian activities or reporting to apply the Do No Harm Principle and build a people through it not break them.
“The essence is to reflect Peace processes for men and women in the media, do some conflict analysis, which will be tools used in calming the already existing tension. Some media and organizations rather cause harm in communities in an attempt to render assistance. They need to know, focus on what connects people, not what divides them”.
“Participants should pick one tool and work in any community, hard hot by the crisis and there they would have saved a life”, CEO Draufsicht Bamenda
Draufsicht consists of two teams; Draufsicht Bamenda in Cameroon, and Draufsicht Berlin in Germany. The non profit making organization have been working and is still working with different class of persons in society, communities, in a time of conflict to bring forth peace oriented solutions to water down the already existing tension.