NPL journalist chairing Wash Task Force

Nation Publications Limited (NPL) journalist James Chavula has been elected Water Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) Media Task Force chairperson for the Northern Region.

Wash Media forum was established in 2009 with the goal of covering and disseminating Wash issues in Malawi following a media workshop organised by Water Aid. The workshop identified Wash information gaps between organisations and beneficiaries, hence, the need to have the media forum to bridge the two.

Despite having the forum in place, there were still challenges on flow of information, hence, journalists and other Wash stakeholders last Friday resorted to have a regional taskforce in the North to ensure that the Wash Media Forum is decentralised.

Chavula urged journalists to cover more Wash issues to make the country a better place for everyone. He said journalists have to explain to masses the need to promote sanitation and hygiene.

“If we talk about water we talk about life. We say water is life. If we organise ourselves as journalists and use our skills to give people what they deserve, that is to know why water matters we would have done justice to our country. Water is key to everything we do as a country, talk of agriculture, business even health,” he said.

Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) spokesperson Edward Nyirenda said the media has to promote the Wash debate among Malawians and to do that there is need for the forum to be vibrant.n