Bazira: Learned woman with self-confidence

Dar es Salaam. Having a clear path goal, gives your life direction of where you want to be but also boosts your motivation and self-confidence.

From a young age, Dr Joyce Bazira knew her goal path that she would become a journalist. It all started after hearing her primary school song being played on Radio Tanzania congratulating founding President Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, who inaugurated the bridge that was broken in the war against Idi Amin.

Excited and waiting for the next day to hear the song on the radio again, she started to develop an interest in other radio programmes, especially the ‘Majira’ programme back then.

From there, she started working hard in her classes and set her clear path goal to become a radio presenter. Though she didn’t know what to take but her courage and reading different books helped her to realise her dream. Ultimately, her passion led her to become one of a few women journalists in Tanzania holding top editorial positions, which is a senior editor for the Guardian Limited, a privately-owned company publishing a number of newspapers.

Today, she’s an expert with over 20 years of experience in the field of Communications. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Mass Communication from St. Augustine University of Tanzania and a Master’s degree in the same discipline from the same University. She has taught in various universities in Tanzania at both graduate and undergraduate levels in the areas of Media Ethics, Conflict Communication, Corporate Communication, and News Writing. Authored several publications and reviewed various works including training manuals during her time. Currently, Joyce works as a media trainer, researcher, coach, and mentor. For the record, she has mentored many journalists in the country.

Since 2015, she has already mentored women journalists from various media in the country with a contract from an organization known as Women In News.

According to her, she first started with five women only. With those women, they visited different newsrooms talking with editors about the importance of mentoring women in the newsroom.

“We used to talk with editors that when a woman goes through mentorship helps them realize themselves, increase their confidence, gives them exposure, and helps them know what they want in their lives. But today the number of applicants is one hundred and Tanzania we lead, and many women who have been in this mentorship now are leaders in different media organisations such as Lilian Timbuka, Anna Mwasyoke, Salome Kitomali, Beatrice Bandawe, and many others,” she says.

Through her experience as a coach and a mentor, it takes her into undertaking assignments with organizations such the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN- IFRA) for Women In News Programme; Tanzania Media Foundation (TMF), the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), Gender Links in collaboration with UN Women, Tanzania`s Media Women’s Association (Tamwa) and Integrity Watch in its programme, Women’s Participation in Political Processes in Tanzania.

What shaped Joyce’s leadership skill over the years to become the person of today is her integrity and resilient on her values.

“Those who have known Joyce, they are aware that if you give me a job, I will do it with honest, without accepting bribes, without prejudice or any favouritism,” explains Joyce.

Commenting on that, she says that self-study also shaped her into becoming the person of today.

“You know we fight hard for other women to get into leadership positions. It can be in the newsroom or in different places but we must know and understand that to qualify for a leader there are some qualifications and knowledge that a person must have. So, I decided to make sure that I qualified in these areas of knowledge, skills and academic qualification just go beyond,” she explains.

Joyce says she has never let opportunities pass near her, she has tried opportunities in other countries by using fax, FedEx, and DHL just to make sure her CV reaches the opportunities.

Speaking about why women journalists shun away the field despite many joining the universities, Joyce says that newsrooms lose people and resources to mentor young girls when they start their field.

“The environment of many newsrooms has not yet become friendly to girls, in the past, we used to go to the field and were given someone to help us, but nowadays it is very difficult to be given a mentor who will give you instructions and build you up. You may sometimes spend three weeks without seeing your byline, and you lose all hope and confidence but if you have someone to tell you that to see your byline, you must know how to write something which is understandable. I remember having been given a person who used to take me to all the courts,” she details.

In addition, She says most of her training sessions, many women comment about being sexually harassed in the newsroom, which is also one of the reasons why these young girls shun away.

In her own opinion, Joyce believes if the newsroom sets gender policies, having daily assessments of their employees and groom them through peer mentoring, it will increase the chance of more women journalists to take leadership position.

“With gender policies, all the details are clearly set. When it comes to the assessment, it helps the media to know their women journalists. It’s not possible to give leadership positions to women randomly instead they need to conduct an assessment for the women who are potential to fill the gaps by providing them with more skills and knowledge to grow. So, for two or three years to come, they will be knowledgeable to hold leadership positions,” she explains.

However, Joyce insists that women are supposed to be open to their partners and family members about their goals and dreams to achieve their successes.

“As women, we should think beyond tomorrow, think beyond. My husband has paid for my Master’s degree, and Ph.D. because I made my dreams clear to him,” she says.

If your family does not support you, it is not easy to get far. Make sure you always discuss with them so that they can understand and support you. I used to carry my children in the car with them to the office or sometimes leave them with my husband when I travel abroad,” she details.

Commenting on that, before you start your journey, make sure you list all the things that will hinder your dreams and know how to address and navigate them.

“You must know that, when you enter the boardroom, don’t step up as a woman but as a professional. You must be aware that there are some people which will go against you, women need to be knowledgeable and be able to blow your own trumpet,” explains Joyce.