Journalists from across Sindh convened for a comprehensive two-day workshop focused on gender-responsive education budgeting. The event, organised by Thar Education Alliance (TEA) as part of the Fund Her Future initiative backed by the Malala Fund, aimed to strengthen media proficiency in scrutinising and reporting on education budgets, particularly concerning girls’ education and gender equity.
The workshop gathered education reporters from diverse regions including Karachi, Sukkur, Badin, Sanghar, Larkana, and Tharparkar, representing media outlets in Sindhi, Urdu, and English. The training sessions addressed the critical need for informed journalism that can hold authorities accountable and enhance the representation of underserved communities, especially when numerous girls in Sindh face educational barriers due to poverty, distance, early marriage, and inadequate facilities.
Participants delved into various topics, including analyzing education financing, identifying gender disparities in budget allocation, and interpreting budget documents. The workshop emphasised the media’s role in shaping discussions on fair access to education and tasked journalists with producing impactful stories that could influence education governance positively.
The training agenda was meticulously designed to provide the journalists with a nuanced understanding of public finance, the specifics of Sindh’s education budget cycle, and the practices involved in gender-responsive budgeting. The sessions were intensive, focusing on scrutinising budget documents, monitoring funds earmarked for girls’ education, and exploring departmental priorities through a gender perspective. Additionally, there was a strong emphasis on crafting investigative stories that could effectively address issues in education financing.
Another related workshop, held on April 12 and titled ‘Education Budget Understanding, Analysis, Tracking and Reporting,’ was organized by Blue Veins in collaboration with the Malala Fund. This training, aimed at journalists covering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, stressed the importance of adopting a gender-sensitive perspective when reporting on the fiscal year 2026-27 budget. Yumna Aftab, Project Manager at Blue Veins, highlighted the workshop’s role in enabling journalists to hold the government accountable concerning education budgeting.
