The new team elected to steer MESHA| Photo Courtesy
The Media for Environment, Science, Health, and Agriculture (MESHA), Kenya’s leading science journalists’ association, held its Annual General Assembly (AGA), as it prepares to mark 20 years of its existence in the science journalism space in 2025.
The event held virtually on Thursday, 21 November, 2024 marked a critical milestone as the 19-year-old organization elected new leaders charting its course for the future, including plans to host the International Federation of Agriculture Journalists (IFAJ) in 2025.
During the AGA, MESHA Secretary Aghan Daniel underscored the importance of innovation in journalism, urging members to adopt modern storytelling tools such as mobile journalism, solutions journalism, and the use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.
“The media landscape is fast evolving, and that is why at MESHA, we focus on building the capacity of journalists to match the changing tides,” he emphasized.
The highlight of the event was the democratic election of MESHA’s new leadership team, reflecting the association’s commitment to transparency and good governance.
Bozo Jenje from the Technical University of Mombasa was re-elected the Chairperson, while Nduta Waweru of Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW) Kenya was elected Vice Chairperson. John Riaga retained his position as Treasurer, alongside board members John Muchangi (The Star Newspaper), Sharon Atieno (Science Africa), Robert Malala (Nyota TV), and Asha Bekidusa (Citizen Radio).
In his acceptance speech, Jenje emphasized the importance of collaboration, urging the board and members to work harmoniously to achieve MESHA’s goals.
“The Annual General Assembly focuses in the successes in science communication over the years across Kenya. Mesha has made inroads in Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Uganda.
“We have a great number of award winning journalists who have placed MESHA globally in telling the science story,” said Bozo.
Members are optimistic about the future, highlighting MESHA’s track record of training over 40 journalists this year in cutting-edge journalism skills and providing story grants and mentorship opportunities.
Looking ahead, MESHA will implement a project as a lead consortium on action research and climate change within five countries in the Eastern and Southern African region for three years (2025 to 2027) uniting scientists and journalists.
MESHA association is preparing to host the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) conference in Nairobi in October 2025, bringing together 500 global journalists.
As the association approaches its 20th anniversary, it remains steadfast in advancing high-quality media coverage in the environment, science, health, and agriculture, empowering journalists to tell impactful African science stories.
