Glo-sponsored African Voices Changemakers profiles media trainer, wildlife film maker

African Voices Changemakers, a Cable News Network (CNN) magazine programme sponsored by telecommunications giant, Globacom, will this week focus on media training and wildlife conservation.

The duo of Abaas Mpidi, a Ugandan, founder of the Media Challenge Initiative (MCI), and Brad Bestelink, Creative Director, Natural History Film Unit, are guests on the programme. 

Mpidi is the Chief Executive Officer, of MCI, a youth-driven, non-profit organisation building the next generation of journalists in Africa through training, mentorship and experiential peer-to-peer learning. The initiative has equally assisted upcoming journalists to hone their skills through practical sessions.

mentorship and experiential peer-to-peer learning. The initiative has equally assisted upcoming journalists to hone their skills through practical sessions.

The MCI team is made up of a collective of exquisite young men and women who are deeply passionate about creating the next generation of journalists through offering knowledge and solutions-based skills. They come from diverse background including radio, television, communication, creative design, strategy, and research.

The group last November successfully collaborated with the Office of the Prime Minister of Uganda to train 1,000 young journalists on effective reporting on climate change in the 2019 Climate Change Media Challenge.

The second guest, Bestelink, is a producer, director and cinematographer reputed for filming the Nat Geo Wild Savage Kingdom series. Having grown up in Botswana, he exhibits deep interest in filming unusual predators, their habitats and behaviour, forged as a result of unique environmental circumstances. 

The whole series was filmed in a place called Savute, which is in the northeast corner of Botswana.

“There’s an ephemeral river that flows in there for 20 out of 100 years, and we managed to get in there during the five-year period when it flowed,” he explained. All these prey species flock into this little oasis.

African Voices Change Makers was on DSTV on Friday at 9.30 a.m. and on Saturday at 12.30 p.m., 5.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.  Other repeat broadcasts come up on Sunday at 5.00 a.m., 9.30 a.m. and 8.30 p.m., with more repeats on Monday and Tuesday at 5.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. respectively.