Writing about domestic violence was an interest of Geeta Thapa. Unfortunately, she never had the opportunity to attend journalism training.

Now things have changed for the better. Geeta confirms that she is now a reporter who focuses on domestic violence.

In 2013 and 2014 she attended two five-day trainings on gender-based reporting for women journalists, which was put together by EAI (under the Sajhedari Bikaas project). Geeta mainly carries out in-depth reporting by revealing cases of gender-based violence, and she has become more confident in her writing.

“I used to report news on various subjects, but now I remain focused on the collection of news and features on women’s empowerment and gender-based violence. I collect the stories of the women changemakers of my district,” Geeta explains.

She confirms that she has noticed various changes in her reporting skills after she received training by Sajhedari Bikaas.

In addition, Geeta attended two five-day capacity building trainings in 2013 and 2015. The training was organized by EAI under the Sajhedar Bikaas project. Geeta and other female journalists were trained on reporting skills, storytelling ideas, and how to increase the quality of content.

Geeta is now well known among those constituencies which are united against gender-based violence. She often meets with people by phone to gather information about GBV cases, and she is sensitive in the way she shares the difficult stories of others. Conflict sensitivity and the journalists’ code of conduct are covered in the training. They have been helpful to her for the sake of her own safety while reporting in unsafe and difficult areas.

“Now, you can read detailed stories of women in my newspaper every week which I started producing after I got the training on gender-based reporting by EAI,” she says happily.