An all-women media house has been launched in Somalia. The media house, Bilan Media, will be led by one of the country’s few female senior news producers.

Bilan Media is made up of six women who produce content for TV, radio and online media on issues such as gender-based violence, women in politics and female entrepreneurs.

Bilan Media is scheduled to go on air on April 25.

“We want to cover these issues and challenge societal beliefs that women should stay at home,” Nasrin Mohamed Ibrahim, the paper’s editor-in-chief, said. 

Ms Ibrahim has worked as a journalist for 12 years and is a founding member of the Somali Women Journalist Organisation. 

Fathi Mohamed Ahmed is the deputy editor, and Hinda Jama is head of gender affairs at the Somali Journalists Syndicate.  

The project has been funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Jocelyn Mason, UNDP’s resident representative in Mogadishu, expressed hope Bilan would become a permanent set-up and may also be extended into Somalia’s regions.

“We hope this will be a gamechanger for the Somali media scene, opening up new opportunities for women journalists and shining a light on subjects that have been ignored, particularly those that are important for women,” Ms Mason said.

Bilan will be run from the capital city of Mogadishu under Dalsan Media Group, one of the country’s largest media organisations.

It will cover news stories and features and provide training and mentorship from established Somali and international journalists such as the BBC’s Lyse Doucet and Razia Iqbal, Channel 4’s Lyndsey Hilsum and Mohammed Adow at Al Jazeera.