Film board seeks to grow number of women in the industry
Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau (left) presents a certificate to Grace Rao during the ACWICT and Kenya Film Classification Board (KCFB) Covid-19 Digital Employability Programme graduation ceremony held at AFRALTI grounds in Nairobi, on January 26, 2023. Looking on are Deputy High Commissioner and Permanent Representative to UNEP and UN Habitat Josephine Gauld, and KCFB Acting CEO Christopher Wambua.
What you need to know:
- KFCB is reviewing licence fees applicable in the film sector to encourage more young women to venture into the creative industry.
- According to 2019 Economic Survey, women filmmakers constituted between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the total number of film makers in the country.
Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) has started reviewing licence fees applicable in the film sector.
KFCB acting chief executive officer Christopher Wambua, said the review is part of its plan to encourage more young women to venture into the creative industry.
He said, for decades, the women have lagged behind in the creative space. According to 2019 Economic Survey, women filmmakers constituted between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the total number of film makers in the country.
“To encourage more ‘video on demand and over the top commercial audio-visual’ platform operators to venture into the local market and thus open up new opportunities to monetise your content, the board is working with the parent ministry to introduce a self-regulatory framework,” he said.
He spoke at the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute on January 26, 2023 during the graduation of 2,800 young women who had undergone a skills for employment (S4E) training programme funded by UKAid.
African Centre for Women, Information, and Communication Technology (ACWICT) partnered with Microsoft to implement the programme. KFCB saw the trainees through the audio-visual training, which involved creating competitive films.
Enabling environment
ACWICT Executive Director Constantine Obuya, said the partnership with Microsoft enabled it establish more than over 50 courses, giving the young women a diversity of career path options.
“I’m happy to report that out of the 2,800 young women that participated in the programme, 981 have already secured work,” she said.
On her part, Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau, said the government is committed to creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurs to thrive.
“You will agree with me that ICT (Information and communications technology) is the transformational catalyser across all sectors of our economy. Thus, digital transformation is at the core of the government’s agenda with the intention of easing business, creating jobs and leveraging on emerging technology,” she said.
