Atieno Otieno was recently named one of 100 young French-African Leaders of 2021 by the French-African Foundation programme. She is a multi-media and communications specialist with over 15 years experience working with local and international media companies. Atieno joined DW Akademie as a trainer in 2015 and is now a memeber of the Media Viability Consultants (MVC) community.
Atieno has spent the last four years in public service as County Director of Communications in the County Government of Kisumu. Prior to that, she’d led small and large crews to produce multimedia content for dissemination by local and international media companies notably Citizen TV, Dutch TV VPRO, ARD German TV and content for organizations such as Plan International, UNCC, Learn and the FAO. Atieno’s productions have received accolades at renowned festivals like the International Emmy Awards (NYC 2007&2009), the Prix Jeunnesse Festival (Germany 2007) and the Movies that Matter Festival (Netherlands 2010).
She holds a Masters Degree in International Journalism from Cardiff University, UK, and is a Radio Netherlands Training Centre graduate in areas of Educational content production and producing media to counter radicalization.
| What motivates you to be part of the Media Viability ecosystem?
Media is an industry I’ve been in for over 15 years. An extinct media is detrimental to not only a society’s democracy but impacts negatively on freedom of speech and access to information. These are very important to me. Our survival as media professionals also depends on a viable media. To be involved in the MVC program is a major career move for me but also my contribution to an industry I care deeply about. |
| What impact do you want to make in the media sector?
I am driven by the desire to see an independent media industry that will not budge in a repressive environment. I would like media personnel to feel safe at work with the right HR policies and procedures in place. I would like to guide stations to produce content that will resonate with their audiences and that will enable them generate revenue for their survival. |
