Jackline is a Senior Producer for the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), the country’s national public television and radio network. She produces a weekly 30-minute television program called Abled Differently, which profiles Kenyans with different disabilities and examines disability rights-related issues that affect their lives. The program, which airs in primetime, is the first television series in Kenya to focus people with disabilities. Several episodes are available on YouTube. In 2014, Jackline won an Annual Disability Advocacy Rights Award following the series’ success in providing a mainstream media platform for people with disabilities in Kenya. Her responsibilities include coordinating production and generating ideas for stories to be covered in Abled Differently. Jackline has produced episodes about individuals’ experiences living with specific disabilities (e.g. albinism, autism, deafness), as well as enterprising endeavors launched by people with disabilities who pursue education and employment.

Prior to taking part in the ADA International Fellowship Program in October 2017, Jackline attended the Radio Netherlands Training Center where she will be sharing and obtaining additional expertise she intends to leverage when she returns to Kenya.

Jackline is also a member of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation’s Disability Mainstreaming Committee and mentors interns with disabilities on how to become better journalists. She has used the ADA International Fellowship Program to further her work in this area. Jackline established a journalism training program for undergraduate students at her alma mater, St. Paul’s University. Jackline is a patron of the university’s journalism club and acts as a professional mentor to many students, including those with disabilities. She conducted workshops on disability-sensitive reporting and inclusive education, so that aspiring journalists become well-informed and committed to producing stories about these issues. She plans for the program to be fully inclusive and leveraged her ties to the university and the internship program she currently oversees to provide appropriate resources and the opportunity for students to broadcast their stories on Abled Differently.

In addition to trainings that will help students develop higher professional standards in reporting on inclusive education, Jackline also utilized her position as Senior Producer to provide mentoring and production support as students produce their stories. Her project thus trained emerging journalism professionals on how to cover people with disabilities and will also provide a national platform to educate the public about inclusive education.

Jackline pursued her ADA International Fellowship training at the University of Massachusetts Boston School for Global Inclusion and Social Development (UMB SGISD).

To read Jackline’s project progress report click here.