Liberia: Daily Observer Reporter Earns Master’s Degree from European University

A Liberian journalist and women's rights advocate, Gloria Tamba, has attained a Master’s Degree in Digital Media and Film from the Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

As a prestigious tertiary institution in that part of the world, EMU was in April this year ranked first in TRNC Island and second in entire Turkey by the UK-based Times Higher Education (THE), the publisher of the world's most widely-referenced university rankings.

The conferral of this academic achievement upon Tamba, a young media practitioner who doubles as a women's rights advocate, took place on July 5, after exhausting the requirements of that university in little over a year and a half.

“With this remarkable achievement, it is my dream and aspiration to run a Digital Media Center in Liberia as an educative platform for the young people, especially women and girls,” Tamba told this reporter in a telephone interview. “And I intend to do this free of charge.”

“I’m thinking in this direction based on the fact that the media can be used to ignite positive change and bring about empowerment,” she added.

A native of Foya, Lofa County, Tamba holds a Bachelor of Public Administration and Sociology degree from the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU) in Liberia. This was after she obtained her high school diploma in 2011 from the New Jerusalem Assembly of God Mission High School in Gardnersville.

Tamba's work expertise can be divided into two categories: journalism and advocacy for adolescent girls’ and women’s empowerment. For the past ten years, she has worked with the Liberian media, uncovering and reporting on various compelling stories involving violence against women and girls, as well as politics.

She has spent most of her professional career as an agriculture and health writer for the Daily Observer Newspaper. Her work supports women, children, and survivors’ parents in their pursuit of justice by bringing perpetrators of rape and other sexual attacks against women to justice and persuading duty-bearers to act.

She is a former Executive Mansion reporter and also ran the Observer’s agricultural column "Observer Farmer" for a period of time—an opportunity she used to report extensively on agriculture, traveling throughout the country to share stories of farmers' hardships as well as local and international programs that assist Liberia's agriculture business.

As an ambitious young reporter, Gloria has also written extensively on issues concerning women's health and rights—a feat that led her to be recognized by the United States for her various reports from all sectors and went to America in 2018 on the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP), where she learned investigative journalism.

After working in print media for nearly seven years, Tamba saw the need to diversify into electronic media. She joined the Spoon Group of Companies, which owns SpoonFM/TV, in 2019 and serves as Editor.

Reminiscing on her academic sojourn in Europe, Tamba described the experience as quite difficult but rewarding. “Leaving your home, as your comfort zone, and going to another society where everything is strange is not easy. But we were able to adapt and make it,” she said.

“Firstly there were several challenges I faced ranging from the Language barrier, school fees, production materials, and financial assistance among others but they didn't stop me from reaching this far in my academic sojourn.

Despite the numerous challenges, "I stood my ground by studying tirelessly and making all of the necessary sacrifices to get to this point in Life. It's a blessing that I appreciate so much, and many thanks to everyone who supported me.”

Tamba's commitment to career development and education have led her to take advantage of training and leadership opportunities to develop her reporting and writing skills. She benefited from several USAID media development initiatives, including the Civil Society and Media Leadership (CSML) program and the Internews Health Journalism Fellowship, which were implemented through the John Hopkins HC3 program.

She was also one of the young female journalists mentored by Internews who covered the two-day 2017 Women's Colloquium. These mentorship opportunities helped in the development of her reporting and writing skills.

“These are skills that brought me to where I’m today and I’m grateful for every opportunity that came my way. I’m one person who feels that with this latest achievement the journey has just started,” she said.