Winner of the 2024
One World Media
Press Freedom Award
For their courage in challenging taboos and bringing new stories to light in one of the most dangerous palaces to be a journalist: https://oneworldmedia.org.uk/latest/highlights-from-the-36th-one-world-media-awards-ceremony/
Farhio Mohamed Hussein, Editor-in-Chief and Reporter.
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We're a team of passionate thinkers and doers, dedicated to building with purpose and clarity. Collaboration and curiosity drive everything we do.
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We believe in keeping things simple, smart, and human. Every project starts with listening and ends with something we're proud to share.
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From startups to seasoned brands, we partner with people who care about doing things right—and doing them well.
Farhio Mohamed Hassan has served as Editor-in-Chief of Bilan Media since December 2025. She has been a journalist for 10 years, beginning her career at Aman Radio and Hatuf Radio while studying Journalism and Mass Communication at Mogadishu’s Modern University for Science and Technology. She later worked as a producer and editor for Dalsan Media Group and BBC Media Action.
“So many of my female colleagues have left the profession because of harassment and a lack of opportunities,” she says. “But I stuck it out because I believe women as well as men need to bring Somalia’s difficulties into the open, however difficult it may be.”
Farhio is passionate about telling the stories of women in rural areas, particularly those involved in agriculture and small businesses. She hopes to highlight their achievements and challenge stereotypes that often portray rural Somali women only as victims of drought, floods, and conflict.
Bilan Media is Somalia’s only all-women media team
Telling the stories we want to tell in the way we want to tell them
“What a privilege to meet this brave team of journalists telling new stories & telling them so well. #Somalia.”
— Lyse Doucet, BBC Chief International Correspondent
Bilan in the news
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El País
Global award for Somali journalists who stand up to those who believe they should be “in the kitchen”
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The Guardian
Somalia to launch its first current affairs TV show led by women
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Reuters
Somalia’s all-female newsroom spotlights female taboos
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Le Monde
« Bilan », le premier média 100 % féminin qui brise les tabous
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Okay Africa
What it’s like to…be a journalist in Somalia’s only all-women newsroom
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The Guardian
All-female newsroom launched in Somalia to widen media’s scope
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Radio France
Bilan Média, première rédaction 100% féminine en Somalie
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BBC
Somalia all-female media unit breaking stereotypes
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Al Jazeera
“We are not scared; we will tell our stories” - introducing Somalia’s first women-only newsroom
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AFP
Women-only media start-up wants to fight stigma in Somalia
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CGTN
Somali female journalists take the lead in changing the narrative
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VoA
First all-women media outlet opens in Somalia’s capital
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Vanity Fair
Somalia, nasce la prima redazione di sole donne
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EFE
Bilan, el primer medio de comunicación somalí formado sólo por mujeres
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Radio Popolare
Bilan, a Mogadiscio nasce la prima redazione giornalistica tutta al femminile
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Suddeutsche Zeitung
Berichten und überleben
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Deutsche Welle
What happens when women have the power to decide what stories they want to tell and how they want to share them?
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Christian Science Monitor
“How an all-women news outlet is changing Somalia’s media landscape”
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BBC Swahili
Tunabadili dhana potofu kwamba wanawake hukutana ili kusengenya
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Voice of America
In Somalia, Women Journalists Are Changing the Narrative
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BBC
Somalia’s all-women media team breaking the stereotypes
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The Guardian
It’s dangerous being a female journalist in Somalia. But, one year on, we are still shining our light
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El País
Romper moldes en Somalia con un periodismo hecho solo por mujeres
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CGTN
Somalia’s female journos find their voices through all-women media platform
“Thanks for having me do a masterclass for Team Bilan. More excellent women journalists, covering stories affecting women in the whole region, is exactly what's needed.”
— Rageh Omaar, presenter, ITV
A team that can make a difference
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Hinda
CHIEF EDITOR
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Farhio
REPORTER
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Kiin
REPORTER
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Naciima
REPORTER
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Shukri
REPORTER
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Ifrah
OPERATIONS
“Great to speak to this stellar group of pioneering women journalists and hope they get many commissions from editors far and wide.”
— Mishal Husain, presenter, BBC News at Ten and Today Programme
Bilan on film
“It was my pleasure to talk with the excellent young journalists of @MediaBilan.”
— Lindsey Hilsum, international editor, Channel 4 News
Internship programme
Bilan's internship programme offers a way for recent journalism graduates to take their first steps in this challenging career in a supportive and highly professional environment.
They have the chance to work part time for six months at the Bilan offices, producing stories with Bilan's team of journalists and joining masterclasses and other training opportunities.
“Bilan’s insights, storytelling ability and sheer existence have the potential to inform and inspire us all.”
— Anna Holligan, foreign correspondent, BBC
Reporting highlights
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Inside the beauty pageant in one of the world’s worst places to be a woman
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The dilemma of displaced women in Mogadishu
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The Global South needs more female journalists
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The inspiring women of Somalia
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Somalia's football pitch that doubles as an execution ground
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How failed migrants thrive and contribute to development back home
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‘The river took it all’: Somalis wait for waters to recede as floods kill dozens
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Somalis with albinism: Pelted with stones and raw eggs
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Shunned and homeless: Living with HIV in Somalia
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Menstruation education urgently needed in schools (in Somali)
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It’s dangerous being a female journalist in Somalia. But, one year on, we are still shining our light
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What’s driving some Somali mothers to poison their babies?
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Mothers ‘rent out’ babies for begging and poison their children to survive drought in Somalia
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‘I poison my children in order to survive’: The terrible toll of Somalia’s drought
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Challenging taboos in Somalia: the young female farmers studying agriculture and farming
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Women are expected to keep their mouths shut here in Somalia. But not any more
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Somalia's opioid overdose: Young, female and addicted
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Race against time to vaccinate against measles in Somalia (in Spanish)
Find out how Bilan will make a difference for Somali women’s journalism