"This publication is a directory of the member organisaztions of the German Forum Media and Development (fome) and some of their working areas as of March 2024." (commbox)
"Is it necessary for journalists to seek refuge with foreign agencies to escape national governmental and policy restrictions? Should journalism education rely on international support, or is it feasible to detach it from foreign development collaboration? Should education be viewed as a business or
...
commodity? Is any international development support sustainable within the local context? Is free thinking truly free from the structural constraints of slavery and financial influence? Is absolute freedom a utopian ideal or a tangible reality? These inquiries, coupled with corresponding philosophical methodologies, aim to evaluate the structure, constituents, excellence, and norms of current journalism education programs. The goal is to uncover if and to what extent international media development organizations sway journalism education programs during the transition phase (2011–2021) in Myanmar or beyond.
2011 marked a turning point, as the military-supported government of Myanmar granted media professionals the ability to exercise their fundamental rights to express themselves and access information. The government has taken a number of favorable measures towards the democratic path, such as partially lifting censorship from several news publications, authorizing private daily newspapers, approving new television channels, establishing a press council, and permitting journalist unions and associations. The formation of the quasi-elected government in 2015 brought renewed hope. However, the military coup at the beginning of 2021 has once again impeded progress towards a democratic environment, and fundamental rights such as access to information and freedom of speech. Capacity building facilities for journalists and media professionals remain an important aspect of the democratic process in the country." (Publisher description)
more
"Fojo’s objective for the strategy period is: Working with partners, we strengthen journalism that contributes to the sustainability of the media and society; safeguards its independence; holds power to account. Based on this objective and our Theory of Change, we have defined four strategic resul
...
ts: 1. The further development and dissemination of the concept sustainable journalism; 2. Strengthening the ability of journalists and media producers to produce sustainable journalism; 3. Collaboration with media producers to further develop sustainable economic models; 4. Strengthening Fojo’s internal systems, procedures and specialist competencies and creating a diversified, long-term funding model to implement this strategy. Our expectation is that by the end of the strategy period we will have achieved four strategic results." (Page 11)
more
"This article tries to show that media development work could be based less on the idea of cooperation, but rather be perceived as a dominance of foreign funding countries and their politics. Taking this view, the donor organisations’ perceived dominance in controlling the entire process and meeti
...
ng their requirements seem to be more important than establishing relationships built on trust with the actors on site, and openness to adjust projects and funds to local needs on a more ad hoc basis. Based on a literature review and two case studies in India and Ghana, Elbers, Knippenberg and Schulpen (2014) explain why the approach to control often wins over the approach of trust; and what this means for development cooperation. According to them, the approach to control is based on the phenomenon of “development managerialism” where “[e]ffectiveness, efficiency and transparency became key principles” (page 1). Here, trust is replaced by indicators that can be controlled and measured to guarantee effectiveness and efficiency and justify funding decisions. At this point, it needs to be mentioned that donors and other funding organizations themselves have to be accountable to their central auditing authorities in their respective home countries. Thus, the focus on controlling the process at the expense of neglecting empowerment and autonomy of the recipients maybe beyond their control or intention." (Page 8)
more
"At a general level the partners have been very satisfied with the IMS partnership, with an average rating on 4.53 out of 5. The comments further support the appreciation by the partners of the partnership with IMS: 'We are so proud of our IMS-partnership because the organisation treats us as a true
...
and equal partner rather than just a grantee. This is what makes IMS partnership special and appreciative'; 'IMS has allowed us to continue our creative work, network and remain relevant in our sector.'
The majority of partners work mainly within content production and public interest media. Capacity development on content was found most effective compared to other types of capacity development, and 74 percent of respondents reported that capacity development had big positive or very big positive effect. None of the partners found it to have had a limited effect or no effect at all. The survey showed that 72 percent of respondents found that their content had improved as a result of the capacity development." (Executive summary)
more
"The Internews Partnership Survey was distributed to all organizations that have received funding through Internews between January 2019 and March 2020. Our goal is to better understand their experience working with Internews and how we can best serve their needs and strengthen these relationships.
...
moving forward. It was distributed to a list of 750 individuals in each region Internews works who are listed as primary contacts for Internews subawards. A total of 209 people responded to the full survey [...] Respondents lived and worked in more than 55 different countries around the world. Overall, respondents said collaboration with Internews is a positive experience and would like to continue working with us in future projects. On a rating from 1-5 with 5 being the best, Internews received an average score of 4.54. More than half of respondents said their experience working with Internews is better than other organizations from which they receive funding, while 41% said it was equal, and 0.5% (five people) said it was worse. Partners would like more support in several areas, including budgets and financial reports; documenting activities, successes, and challenges of projects; and institutional support, such as trainings, capacity building, and technical support. Specifically, partners would like more training in human rights and journalism, as well as technical training, such as leadership, project implementation, fundraising, and IT. We also noted that about half of respondents said Internews assisted them with strategic planning, and all of those (81 of 81) said it was useful." (Executive summary)
more
This Code of Ethics serves to inform beneficiaries, donors and the public of the internal guidelines, whereby IMS maintains the highest standards of integrity, governance, financial management, partnerships and implementation of our mission. This Code of Ethics consists of three parts: A brief intro
...
duction to IMS; Guiding Principles (principles must be adhered to, when in a business relationship with IMS); Code of Conduct (outlines mandatory courses of action for specific situations). The principles and the standards of conduct set out in this Code of Ethics must be adhered to by: (List is non-exhaustive) IMS staff, Members of the board of IMS, Entities and/or individuals partnering with IMS, Consultants hired by IMS. Failure to comply may lead IMS to terminate the relevant business relationship. The IMS Code of Ethics takes inspiration from the Code of Ethics adopted by the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations on 5 March 2005.
more
"This article aims to fill a gap in the academic literature on how employees at a media development intermediary construct meaning of their work. Based on in-depth interviews with 18 employees of Internews, this research shows that employees believe the organization has “evolved” from the past t
...
o include the entire “information ecosystem” today. Themes that emerged include a focus on information as a solution, an emphasis on local communities, the desire to give voice to marginalized communities, and a practice of listening. Interviewees strictly adhered to official narratives of their work and to contemporary development orthodoxy, perhaps because of group think and participant bias. Despite these narratives, we have to consider the ulterior motives of media development as a neocolonial project. Although some of the results may seem obvious, there is merit in documenting these findings to demystify media development work today." (Abstract)
more
"GFMD members welcome the international recognition of media and journalism issues within the overall international development agenda, noting the common language it provides and the accountability tool it may offer towards encouraging governments (including donor countries) to live up to their comm
...
itments. Some members caution, however, that there are risks in viewing 16.10, and the SDGs in general, both too broadly and too narrowly. This includes, for example, the wider parameters of access to information – which applies not only to journalists, but to civil society organisations, citizens, and others – as well as a danger that access to information might overshadow attention to violence agai nst journalists. Others suggest that 16.10 should be seen in the overall context of Goal 16 – that is: peace, justice, and public institutions – to ensure that media-related assistance continues to look at the fuller enabling environment of laws, policies, and actors that ensure plurality, safety, and viability. Furthermore, some GFMD members caution against getting stuck in the “silo” of 16.10. These members remind of the need to demonstrate that media and information are not just rights in and unto themselves, but they can also be enabling rights for others – such as gender equality and the environment – and thus important and relevant for the whole SDG agenda. This does not suggest instrumentalising media for the sake of contributing to other SDGs, but rather strengthening the role of media in serving as a watchdog, holding governments accountable, informing the public, providing a voice for the voiceless, and offering a platform for debate.10 The leading concern about an SDG approach, however, is that it is ill-suited for authoritarian governments that not only reject the international development agenda, but also international standards on human rights." (Conclusions)
more
"In the 1990s following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in Germany and the death of Apartheid in South Africa, several cross-national initiatives were undertaken in Africa to strengthen the role of the media in nascent democracies. Some 30 years later, several of these initiatives are dead while the
...
surviving ones are on the brink of folding. This discussion takes a critical historic synopsis by exploring the conjectural and chronological foundations for such media initiatives, in particular, in the Southern African Development Community [MISA, SAMDEF and NSJ Centre]. It concludes that while much was accomplished, these foreign-inspired endeavours are no longer valid, useable or germane and ought to be abandoned. That way, Africa shall define its own urgencies, priorities and destiny without the external stimulus." (Abstract)
more
"2016 marks a new phase for Free Press Unlimited. The funding cycle of the Dutch Co-financing for development (MFS) ends in 2015. Free Press Unlimited was active in 5 alliances set up under that system, representing roughly one third of its annual turnover. In 2016 a new long term grant from the Dut
...
ch Ministry of For eign Affairs will start, coinciding with the formation of Free Press Unlimited’s new strategy. The organisational strategy already foreseen in the Multi Annual Strategic Plan (2013 – 2017) has gained clarity, substance and body in 2015. Last year, besides the aid-development cycle and the existing larger projects for Youth and Media and the Sudan, large projects have been developed for Syria, a growing technology portfolio, as well as the Russian Language Area. The organisational strategy is paired with a thematic focus, build around 5 themes and for all these themes a Theory of Chance has been defined. The themes are: 1. Safety for Journalists; 2. Media and Accountability; 3. Journalism in Conflict Areas; 4. Gender and Media; 5. Children, Youth and Media. To execute the new strategy and operational these new themes, it is also necessary to have a suitable and matching Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) system in place within the organisation. Free Press Unlimited believes that PME should also have a learning aspect incorporated. Therefore, we have devised the MEAL system. MEAL stands for Monitoring and Evaluation for Accountability and Learning. Planning, of course, will be an essential part as well. The preparation for this adjusted PME-system is in full process with implementation starting as of January 2016. This new system will be used for all Free Press Unlimited’s projects as well as for the partners we work with. More information about MEAL can be found in chapter 6." (Management Summary, page 3)
more
"According to the methodology (page 81-82), the basis of this research "is a rhetorical analysis of literature concerning journalism training programs conducted by international development organizations in South Sudan since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in order to determine the valu
...
es and priorities of these organizations and understand how they view the role of media and how this impacts their approach to training. A rhetorical analysis is based on the idea of rhetoric being “writing and language with intent” (McCloskey 1994)—in this case, the intent being to persuade donors, taxpayers, even participants that the trainings are necessary and beneficial to the recipient country’s wellbeing." The author concludes (page 90) that "the ethical questions facing media development are not very different from those faced by the larger international development sector as a whole. Though media development superficially appears to be more value-neutral than other sectors, in reality it is just as steeped in the modernization paradigm and promotion of one culture’s values over another’s." (commbox)
more