"The past five years have seen a mushrooming of media development organisations and media outlets. The period has also seen greater and better-coordinated civic activism in support of media development. There has generally been a diversity of media content, reflecting the plurality of media outlets.
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There has been more legislative and policy change, although, in some cases, the state has proved to be a stumbling block in the implementation of the laws. There is evidence of a diversity of media development initiatives in Zambia – some of these are originated and financially supported by the media themselves while others are a partnership between media support organisations and donors. There is a need for the involvement of multiple actors in any media development initiative, as evidenced in the success of a multi-stakeholder campaign for legislative reforms and the withdrawal of VAT on newspapers and magazines. Media development activities need to have an inbuilt sustainability plan in order to have a lasting impact. Donor support needs to have less conditionality and promote the recipient’s independence and innovativeness." (Summary & conclusions, page 66)
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"There are a number of media players in Zimbabwe, in the private and state media, NGOs and training institutions, who have a keen interest in the development of the media in Zimbabwe. The majority of interviewees see the enactment of Zimbabwe’s media laws as the key change that has taken place ove
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r the past five years, although opinion differs as to whether these laws are progressive or not. While the government sees media laws as progressive, NGOs and the private media argue that these laws have diminished the democratic space through the closure of newspapers and the intimidation and arrest of media workers. Organisations in Zimbabwe have had to change strategy in line with the changing political and economic environment. The impact of media development initiatives varies, depending on the organisation or sector in question. In terms of the transformation of the state media (in particular the public broadcaster), minimal impact has been recorded." (Summary & conclusions, page 71)
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"There have been significant changes in the Botswanan media in the past five years. Some of the changes noted include the recent proliferation of newspapers and the partial freeing of the airwaves by the Botswanan government, which has led to the setting up of two new commercial radio stations. Ther
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e has been some improvement in the content and quality of reportage in various media. There have been changes in the legislative and regulatory framework prevailing in the country. More training opportunities have opened up and there is now professional development of journalists – especially following the establishment of the first and only journalism school in the form of the Media Studies Department in the Humanities Faculty of the University of Botswana. Before this, most journalists in Botswana were trained abroad, mainly in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, South Africa and various other African countries. Several NGOs in the country are also now involved in the mentoring and training of journalists and media workers at various levels. There have been developments in self-regulation, the establishment of media pressure groups, and a commitment to professionalism in the media – particularly with the establishment of the Press Council of Botswana, the Media Advisory Council and the Botswana Editors’ Forum." (Summary & conclusions, page 66)
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"The following changes have taken place over the past five years: media laws have been enacted; a legal framework is in place with the Press Law and Broadcast Law, and the creation of a favourable environment for media development; the Ethiopian Broadcast Authority has been established to issue lice
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nces for private broadcasters (though not enough); expansion of both state and private media – especially the increase in the number of papers, the opening of regional radio and community radio (though insignificant in number); expanded coverage of state media and an increase in the number of languages used; schools of journalism have opened in different universities; training institutes have been forced to upgrade their programmes, revise their syllabuses, and upgrade the quality of their teaching staff; some media institutions have begun to consider quality and diversity of content." (Summary & conclusions, page 69)
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"The media play an important role in stimulating discussion in developing countries. Yet journalists asked by Panos say that the media have a poor understanding of the climate change debate and express little interest in it. Public discussion of the policies and issues involved is urgently needed. T
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his means those engaged in climate change issues must give journalists what they need for a good story." (Page 1)
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"This research initiative assessed the key media changes and developments in seventeen African countries over the past five years and aimed at recommending intervention strategies for strengthening an independent, professional media sector. The summary report presents the main findings regarding med
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ia landscapes, media legislation, media technology and equipment, journalism training and principles of media development. According to this publication "substantial evidence is provided that points to: non-sustainable and short-term approaches to projects; disconnected programmes; unneccesary competition amongst donors; and, consequently wasted investment of donor funds" (Page 15). In addition, individual country reports have been released, written by renowned African media specialists and researchers. They include: Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Each country report consists of three sections: 1) Media sector developments, 2) Challenges for future media development activities, 3) Case study: illustrating good practice in media development." (commbox)
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"A practical step-by-step guide for self-publishers how to run a successful publishing operation, from manuscript preparation, design and production, through to distribution and marketing and promotion." (Hans M. Zell, Publishing, Books & Reading in Sub-Saharan Africa, 3d ed. 2008, nr. 2511)
"The paper presents an overview of three areas of democracy assistance in Mozambique between 1994 and 2005. Support to elections appears as the most prominent sector of democracy assistance in both financial and political terms. External actors have effectively influenced some technical areas and co
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ntributed to institutional development (the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration [STAE] and some civil society organisations [CSOs]), but overall electoral support has not resulted in furthering the quality of democratic practice. Human rights assistance covers support to the justice sector, the police and civil society. The fragmented justice sector proved to be a very complex partner and expectations of progress were often frustrated. Major efforts were made during the period under review to (re)train police officers on a massive scale, but the effect of the training has not yet resulted in a marked change of corporate behaviour, also because the training was not complemented in a timely fashion by structural reforms. Media assistance was only modest in scope. The one major initiative that was undertaken resulted in wider coverage of the elections by national radio, the establishment of some community radio stations and technical support given to independent print media. Nevertheless, it is felt that the proliferation and improvement of media initiatives did effectively contribute to furthering democratic values." (Executive summary)
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"In passing and implementing the Access to Information Act 2002, Jamaica has established a new and more open form of governance and accomplished what many other countries are still attempting. The Act, which provides citizens an enforceable right to official documents held by public authorities, is
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key to enhancing democracy, ensuring citizens’ participation, and building greater trust in Government decision making. Access to public documents can assist citizens in exercising their other fundamental socioeconomic rights, such as the right to housing, appropriate health care, and a clean and healthy environment, and it can serve to make government more efficient and effective. Passing an access to information law is, relatively speaking, easy in comparison to the practise of implementation, which can be challenging for any country. Successful implementation of an open information regime requires a commitment of resources (human, financial, and time), preparation of public bodies, development of procedures, change in culture and behaviours, and expertise. It is clear that the Jamaican Government and its public authorities, who entered into effect in phases with the final large group beginning in July 2005, have made great progress in the implementation of the Act including training of civil servants in the law and best practices. Many of the efforts in Jamaica serve as a model for other jurisdictions. However, as with any new regime there is the potential for constructive reform and advancement." (Introduction)
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"This book presents conceptual and methodological issues related to the use of communication in order to facilitate participation among stakeholders in natural resource management (NRM) initiatives. It also presents a collection of chapters that focus on participatory development communication and N
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RM, particularly in Asia and Africa. There are many approaches and practices in development communication, and most of them have been implemented in the field of environment and natural resource management. But, even when considering participatory approaches in NRM, communication is often limited to information dissemination activities that mainly use printed materials, radio programmes and educational videos to send messages, explain technologies or illustrate activities. These approaches, with their strengths and weaknesses, have been well documented.
Participatory development communication takes another perspective. This form of communication facilitates participation in a development initiative identified and selected by a community, with or without the external assistance of other stakeholders. The terminology has been used in the past by a number of scholars to stress the participatory approach of communication in contrast with its more traditional diffusion approach. Others refer to similar approaches as participatory communication for development, participatory communication or communication for social change.
In this publication, participatory development communication is considered to be a planned activity that is based on participatory processes and on media and interpersonal communication. This communication facilitates dialogue among different stakeholders around a common development problem or goal. The objective is to develop and implement a set of activities that contribute to a solution to the problem or the realization of a goal, and which support and accompany this initiative. This kind of communication requires moving from a focus on information and persuasion to facilitating exchanges between different stakeholders to address a common problem, to develop a concrete initiative for experimenting with possible solutions, and to identify the partnerships, knowledge and materials needed to support these solutions." (Preface)
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"This brief report has been prepared as a guideline to participants and those they work with to help them put participatory video into practice and deepen their application of rights-based strategies in their work. It traces through the process of the workshop held in Hargeisa, from 2 until 9 Decemb
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er 2006. Samuel Musyoki of the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, was the lead facilitator of the workshop. Thus much of this material draws from his work. Technical video use and exercises draw from Insights into Participatory Video, A Handbook for the Field, Nick and Chris Lunch, Insight, 2006, and Video for Change; a practical guide for activists, Witness, 2000. The facilitation tools also draw from a whole range of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) principles and methods. PLA refers to ways of working with people through active and direct involvement for facilitating sharing, learning, discovering and action. PLA methods start from the belief that people know and are capable of identifying and sharing issues (life situations), analyzing and learning from their analysis and thus developing strategies and action for addressing the situations. They use visual methods, interactive processes and group learning; put emphasis on enabling people to speak up and out; and are committed to generating knowledge for action (rather than simply for understanding)." (Pages 4-5)
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"As part of its initiatives to make Information and Communication Technology (ICT) work for the poor, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with four countries in east Africa initiated and carried out a joint project on Pro-Poor ICT. The said countries are Kenya, Rwanda, T
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anzania and Uganda. Primarily, the project aims at designing a community-owned network that will empower the poor people especially in rural areas by providing them with reliable and adequate access to ICT resources and facilities. Furthermore, such resources and facilities will be shared among the people in the area to bring down the operational costs hence ensure affordability to the majority without compromising the quality. In the process consultants from each of the four countries were engaged. Each of the consultants were given nearly the same terms of reference (ToR) to see to it that they all deliver uniform research outcomes that are, of course, tailored to the specificities of a given country. In Tanzania, consultants were from the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and the Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH). A case study for Tanzania was completed in Bugabo Division of Bukoba District in Kagera Region. The area is in the lake zone along Lake Victoria. The population in Bugabo is about 40,000 people (2002 Census). It is proposed to implement a non-line of sight wireless technology network such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) to cover the division. The major proposed services to be offered by such a local wireless network are Voice and Data. Since the area does not have adequate coverage of GSM Network services, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) facility was proposed. Initial investment cost for the entire project was estimated to US$ 84,040 details of which can be viewed in the report. The annual current cost for the first year was estimated to US$ 93,008 and the annual income for the first year of operation was estimated to US$ 258,000. Section four of the report clearly outlines details of the estimates for initial investment cost, current annual cost, income and expenditure." (Executive summary)
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