"[...] Few aspects of Liberian society have suffered more under UNMIL than the media, which is critical for any young democracy but all the more so for one emerging from civil war. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.N. mission itself, and other donors have spent more than $
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10 million since 2003 to develop a robust independent media market capable of holding Liberia’s leaders accountable — only to watch UNMIL turn around and build a media behemoth that monopolized the country’s talent, resources, and audience, making it impossible for smaller outlets to compete. UNMIL Radio, the U.N. mission’s flagship media outfit, has a budget of $1.4 million this year — more than the annual revenue of the country’s commercial media combined. We are not aware of a media market in any other democratic country where one player so dominates all others in terms of revenue and resources. And there’s a massive misrepresentation at the heart of UNMIL Radio’s presence in Liberia. Although it now masquerades as an independent media outlet, operating in the same radio space as other news providers and delivering a product that looks like that of other news providers, the U.N. shows little interest or aptitude for the hard, dirty work of independent journalism. It claims to set a standard for journalism in the country but then fails to deliver on the industry’s most important responsibility — holding leaders, not just Liberia’s but the U.N.’s own, to account."
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"This map shows the locations of radio stations in Liberia." (Internews website)
"Examines how policymakers, the donor community, and the private sector have prioritized and sequenced ICT initiatives in the aftermath of conflict. Case studies look at countries at different stages of post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan, Liberia, Rwanda and Timor-Leste, and postrevolution
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in Tunisia. In addition, the report proposes a conceptual framework to understand how ICTs can contribute to improving service delivery and assisting with nation-building. The opening of the report gives an overview of the relationship between conflict, reconstruction, and the role of ICTs. It builds on experience within the Bank as well as on a wide range of practitioner, academic, and other literature. The second seeks to establish a framework for understanding the ways in which ICTs interact with societies in transition from violence to stability, and for leveraging their potential to further that transition. The roots of this lie in understanding two fields of study, policy and practice: analysis of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction, and analysis of ICTs and the development of an information society. three then analyses the relationship between these two fields and proposes a framework for analysis and policy development. The fourth makes a number of recommendations to the World Bank Group, to other donors and development actors, as well as to the governments of countries emerging from violent conflict, and suggests areas for further research." (Back cover)
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"Out of a total 400 participants, 374 respondents, representing 93.5%, know how to use cell phones, while 26, representing 6.5%, have no knowledge whatsoever about cell phone usage. This finding is indicative of a relatively high knowledge of mobile phones utility. The result also indicates that Lon
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estar has the highest penetration level of 35%. Among the most frequently used GSM networks, Lonestar Cell registered the highest amount of users, 44.6% (146) while Cellcom is 17.1% (56). Novafone has the lowest level of usage 0.6% (2). As a result of advancement in technology with mobile phones now equipped with dual SIM carriages; about 37% (121) respondents are dual subscribers. On the usage of mobile phones to listen to radio, the result shows that of the 326 (83%) participants who own cell phones, 217 of these respondents, representing 58.5% use their phones to listen to radio, while 135 respondents, representing 36.4% do not use their phones to listen to radio. The regularity of using mobile phones to listen to radio varies. Illiteracy was found to be the major cause of inability to access SMS on phones by 53.9% of the respondents. Usage of mobile phones to send messages on women issues to women is very low. Only 53 respondents (15.6%) said they do send messages on women issues, while a whopping 247 (72.9%) responded in the negative. Receiving messages on women rights¡¦ issue is also low with only 75 (22.9%) admitting receiving such messages on their phones and 208 (63.6%) of respondents don't receive such messages. The finding also reveals that radio is the most frequent source of news and information with 77% (292) of respondents citing radio as the most frequent source of news and information. Radio is also the most trusted source of information with UNMIL radio being the most listened to radio station. Access to quality of information by women is less than encouraging. Of the participants in the survey, 48% of the respondents (190) believe women have access to quality information while 22.5% (89) don't believe so and 107 (27%) don't know." (Executive summary)
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"The application of international humanitarian law (IHL) to conflicts in Africa has been the subject of some scholarly and much journalistic discourse about the ending of ‘impunity’ and an extension of the normative principles of transitional justice. The trials conducted by the Special Court fo
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r Sierra Leone (SCSL) were brought to audiences in both countries by a media that has had scant experience in grappling with such weighty jurisprudential concepts. A research project is examining attitudes towards the reporting of two of those trials. This article discusses preliminary findings from the research and argues that the media is performing a wider role in legitimizing post-Conflict governance by providing a platform for civil society organizations." (Abstract)
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"This case study analyses the intersection between radio, gender and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Specifically, it examines whether recent improvements in radio broadcast coverage and the spread of SMS technology are increasing women’s acce
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ss to information and providing them with a platform that adequately meets their needs. The findings show that, despite cultural and socio-economic barriers, women enjoy listening to radio and want to contribute to debates in their local public sphere. For today’s younger women, it has become easier to overcome traditional obstacles to expressing themselves publicly, as well as to embrace the newest communication technologies, such as text messaging, that allow them access to a public platform. However, it is still difficult to get ordinary women of all ages to communicate with their local radio. Community radio is a male-dominated entity that often consigns women’s programming to a narrow interpretation of gender issues, focused on women’s roles as wives, mothers and homemakers, and does not address the listening needs of women as political and economic actors in their own right." (Executive summary)
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"The media sector in West Africa has seen significant region-wide improvements, attributable not just to improvements in isolated cases but to general improvements in all countries. Nevertheless, despite general improvement, aspects of the media sector lag behind others, including: 1) government har
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assment of journalists, 2) weak or lacking media criticism of government, 3) unequal distribution of citizen access to media, and 4) gender imbalance among journalists. Countries where the media sector is faring less well than in other nations are Guinea, Nigeria, and Togo. Detailed analysis of four critical indicators reveals that: government censorship persists even in relatively democratic countries like Benin and Senegal, and remains a major problem in Togo and Guinea; government harassment of journalists is occurring in several countries, particularly Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Benin, and Senegal; media bias has diminished across the region compared to the past, except in Nigeria; media corruption is very significant in most West African countries. The problem may now be the region's largest single threat to democratic rights in this sector." (Executive summary)
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"Through case studies, analysis of emerging practices, and theoretical discussion, a team of leading journalism and communication experts investigate the impact of major global trends on responsible journalism and lead readers to better understand changes in media ethics. Chapters look at how these
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changes promote or inhibit responsible journalism, how such changes challenge existing standards, and how media ethics can develop to take account of global news media. In light of the fact that media journalism is now, and will increasingly become, multimedia in format and global in its scope and influence, the book argues that global media impact entails global responsibilities: It is therefore critical that media ethics rethinks its basic notions, standards, and practices from a more cosmopolitan perspective." (Publisher description)
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"This report is the cluster evaluation of 12 UNDEF-supported projects related to the media. It concerns projects that either focused on media capacity building or included a significant element of work with the media. The projects were implemented between 2007 and 2011; they lasted between 12 and 24
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months. The total budget of the 12 projects was US$3.519m (including evaluation costs of US$20,000 to 25,000 per project). Eleven of the projects covered individual countries – six projects in Africa (two of which in Sierra Leone), four in Asia, one in Europe – and one was global. National civil society organizations (CSOs) implemented four of the projects, while international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or their local affiliates implemented the other eight." (Executive summary)
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"The current document is a report on CSML’s [Civil Society and Media Leadership Program] efforts to support the 2011 presidential and legislative elections, primarily through IREX’s Liberian media partners and civil society organizations. It is also hoped that the document will serve as a guide
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for supporting electoral processes through media development in other countries in West Africa and beyond. The report provides a brief background into the context in which the elections and national referendum were held, lists critical assumptions considered as each intervention was designed, a detailed explanation of how interventions were conducted, and an overview of the results of the Initiative. The document also outlines lessons learned throughout the process and makes recommendations for the future of media development in Liberia." (Foreword)
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"Star Radio, one of Liberia’s leading nationally broadcast radio stations, went off-air at the end of 2010 following a staff strike. Started as an international project with funding from international donors, the station did not have the capacity to compete in a challenging market when donor fundi
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ng stopped; financial problems were what ultimately resulted in the staff grievances. Staff perceptions that the station’s management lacked independence, however, prolonged the stand-off, which proved impossible for the station to overcome. In uncovering these dynamcis and exploring Star’s role in the media landscape, this study highlights a number of important issues about media development in post-conflict countries. As a review of the current literature about media development reveals, the liberal democratic principles upon which media development was founded often lead to prioritizing support for both local and private media. In contexts of peacebuilding, however, both national and public service-style media may be of critical importance to the concurrent state-building and nationbuilding exercises. Using interviews to understand the issues that led to Star Radio’s closure, this study argues that it may be impossible for stations attempting to provide national public service to be either fully commercial or partially state-financed. In such cases, it is important for all actors to prioritize the value of public service-style media, rather than focusing on a debate between the value of the two business models: private- versus public-sector media. Delinking the concept of public service from public sector and embedding media development needs within broader national development strategies may allow media development and development actors to identify more creative approaches to supporting public service-style media." (Abstract)
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"Modern rich digital media (such as interactive systems with audio and video as well as text) have not been robustly deployed as a tool in the processes of peace-building, healing and reconciliation in nations emerging from civil conflict. This article studies the use of rich digital media in Liberi
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a, a country that has only recently emerged from a protracted and intense civil war. The authors demonstrate that, when rich digital media are used to target processes of truth and reconciliation, they enhance Liberians’ feeling of self-efficacy – their self-assessed sense of personal competence to deal effectively with stressful situations. This increased self-efficacy was not present in a control group. The authors argue that self-efficacy is a critical component for forgiveness and truth-telling which, in turn, is a fundamental process in reconciliation and healing. These results are based on a survey of over 100 Liberians in Monrovia, the capital city. Participants interacted with a rich digital media system, took pre- and post-interaction self-efficacy inventories, and responded to additional questions. The findings suggest that rich digital media focused on truth and reconciliation can contribute to post-Conflict healing." (Abstract)
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This publication outlines four communication approaches used by United Nations organizations: (i) behaviour change communication; (ii) communication for social change; (iii) communication for advocacy; and (iv) strengthening an enabling media and communications environment. The second part provides
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an in-depth exploration of Communication for Development efforts within seven United Nations agencies, programmes and funds: FAO, ILO, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF and WHO, followed by case studies that demonstrate C4D in practice either as part of a larger project or as a ‘stand alone’ project contributing to the strategic objectives of the organization.
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"L'Afrique dans son ensemble : 28 chapitres présentant le continent par rapport au reste du monde. Tous les aspects de la géographie physique : relief, hydrographie, climat, végétation, et aussi l'histoire, les religions, les langues. L'Afrique par régions. Les cartes de localisation avec visua
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lisation géopolitique aisée, toponymie française et toponymie des Nations unies, indexation. L'Afrique pays par pays. Par ordre alphabétique les cinquante-quatre Etats du continent et les territoires dépendants (La Réunion, Mayotte, Ceuta et Melilla, etc...) - Nombreuses cartes illustrant : relief, hydrographie, agriculture, pêche et élevage, commerce, industries et ressources du sous-sol." (Description de la maison d'édition)
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"Women on the air are usually viewed through a traditional model - in the context of their relationship to their husbands or children – and not as individual beings with a broad range of interests and needs. As a result, radio does not currently meet the needs of women, and women do not participat
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e as much as they would normally otherwise be willing to do. For the latest generation of young women, it has become easier to overcome traditional cultural obstacles as well as to embrace the newest technologies that allow them access to a public platform. However it is still difficult to get ordinary women – of all ages – to come and talk on the radio about their experiences, opinions and interests. This will not change without an increase in women radio presenters and contributors – more women's voices need to be broadcast, and outside of the stereotypical contexts, to encourage greater female ownership in community radio." (Executive summary)
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