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Evaluating Media Interventions in Conflict Countries: Toward Developing Common Principles and a Community of Practice

Amelia Arsenault, Sheldon Himelfarb, Susan Abbott

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2011), 35 pp.

"A wide array of media development practitioners, donors, international broadcasters, and methodologists, all with extensive experience working in media initiatives in conflict environments met in Caux, Switzerland, in December 2010, to establish the Caux Guiding Principles, whose full text is in th ... more

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Media in Fragile Environments: The USIP Intended-Outcomes Needs Assessment Methodology
Key Guidance

Andrew Robertson, Eran Fraenkel, Emrys Schoemaker, Sheldon Himelfarb

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2011), 64 pp.

"Over the past twenty years, media interventions have become an accepted tool for conflict management. Interventions have often proven ineffective, however, because they lacked clear definition of their intended outcomes. This volume presents an Intended-Outcomes Needs Assessment methodology (IONA) ... more

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Afghanistan Media Assessment: Opportunities and Challenges for Peacebuilding

Eran Fraenkel, Emrys Shoemaker, Sheldon Himelfarb

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2010), 40 pp.

"International donor support for Afghanistan's media has had two primary goal The short-term goal has been to counteract the effects of insurgent communications in order to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. The long-term goal has been to create a free and independent media sector that w ... ill continue to function after donor support has ended. Although millions of dollars have been invested in the development of the Afghan media sector and the growth of private media since 2001 is considered one of Afghanistan's greatest success stories,neither of these donor goals is being met. Donor support for Afghan media has led to the growth of radio and television outlets that are almost entirely dependent on foreign funding - direct and indirect. Recent strategic communications policies have neither diminished nor adequately countered the presence of extremist voices in Afghanistan. Despite some examples to the contrary, Taliban communications continue to affect the lives of ordinary Afghans, whereas many communications by and from Western sources do not. Neither short- nor mid-term analysis of the Afghan economy - ranked the third poorest in the world by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) - foresees the growth of a market able to sustain Afghanistan's domestic media sector without foreign financing. The limited impact of Western communications endeavors, in conjunction with the predicted continued weakness of the Afghan economy, reveals an urgent need for a dramatic shift in the media strategies and goals pursued by the United States and its allies. First and foremost, donors should invest primarily in the Afghan media's production and dissemination of socially constructive contents rather than in building media institutions or infrastructure that the Afghan economy cannot support. For these contents to be received as authentic and credible, they must reflect the vulnerabilities and priorities that Afghans themselves have identified as vital. Donors should make a multiyear funding commitment to the media in Afghanistan. Support should be allocated to both terrestrial and wireless media through a transparent and competitive process developed jointly by donors and Afghan media experts. Aggressively supporting the dissemination of socially constructive contents through new outlets will permit access to both geographic and demographic segments of the population not adequately served by current media outlets." (Summary) more

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Can You Help me Now? Mobile Phones and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan

Sheldon Himelfarb, Cecilia Paradi-Guilford

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2010), 15 pp.

"A decade ago, mobile phone usage in Afghanistan was almost nonexistent; now there are 13 million subscriptions for a total of 29 million citizens, and the annual growth rate of subscription is estimated at 53 percent. A number of factors have fueled this dramatic increase, including the sheer popul ... more

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Media and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan

Sheldon Himelfarb

Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace (USIP) (2010), 5 pp.

"Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the Afghan media sector has experienced dramatic growth in all areas: television, radio, print, internet, mobile phones. As such, the sector holds tremendous potential for making significant contributions to peacebuilding in the country. However, the media sec ... more

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Media and Peacebuilding: The New Army Stability Doctrine and Media Sector Development