"1. It is of utmost importance to provide wider access to data sources on the sector, many of which are still confidential. This is particularly the case for baseline studies and ex-post evaluations of projects. The sector's learning process is hampered by limited access to data and contact persons
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[...] 2. In order to broaden the perspective, it is necessary to put an emphasis on learning from on-site actors. “Local ownership”, “trust”, or “participation”, for instance, are popular terms that hardly anyone involved in international media development cooperation projects would be opposed to [...] 3. It is also a priority to make failures much more visible and to be able to share not only successes, as a good principle of learning method. This makes it possible not only to react to rectify them but also to value them and act creatively [...] 4. While the online and offline lived realities can no longer be separated, research has to increasingly take into account digital spaces and practices as well as their interaction with offline spaces and practices (Schmidt-Lux & Wohlrab-Sahr 2020). Media development cooperation research, through its cornerstone "the impact assessment“, is trapped in the quantitative-qualitative methods debate [...] 5. More broadly, theoretical perspectives should also be renewed with critical and plural approaches: Who is theorizing media development cooperation, how and for what? The legacy of colonial hierarchies, and continuing postcolonial tensions are not only a topic in practical media development cooperation and in the collaboration between partners from different countries." (Lessons learnt and recommendations, page 9-10)
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"This article discusses participatory methods for data gathering in the context of a partnership between a Swiss-based media development organization, Fondation Hirondelle, and a research team at the University of Sheffield. In 2018–2019, the partnership conducted fieldwork which focused on the im
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pact of radio on women listeners in Niger. The project used participatory methods of data gathering in the form of workshops and focus group discussions (FGDs). The article examines the advantages and limitations of combining the practical experience of international development organizations and the in-depth research capabilities of academia. To triangulate this collaboration and to navigate the limitations of FGDs, the use of workshops is discussed as an important method for providing feedback among the radio practitioners and experts in Niger. The article examines the usefulness of combining these methods and reshaping their application to promote participatory research with radio audiences and practitioners." (Abstract)
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"This paper focuses attention on randomised field experiments in the developing world that explicitly address the use of media to achieve democracy and governance (DG) outcomes [...] The first section describes the growth of DG assistance and the increasing interest in DG field experiments. The seco
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nd section describes the domain of media assistance targeted at DG outcomes. The third provides an overview of current experimental and quasi-experimental studies on the intersection between media, democracy and governance. The fourth and fifth sections describe some of the challenges to successfully employing field experiments to inform media assistance programmes. The final section concludes by arguing for the benefits of practitioner-academic collaborations that provide experimental evidence about the influences on as well as the effects of media content related to democracy and governance." (Page 4)
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"This is the final report of the Policy and Research Programme on the Role of Media and Communication Development. It provides a narrative overview of progress and impact between April 2010 and March 2012 of the DFID funded Policy and Research Programme on the Role of Media in Development, building
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on an earlier report submitted for activities carried out between April 2010 and March 2011. In 2006 the Department for International Development (DFID) allocated £2.5 million over five years for the establishment of a 'Policy and Research Programme on the Role of Media and Communication in Development' to be managed by BBC Media Action (formerly the BBC World Service Trust). The Programme ran from July 2006 through to March 2012, including a no-cost extension. A small additional contribution to the Programme from the Swedish International Development Agency was received over the period (approximately £300,000 over the period 2009-2012). In November 2011, DFID reached agreement with the BBC World Service Trust (since January 2012, renamed as BBC Media Action) for a new Global Grant amounting to £90 million over five years. The Policy and Research Programme ends formally on March 31st 2012 and all funding allocated under the programming will be spent by that date.
While this report only covers Policy and Research Programme activities, many of the initiatives under the Programme will continue under Output 4 of the DFID Global Grant, titled ‘Evidence and policy: Strengthening the evidence base on the role of media and communication in democratic development, including the role of donor support’. This two year report should be seen in that light as policy and research impacts continue to build on existing reports and activities." (Introduction)
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"BBC Media Action has made strengthening the evidence base of reports, data sets, and analysis about the role of media and communication in democratic development a priority. Yet, the extent to which different donor organizations, foundations, think tanks, practitioners, and academics utilize resear
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ch in general and BBC Media Action research in particular, remains uncertain. To shed greater light on this question, in October 2012, the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, conducted a quantitative survey followed by in-depth, structured interviews with 57 development stakeholders from four areas of development: governance, humanitarian response, health, and resilience. These research methods were used to investigate: (1) prevailing perceptions about and uses of media among assorted development stakeholders, (2) the extent to which these stakeholders are familiar with and utilize existing research concerning media development and media for development, (3) if and how funders are using this research to decide funding and policy making priorities, and (4) the specific impact of research and evidence initiated by BBC Media Action." (Executive summary)
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"The international development community needs to spend less time training journalists and more time on efforts to build country level leadership for a strong and independent media as a key institution of development. This means longer-term programs, facilitating carefully planned and rigorous appro
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aches to multi-stakeholder engagement, and South-South knowledge exchange led by local champions. Building broad consensus on the important role of the media is a job that will require concerted action not only by local governments, activists and opinion leaders but also donors and the major international organizations engaged in development. As shown by the successful cases, donors and partner countries need to work together to consider the media environment in governance and public sector reforms, in reforms of the business environment, and efforts to improve the judiciary and rule of law. Our work has also demonstrated how much we don’t know about the media, particularly in the developing world. This lack of data and information about developing media markets is a significant barrier to building successful media enterprises, as well as an obstacle to donors and others who wish to support media development. New efforts should be made to expand data collection on the media in developing countries, and in particular, to help local media participants get access to data on audiences and advertising that are critical to building successful media enterprises." (Executive summary)
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"Through the use of meta-research techniques, this study examines how researchers in 224 studies examined the role of the media (television, radio, newspapers and magazines) in developing countries as agents of behavioral, attitude and knowledge changes of audience members from 1958, which marks the
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date of publication of Daniel Lerner's important work, The Passing of Traditional Society, to 1986. To make the meta-research more manageable, the focus was on English-language, U.S., Canadian or European based research, since it is the most widely available and comprehensive in volume. Because this study attempted to identify and collect all relevant studies, the meta-research approximates a population of studies, rather than a sample." (Page 129)
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