"The media sector has changed in recent years, mostly for the better, through the following media development processes: the 1990 Decree on the liberalisation of the broadcast sector to allow private entrants; significant increase in private radio and television, although licensing is still problema
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tic; seminars and training workshops for Cameroonian journalists supported by the donor community; introduction of a state subsidy system for private media houses, though the number and amount of such subsidies is still small; and, management change at the state television CRTV, with a new General Manager replacing one who had been in the position for 16 years." (Summary & conclusions, page 60)
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"The most relevant changes that occurred during the past five years in Sierra Leone are the results of democracy (free and fair elections in 2002) and establishing the Independent Media Commission Act (IMC) of 2000 to help deregulate the formation of new media outlets. The resilience of media practi
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tioners and others fighting for press freedom led to some of the changes. Financial support from external partners also opened up the media and helped to develop the sector. Training, repealing anti-media laws, supporting an open media market, making information communication technology (ICT) available, deregulation and civil society cooperation with media practitioners are key issues. Media development initiatives over the past five years have been remarkable. Interviewees were upbeat about future progress." (Summary & conclusions, page 69)
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"While acknowledging that the situation is not entirely ideal, most of the interviewees believed a lot has been achieved in terms of the development of the media in Mozambique over the past five years. This was mainly due to relatively stable political conditions, underpinned by a liberal constituti
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on that enshrines media freedom and the freedom of expression as fundamental rights. In as far as press freedom is concerned, the Constitution is complemented by a Press Law that the interviewees in general considered to be fair, balanced and progressive, allowing for a diversity of views that play an important role in shaping public opinion. An informed public opinion is key for a political system that is deeply rooted in the people, and is in turn the basic condition for long-term stability, which in itself leads to sustainable social well-being and economic prosperity. It was interesting to note from the interviews that there is a general awareness of the important role of the mass media in Mozambique’s development process, and in the consolidation of the country’s nascent democracy. Despite this awareness, however, and although there is understanding of the need to develop the media, the issue has not been fully exploited either by government or by the donors. (Summary & conclusions, page 60)
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"The media sector in Ghana has witnessed some dramatic, positive changes over the past few years, made possible by the promulgation of the 1992 democratic Constitution and the election in 2000 of President Kufuor’s government. All interviewees agreed that democratisation and the repeal of the Crim
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inal Libel Law have been the most important changes for the media sector, allowing for an explosion in the number of media houses in Ghana. Training was identified as the single most important media development initiative in the individual interviewees’ areas of work." (Summary & conclusions, page 57)
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"Relevant changes in Angolan media were noticed in the press. Newspapers grew the most radios grew some, but TV did not grow at all. There are few new media development initiatives known in Angola. The greatest initiative, though still not in effect, is the new Media Law. The growth of the Sindicato
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dos Jornalistas de Angola (SJA) has seen the election of new management and the organisation has become very active in empowering journalists and defending their rights." (Summary & conclusions, page 47)
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"Overall, South Africa has a relatively vibrant and developing media environment. The 15 interviewees were involved in 37 media development initiatives between them. These development initiatives comprise the following: 12 training initiatives; nine advocacy initiatives; five research initiatives; t
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hree training media initiatives; two legal support initiatives; one award initiative; one grant making initiative; one conference; and, one revenue stream generation initiative [...] Through their experiences of designing, implementing and evaluating their media development initiatives, interviewees offer the following learning points regarding success. They stress the importance of strategic and long-term planning, of working with partners where possible, avoiding dependency on donors and taking the cultural context into account [...] Interviewees praised media development initiative donors for starting to seek advice about the real needs on the ground. However, interviewees feel that donors are falling short in the following ways: the withdrawal of funding from South Africa; the duplication of initiatives; conducting the wrong training; only providing short-term funding; being too prescriptive; and, not providing for core costs. According to the participating media professionals, the strategic priorities for media development are media management training, community participation, specialised reporting training and media monitoring." (Summary & conclusions, page 99-100)
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"The changes are mostly of a quantitative nature: proliferation of newspaper publications, an increase in the number of frequencies attributed to radio stations (commercial and community stations). Greater superficiality in the editorial lines of most newspaper publications has also been noted. The
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key projects examined included those run by: Panos Institute West Africa ALTERCOM; the Media Centre of Dakar; Génération TV and SYNPICS. Funding is one of the main weaknesses of the media sector of Senegal. The press support fund is very low. Funding of media activities is handled mostly by a few foundations, such as the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and a few NGOs, such as OSIWA. Evaluation of media activities is a real problem in Senegal. The culture of evaluation is obviously missing in the endeavours of most of the organisations approached in this research. Actors are conscious of the problem and are developing initiatives to solve it. There are few exceptions to this rule, especially for those who believe that there is no progress without evaluation. Beyond financing matters, the success or lack of success of media development activities can be explained by state obstacles to the development of the media, training, professionalism and self-regulation, decriminalising press offences, media evaluation, and the involvement local of groups in community radio." (Summary & conclusions, page 68)
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"The idea of capturing, storing and sharing knowledge so as to learn lessons from the past and from elsewhere – overcoming the boundaries posed by time and space – is far from being a new one. In recent years, a growing movement has emphasised the improved application of knowledge and learning a
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s a means to improve development and humanitarian work. The movement has led to the widespread adoption of learning and knowledge-based strategies among the range of agencies involved in such work, including donor agencies, multilaterals, NGOs, research institutes, and the plethora of institutions based in the South, including national governments, regional organisations, and indigenous NGOs. This guide is aimed at staff working in all such organisations. There are 30 tools and techniques contained here, divided into five categories: i) Strategy Development; ii) Management Techniques; iii) Collaboration Mechanisms; iv) Knowledge Sharing and Learning Processes; and v) Knowledge Capture and Storage. Many of these tools are simple and trying them out requires nothing more than the desire to try something new, and the drive to ‘get on and do it’. Undertaking them effectively requires effective – sometimes advanced – facilitation and communication skills. Here, we have aimed to provide comprehensive accounts of how to apply such techniques, with a focus on the requirements of potential facilitators." (Introduction, page 2)
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"The Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication—a South African multi-media health promotion project—together with the National Network on Violence Against Women, formulated an intervention to address domestic violence. Recognising that behavioural change interventions aimed so
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lely at individuals have limited impact, the intervention was designed to impact at multiple mutually reinforcing levels; individual, community and socio-political environment. The intervention and its evaluation results are presented. Soul City successfully reached 86%, 25% and 65% of audiences through television, print booklets and radio, respectively. On an individual level there was a shift in knowledge around domestic violence including 41% of respondents hearing about the helpline. Attitude shifts were also associated with the intervention, with a 10% increase in respondents disagreeing that domestic violence was a private affair. There was also a 22% shift in perceptions of social norms on this issue. Qualitative data analysis suggests the intervention played a role in enhancing women's and communities’ sense of efficacy, enabling women to make more effective decisions around their health and facilitating community action. The evaluation concluded that implementation of the Domestic Violence Act can largely be attributed to the intervention. While demonstrating actual reductions in levels of domestic violence was not possible, the evaluation shows a strong association between exposure to intervention components and a range of intermediary factors indicative of, and necessary to bring about social change. This paper reports on the evaluation, discusses its limitations and challenges as well as lessons learned regarding multi-level interventions on domestic violence." (Abstract)
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"The community radio sector is experiencing a time of rapid growth in Australia. While community broadcasting participants generally welcome the sector’s growth, they have expressed concern over the lack of proportionate funding increase from the Federal government. The key issue is the need to fi
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nd ways to enhance community radio’s sources of funding without imperilling its status as a not-for-profit sector, and as one main option, the deregulation of sponsorship time presently limited to five minutes per hour may enhance income generation for community radio. This paper argues that there is no inherent conflict between entrepreneurial principles and not-for-profit principles." (Abstract)
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