Strengthening Africa's Media

Welcome to the "Strengthening Africa's Media" website. "Strengthening Africa's Media" is a consultation process to determine the priorities for strengthening media-as-institution in Africa. The consultation process, beginning in April 2006 and lasting until July, provides a platform for African media actors, in collaboration with their support partners, to articulate concerns and perspectives, identify priority issues and areas requiring support, and propose concrete initiatives and programmes towards a strengthened media sector.

African ownership is a fundamental principle underpinning the process and its outcomes. An important outcome will be a "Strategic Framework for Strengthening Media in Africa" that will make the case for investing in media, and provide the basis for a Stakeholder Conference in September 2006 to discuss and agree on immediate as well as medium- and longer-term priorities that should attract financing.

The "Strengthening" consultation process is supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) . Its Secretariat is based at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Secretariat is bolstered by a Task Force made up of representatives from across the media spectrum Owners, Practitioners, Trainers and Support Organizations. In addition, the initiative is supported by a number of Facilitating Organizations who are taking the lead in organizing consultations.

Defining "Media" in the Broadest Possible Sense

In light of the differential levels of infrastructure and widespread disparities in access that obtain in different African countries, media must be defined inclusively, spanning the mainstream press and broadcast media, alternative and community media, civil society media, formal and non-formal communication, and new media. The definition also includes special interest media, addressing cross-cutting concerns such as gender equity and human rights. Of key importance are media entities within countries, although there is an emerging institutional architecture of sub-regional as well as regional media support organizations and initiatives.

'Strengthening' and the African Media Development Initiative

The 'Strengthening Africa's Media' consultation process is taking place in tandem with research commissioned by the BBC World Service Trust to identify strategic priorities for strengthening the media in sub-Saharan Africa. The Trust is conducting the research in tandem with Ahmadou Bello University (Nigeria), the School of Journalism at Rhodes University (South Africa), and a network of 17 African researchers. Like 'Strengthening', AMDI is made possible through funding from DFID. The two initiatives are working towards a jointly-organized Stakeholder Conference, to take place in September 2006, at which the research will be presented, and priorities agreed upon for strengthening Africa's media.