Broadcasting for Development

Workshop Report

I. Introduction

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) hosted a workshop at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from April 7-8 2003, on the theme: "Placing African Development at the Heart of Broadcasting: Broadcasting for Development" bringing together professionals in the field of broadcasting from across Africa as well as the rest of the world with the aim of facilitating effective exchange of knowledge and experience, formulating new strategies, and creating new partnerships. The list of participants included national, regional and international broadcasters, funders and action-donors, regional and global development institutions, and development communicators from civil society, such as community radio networks.

The deliberations sought to focus greater attention on the role of broadcasting in the struggle for sustainable development. As ECA is committed to building strategic partnerships towards the fulfilment of its mandate, the workshop sought to provide direction for ECA's broadcasting strategy and to launch creative partnerships.

The meeting was structured around three broad themes:

• The African experience in broadcasting for development;

• The role of development institutions and policymakers in enabling broadcasting for development; and

• How best to promote and strengthen international broadcasting for development partnerships.

Following the plenary sessions, small discussion groups were formed to identify specific problems and to propose concrete and effective ways of tackling issues dealing with policy; funding and capacity building; and broadcast partnerships.

Expected outcomes from the meeting included:

• Enhanced understanding of the emerging broadcasting for development landscape in Africa;

• Clarity on a strategic role for ECA and its partner development institutions in strengthening broadcasting for development in Africa;

• Agreement on partnership initiatives in broadcasting for development for 2003 and beyond;

• Establishment of a follow-up mechanism to strengthen and sustain these partnerships.

• Partnerships to develop and share content;

• Partnerships that would serve as hubs for communication and exchange;

• Funding partnerships; and

• Capacity building partnerships.

II. Main Issues

Development, by its very nature, necessitates a long-term perspective, and so is at odds with the overall orientation of mainstream journalism for easily grasped and digested stories. In consequence, successful deployment of broadcasting in the struggle for development requires a variety of different, albeit related, new initiatives. First, there is pressing need to institute training programmes for journalists to enhance their comprehension of, and sensitivity towards, the development agenda. Such training would also aim to encourage innovative ways of telling development stories. Second, placing development concerns at the heart of broadcasting requires the exploration of new sources of funding and support. Third, to ensure economic viability, commercial models need to be studied in addition to successful community broadcasting initiatives and related non-profit projects. Finally, support must be found for the production of original content by local content providers. Success in respect to all of the above initiatives depends on the creation of viable partnerships -- among broadcasters and between broadcasters and development agencies -- as well as fruitful collaboration with continental initiatives and institutions, such as NEPAD and the African Union.

The workshop took note of significant examples of successful initiatives in respect to the above-mentioned needs. However, it also underscored the lack of effective coordination and information sharing among those involved with these initiatives. Networks that facilitate communication and collaborative efforts among the principal stakeholders -- broadcasters, development agencies, content providers, and beneficiaries -- must thus be nurtured and actively supported. An added value of such networks would be a more effective use of existing resources -- viz., elimination of wasteful duplication of efforts, which drains already strained resources.

Another major concern addressed at the meeting was the glaring lack of unifying regulatory frameworks at the continental and even national levels. This deficiency acts as a formidable obstacle to the above-mentioned requirements of a development-centred vision of broadcasting. A key element of a successful strategy in respect to the realization of a development-centred vision of broadcasting is thus the cooperation of relevant policymakers in creating a more open regulatory framework. To this end, one needs to develop markers that show the ways in which development communication impacts positively on governmental and inter-governmental programmes and policies.

II. Proposals by Discussion Groups

Policy Discussion Group

Drawing attention to the lack of a consistent regulatory framework, especially at the continental level, the group underscored the need to mount effective lobbies at local, national, regional, and inter-continental levels. A further worry communicated by the group had to do with guarantees for openness of regulatory frameworks. To ensure compliance with international norms of freedom of speech and press, the group suggested effective trans-national mechanisms to enforce the following international legal instruments: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (specifically Article 19); the Freedom of Expression Declaration; and the African Charter on Broadcasting.

In addition, the group put forward the following suggestions:

• Initiate dialogue for policy formation with the relevant institutions;

• Create a focus on regional and national broadcast regulations;

• Initiate the development of a national regulatory framework;

• Create an advocacy programme to garner support of the African governments for the African Charter on Broadcasting by identifying and highlighting social and economic benefits of broadcasting for development. In addition also have the Charter adopted by the AU. Various groups on the continent would be included in the development of materials for such an advocacy programme;

• Lobby for the broadcast industry to be included in ICT policies, thereby recognizing the convergence of ICT and broadcast technologies;

• Undertake audits of countries in terms of what commitments have been made vis-à-vis policies and practices governing broadcasters;

• Develop indicators that can be used to measure compliance or achievements across Africa and link these to the NEPAD peer review mechanism; and

The Policy Group committed to preparing a draft document that would be ready in May 2003.

Broadcast Partnerships (TV & Radio) Discussion Group

The group emphasized the need for a range of potential partnerships to network and strengthen the African broadcasting for development sector. To that end, the following was proposed:

• Create a working group to spearhead the development of a network that works on and offline, sharing news and information and building a community/lobby. The working group would begin to identify practical ways to network, and it would then include as many participants as possible;

• Establish a central database of practitioners in the broadcasting for development sector in Africa;

• Coordinate communication between broadcasters and development organizations to build collaborations and share content needs as broadcasters and organizations need to have a better understanding of what each requires in terms of content and information, and what potential exists for co-productions rather than simply delivering pre-produced programming;

• Assist one another in the development of content and the sharing of skills through job exchanges, fellowships, workshops by visiting 'thematic' experts, and funding to send skilled people to other broadcasters/organisations to provide training;

• Create thematic content groups in order to understand and share knowledge about what constitutes relevant content for different audiences and network on the best practice and issues involved in reporting/producing content on a particular theme;

• Develop training strategies and collaboration using shared resources and expertise;

• Gather existing information and research on needs, including technical, of African broadcasters.

Funding/Capacity Building Discussion Group

The group addressed the problems of insufficient funding for programmes and the serious problems of inadequate infrastructure on the continent. To address these needs, specific problems were highlighted and proposals for their resolution put forward.

Problems Identified

• Donors are not fully aware of the potential within development communication;

• There is a lack of credible evaluation tools for measuring impact;

• Broadcasters lack both the know-how and the institutional capacity to access donor funds;

• Donors dislike small grants;

• Often, there is no budget line available for development communications;

• African development communication projects do not meet criteria for venture capital funds; and

• African broadcasters lack specialized knowledge in development issues and methodologies.

Solutions Proposed

• Create a development communication clearinghouse that provides up to date information of what funds are available and for what programme;

• Map and develop impact indicators on development communication;

• Mainstream development communications in project development and delivery;

• Find expert assistance to help broadcasters turn ideas into fundable projects;

• Organize workshops for African broadcasters/journalists/editors on development issues and on forging partnerships with development institutions; and

• Find a `champion of change' for development communication in Africa.

IV. ECA's Role

As the only UN agency working exclusively on Africa with a regional mandate, ECA is well positioned to play a strong catalytic role as a convenor, and as an advocate. It is also able to serve both as facilitator for partnership as well as act as an active partner, by generating content, facilitating access to thematic expertise, brokering co-funding for production/capacity building, and designing capacity building programmes. ECA will also establish follow-up mechanisms that allow the various partners to work together and build upon discussions and recommendations coming out of the workshop.