Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
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The less<strong>on</strong>s of public-media<br />
partnerships<br />
By Noma Rangana<br />
Noma Rangana is regi<strong>on</strong>al<br />
Communicati<strong>on</strong>s Officer at Save <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
Children Sweden (Sou<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>rn Africa).<br />
She was previously Programme<br />
Manager for <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Citizen Journalism in<br />
Africa Programme at Hivos, and also<br />
a Senior Programme Officer at Open<br />
Society Foundati<strong>on</strong> for South Africa.<br />
110 | Media in Africa - 2011<br />
Despite <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> increase in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> number<br />
of media outlets and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> booming<br />
new media, a c<strong>on</strong>siderable number<br />
of people still do not have access<br />
to informati<strong>on</strong>. Whe<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r we are<br />
talking about current awareness<br />
or edutainment, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re is still a big<br />
problem. The urban-rural divide is<br />
still big.<br />
The Hivos Citizen Journalism in Africa<br />
Programme was aimed at building<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> capacity of civil society organisati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
and ordinary citizens to use<br />
<strong>on</strong>line and offline citizen journalism<br />
as a means of publicati<strong>on</strong>, lobbying,<br />
networking and knowledge sharing<br />
with <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir c<strong>on</strong>stituencies and to<br />
be reliable sources of news for <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
media. The programme was implemented<br />
in six sou<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>rn and eastern<br />
African countries.<br />
The objective was to improve <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
capacity of selected African civil<br />
society organisati<strong>on</strong>s working in<br />
gender, HIV/Aids, rural development,<br />
children and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> youth, so <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y<br />
could use both traditi<strong>on</strong>al and<br />
digital media strategically and with<br />
journalistic professi<strong>on</strong>alism. This<br />
would support democratic processes<br />
and a diverse and independent<br />
media. It was also intended to<br />
increase local media coverage<br />
of targeted marginalised groups<br />
including women, which would<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tribute to increased involvement<br />
and participati<strong>on</strong> of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>se groups.<br />
The main activities of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> programme<br />
included:<br />
• establishment of two focal<br />
points in each country,<br />
• informati<strong>on</strong> sharing and development<br />
of an <strong>on</strong>line learning<br />
and news platform,<br />
• training of trainers and media<br />
training for 30 people from 15<br />
organisati<strong>on</strong>s in each country,<br />
and <strong>on</strong>-<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>-job training.<br />
The training focused largely <strong>on</strong><br />
creating awareness and <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
ability to use a variety of digital,<br />
traditi<strong>on</strong>al and edge-of-<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>-net<br />
media tools. The <strong>on</strong>line portal also<br />
served as an outlet for <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> news and<br />
stories written by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> participants.<br />
At <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> beginning of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> programme,<br />
skills assessments were d<strong>on</strong>e and it<br />
emerged that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> majority of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
people interviewed did not have<br />
communicati<strong>on</strong> or media skills. There<br />
was also limited understanding of<br />
how to engage <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> media. The o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r<br />
problem identified was that some<br />
people had not been exposed to<br />
new media and its potential as an<br />
alternative to mainstream media.<br />
Inter-country networks were encouraged<br />
for informati<strong>on</strong> sharing.<br />
This was also to ensure that stories<br />
and news could be published outside<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> country, especially where it<br />
was difficult to raise certain issues.<br />
Implementing <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> project proved to<br />
be a daunting task as lack of c<strong>on</strong>nectivity<br />
was a major problem for<br />
many participants and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> media.<br />
For some in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> media, internet access<br />
meant maybe <strong>on</strong>e or two c<strong>on</strong>-