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Report
on the meeting of the network of donors supporting African media
Copenhague 5-7 may 1997
The previous
two network meetings focused mainly on exchange of views between
the donors about trends in the African media sector,and an analysis
ofit's needs. These was allowed a two-way flow of information
on each other's plans. The Copenhagen meeting put a greater emphasis
on deeper discussion of several themes: the role of radio and
the expectations of the general public; social communication,
discussing the approach and its linkages with the media; regional
training centres in Africa.
It also took
the first steps towards setting up the first joint support programme
at CIERRO, the regional training centre for rural radio studies
based in Burkina Faso.
At the close
of the meeting, participants stressed their hope that this development
would continue, wich more emphasis on detailed analysis of specific
issues, opening the way to innovative joint programmes, set up
in "varying formations" of interested members of the
network. A specific timeslot will always be reserved in the meetings
for the new members of the network and new programmes to be presented.
1
- Media support programmes: several trends
A quick round-table
discussion of the strategies and actions of the donors present
at Copenhagen highlighted several developments:
Structuring
of programmes
After responding
to the expansion of African media by providing different types
of support, most development cooperation bodies today look towards
a greater structuring of their aid around several major axes,
or else several countries. Thus, for example, the European Union
has put a stop to its support of numerous short training sessions
in favour of a more "structured" support, based on analysis
of the media situation in several countries, its dynamics, problems
and needs.
Professional
training: new approaches
The professional
training of journalists remains one of the major priority forms
of action taken by most of the overseas service bodies to respond
to the needs of African media in order to improve the quality,
dependability and real autonomy of their production. Nevertheless,
there seem to have been several developments in donor strategies
with regard to training:
- at the
level of the public, greater focus on the training of press
managers and managing directors who need to consolidate their
financial autonomy to guarantee their editorial independence;
professional journalists, overseen by managers who themselves
do not master the basics of the profession, have little hope
of improving the quality of newspapers and radio, alone.
- at the
level of the choice of training bodies and trainers. A new objective
has been identified: the consolidating of the national competence
of taking control of training: teacher-training, support for
new training centres or for the re-organization of older centres
(cf. further on, the examples of Cierro and NSCJ).
- at the
level of the length of the training courses. If on the one hand
very short courses (1 week) seem appropriate for organizing
exchanges, providing retraining of professionals on a particular
theme or consolidating institutional information, on the other
hand, their impact on journalists without any initial training
is very weak. As a median between long-term initial and very
short training courses, some mid-term length courses are beginning
to be set up.
Strengthening
institutional framework and environment
Resource centres and press agencies, professional associations
and regional and international professional networks, regulatory
authorities... New programmes underway or being planned, place
more accent on a series of approaches in favour of institutional
organization and sector professionals. Here as well, concern is
to move on from specific actions towards support in setting up
frameworks and associated rules. These new forms of approach are
still experimental and must be consolidated.
There are
three objectives:
Long lasting
and sustainable impact of actions undertaken.
The will to put a full stop to reasoning in terms of aid and assistance.
Guidelines in favour of support to the private and associative
sectors. Where no reliable or legitimate collective parteners
exists, support from donors at the creation or consolidation of
structures or federate networks is necessary.
Concern for transparency and communication
In a period of budgetary restrictions and doubt about the relative
efficiency of development cooperation efforts, donors have initiated
a double effort of transparency and communication. The World Bank
has adopted a strategy of transparent dissemination of the results
of its programmes, studies and evaluations. The particular objective
of training courses for journalists which it organizes is to inform
them and its analyses and possible choices and orientations in
terms of economic development and projects underway. Another example,
Danish development cooperation has recently organized a press
conference on its policies and media support projects in developing
countries.
2
- Radio, a changing landscape
The opening
up of the broadcasting landscape has taken longer than that of
the press. But it is happening very fast. Stakes are high. Radio
is at present the only media in Africa which is accessible and
used by the entire populations.
The press
and television still remain very urbane-focused, although with
the quantity of television sets rapidly, as well as the development
of new micro-wave transmitters and cable television (Cameroon)
indicate that television will doubtless spread quite quickly to
rural areas.
In rural areas
Even though radio has penetrated the entired country, the
situation remains very different in towns and country. Whereas
the number of radio programs available in towns is multiplying,
rural areas still have little choice. Local or rural radio stations
often remain the sole media available. This absence of competition
and variety in choice is manifested by the more static situation
of radio in rural areas: programmes have sarcely evolved toward
meeting the public expectation. Stiff institutional language is
still very evident.
This situation
is worsened by the fact that radio stations in rural areas are
expected to play more or less all roles: information, recreation,
education, mobilization, intermediary for NGO projects in diffusing
messages or providing social communication for development...
These radio
stations are overburdened with responsibilities and missions.
They run the risk of losing their identity, and this all the more
so, as their capacity for building up editorial independence is
often weak. They are often a ground for meeting multiple demands
rather than a media building up external relations in function
of its own editorial lines and its own range of programmes.
Two new trends
are contributing to the changing of this situation. On the one
hand, development of volontaryand community radio stations is
widening radio choices in rural areas. On the other hand, there
are radio networks withopt-outs from related programming. Agreements
can involve national radio stations (public or private) and local
radio stations. They can also call on partnerships arranged with
international broadcasting organizations.
Projects
have not as yet progressed sufficiently and are too few in number
for an assessment to be made. The development of local and community
networks which exchange programmes is another strong trend which
allows the programming of this type of radio to open up and broaden
in scope.
In urban areas
In the urban context, the increased supply of FM radio stations
has resulted in several phenomena.
A strong
hold of the radio audience. Even though it has competition in
the evenings from television, radio remains the dominant media
regulating social life and discussions, and constitutes the major
source of information.
A resurgence
of many national radio stations, in the light of the dual competition
coming from the FM distribution of international radio stations,
and from the development of private stations. The result is the
creation of second stations with programmes that are particularly
attractive to youth, and the improvement of production quality-particularly
concerning information-with an eye to pluralism and to the "deinstitutionalization"
of the information offered.
These
trends, which are positive for the most part, do not alter the
fact that the situation of national radio remains uncertain.
The
political powers are far from having released their hold over
public radio. African listeners have become channel-hoppers and
use the diversity of radio stations to verify information and
the national stations which still broadcast monolithic and limited
information regularly lose part of their audience.
The
competition provided by international stations, although largely
concerned with an urban elite, will remain a major problem until
the national radio stations understand how to mark their difference
and their specificity in relation to this global challenge.
3
- The expectations of the public
For radio
stations to improve the quality of their programming and respond
better to the expectations of their public, they must obtain a
better knowledge of these expectations, and indeed, of who their
real public is.
The
primary demand of the public concerns information, both its trustworthiness
and its diversity. Naturally this is a matter of political information,
but also of information that is closer to home and which is too
little covered in current programming schedules: general interest
information (health in particular), service information (employment,
weather, etc.)...
The
radio stations respond particularly poorly to the demands of certain
categories of the public, notably youth and women. They tend towards
"general audience" programming, whereas they should
offer certain hourly time slots for programmes specially geared
towards particular segments of the public.
In
a more global fashion, radio stations seem to be out of touch
with social and cultural realities. African music, new national
and local expressions of culture, broadcasting of debates, news
reports and fiction on current social issues: on all these fronts
the current responses of the radio stations appear insufficient
and unconnected to the actual daily life of the people, the questions
that they ask themselves in the face of the rapid changes that
their society is undergoing (images and realities of modern African
societies which are in the midst of building themselves).
Studies
of rural audiences are rare, and the few that exist show that
the kinds of demands they have are more or less the same.
4
- Some approaches to explore
One
of the most important issues in these briefly touched-upon reports
is the necessity to improve the knowledge of the real expectations
of the public. Radio stations could satisfy a number of these
without having to take on large expenses: by regularly observing
the demands and expectations; specifying methods of studying the
audience and its expectations in the rural context .
The second
is to incorporate into training programmes for radio professionals,
the skills to better major expectations of their audience.
The third
is to move beyond the slightly backward-looking idea of distinctions
between urban and local radio. On the one hand, there are not
two different worlds, one being the rural world representing "
traditions " and the so called " modern " urban
world. Dynamics and interactions are much more complex.
On the other,
one of the functions of radio is to facilitate exchanges and communication
between town and country. Present trends towards exchange between
networks and air time agreements could move in this direction.
The last
issue concerns clarification of functions and roles of the different
types of radio and support of some restructuring of the broadcasting
scene:
- professional
and ethical regulations;
- linkage
between the essential editorial autonomy of radio and their
public service roles;
- clearer
definition of rules of engagement between national and international
radios;
- exact
and detailed terms of reference;
clarification of relationships between radio and those projects
or institutions wishing to use radio as a means for conveying
their information and communication actions.
5
- Regional African training centres: two examples
Current
Situation
CIERRO, the Ouagadougou Inter-African centre for rural radio
studies was created in 1978 by URTNA. Its objective was to meet
training needs associated with the creation of rural radios in
the 1970s.
It
offers two long term (two years) courses in professional training:
technicians and programme producers/presenters for rural audiences.
Trainees who come from fifteen different West and Central African
countries are young university degree holders or professionals
already in employment. Applications are submitted by member states
and approuved by URTNA and CIERRO. Parallel to this initial training,
the CIERRO doubled its short term courses in particular for local
and community radios. The Cierro has received 10 years of funding
from German cooperation (this is one of the longest lasting funding
to an institution it has ever granted). At the end of 1996 this
funding was stopped. In spite of a large fund itself increase
in its own resources the CIERRO is still far from being able to
assume its own funding. Training provided by the CIERRO has been
positively evaluated especially because it avoids duplication
with numerous other academic training courses and because it includes
practical application. Nevertheless it is no longer really adapted
to the new context of African radio.
Enjeux
Which
strategy should donors adopt faced with a reliable and serious
African institution needing to update its training projects and
mode of functioning, but which risks having to close its doors
if it does not find financial backing?
This question
is acutely present at a time when donors are considering ways
in which the African response to training requirements in media
related sectors can be consolidated. At the same time, the period
of structural financing of African institutions has come to an
end. The CIERRO requires not only funding to avoid accumulating
inactive/lean years which would ruin the institution but also
support in rebuilding a project better adapted to meeting present
demand and economically and institutionally viable.
CIERRO has
applied for funding from the European Union. The application has
not yet been examined as several administrative documents are
still missing (requests from Central and East Africa). Concerted
support from several CIERRO donors would be a great asset for
this application.
Since the
result of the actions taken at Brussels will not be known for
several months, it was decided to provide bridge financing for
the CIERRO in order to allow it take on a further year of students.
At the same time, a study will be initiated with the CIERRO, to
assist it in define and implement new strategies
a new syllabus for courses
new institutional
positioning; a strategy for initiating self-financing; other activities
complementary to training which is envisaged.
GRET has
been assigned to coordinate the financial brief of this two part
project which will take place during 1997 and 1998.
The Nordic
SADC Journalism Centre (NSJC)
Current
situation
The NSJC is a regional training centre for journalists in
southern African countries. It opened its doors in 1993. It is
the fruit of joint project involving Scandinavian countries and
the SADC (Southern African Development Community). Its aim is
provide professional training for journalists who are exercising
their profession without having had any basic initial training.
Since its creation, the centre trains approximately 150 journalists
each year. Courses last between 3 to 8 weeks and are often on-job
training schemes, alternating training and professional activity.
The centre manages and organizes schemes which are implemented
in other countries in conjunction with national training centres.
Training is in English and Portuguese and by a team of mobile
trainers: experienced journalists from areas which have received
teacher training. In spite of the advantage of trans-national
training courses being an occasion for exchanges and contacts,
the centre is geared more towards national training for reasons
of cost.
Issues
The principal difficulties encountered by the centre are of
two orders:
- strong
institutional attachment to SADC which has engendered both cumbersome
organization and mistrust of the private media. Links have grown
with regional professional associations and organizations (in
particular the Misa - Media Institute of Southern Africa and
the Saba - Southern Africa Broadcasting Association). A collaborating
network is starting to grow between professional association,
syndicates and NGOs in the region. In the future, the NSJE should
no longer be under SADC umbrella but should become an independent
foundation.
- uneasy
collaboration with national training institutions: trainers
who themselves have often had no practical experience and who
deliver academic and university-type courses which are difficult
to change.
- high quality
but relatively expensive courses. Until now costs have been
covered by Scandinavian financing. Right from the creation of
the centre, it was decided that this would stop in 1988. What
are the possibilities for continuation?
Even if courses
which until now were free, were charged for, acceptable prices
for journalist and the media would never be sufficient to allow
the centre to finance itself. The centre has created an external
project department which sells available qualifications and expertise
in order to fund its training effort. This department is also
in charge of developing partnerships with new donors.
Some ways
forward
An exchange of experiences between CIERRO and NSJC whose future
challenges are similar and approaches complementary, would be
interesting, in particular for the joint definition of strategies
guaranteeing both independence and sustainablity. New media training
schools, recently created such as ISSIC (Institut Supérieur
des Sciences de l'Information de de la Communication) for example,
could join in.
The organization
and structure of training courses would gain in relevance if training
needs could be analyzed in more detail: how can new professions
in African media be characterized in terms of qualification profiles,
what are the requirements for " multiple qualifications",
where are priorities?
Certain high
quality regional or national training centres could be identified
and serve as a place for concertation and harmonizing of proposals
made by donors regarding training courses. A more systematic partnership
between the donors and there centres would be an indirect way
of bringing contractual financial support to these bodies. They
could also become centres of information and expertise backed
by the media: evolution of training needs, available national
training qualifications, training centres, capitalization of training
tools and methods, etc...
6
- Social communication and the media
Some basic principles
Communication
for development is more a crossroads than a discipline. It has
a wealth of methodes for accompanying changes in behaviour and
practices (social, economic and technical): social marketing,
popular education, developmental journalism, IEC, social communications
... Each school has developed specific methods and approaches
with in different development concepts either as an external process
or as a participatory process. Present concepts of social communication
are based on acknowledging of failure of development and communication
vertically designed from top to bottom with specialist knowledge
disseminated to the masses. Inversely, social communication seeks
to enable grass-roots groups becoming responsible for their own
development. This entails favouring another type of development.
Social communication is not centered on the dissemination of content
but on the preparation of a collective process of change which
is not only economical but concerns all aspects of life. The media
is only one tool among many in the extensive range of means used
for social communication: meetings, theater, marionettes, drums,
etc... and also modern media and institutional channels.
Three concrete
examples of social communication projects recently set up by IDRC.
The African
network for research in participatory communication for development,
groups together NGOs working with local communities. This network
provides exchange and capitalization of experimental activities
in social communication originally led by NGOs.
The three main difficulties identified are:
- the lack
of training in basic communication: No branch or organization
providing this type of training exists in Africa at present
whereas the demand for professionals in social communication
in NGOs and associations is extremely high;
- difficulties
in formulating and transferring new knowledge and skills;
- very narrow
circulation of information concerning experiences and achievements.
What channels to use? Can the media take on this role?
A joint project
with ACCT to introduce local communication actions into rural
environment resource and information centres (CLAC).
A project
in preparation to define and implement national communication
for development policies in certain countries: creation of a structuring
framework for each country's involvement; definition of rules,
distribution of roles and responsibilities etc...
Different
approaches, some commonalities
The approaches to "social communication" and "media"
involve neither the same objectives nor the same methods.
In the one
case the objective is change in behaviour and the other there
is no objective concerning the way in which each will use information
and knowledge offered by the media; the objective is that they
be numerous and reliable.
In the one
case, the term target group is used and in the other the terms,
audience or public. In the one case emphasis is placed on content
and its support (quality and the reliability of information for
example),
and in the
other on a process, information being only one component in communication,
and the media a means and a tool at its service, etc...
The distinct
approaches to "media" and "social communication"
are not two separate worlds, in fact very far from it. In the
field, they cross and meet very frequently. Could this be because
they are dealing with the same players, the African media? This
in itself is not a problem,on the contrary, the difficulty stems
from eventual contradictions in the contents of training courses
and project policies. This is a source of confusion for the players
themselves who have to deal with these contradictions. To avoid
this perverse effect, it is at donor level that functions must
be clarified in line with some basic principles, whilst at the
same time respecting the specificific nature of each approach.
Towards collaboration,
clarification could involve the following points:
- Distinguish
different types of media. A independent newspaper or radio station
does not function in the same way or have the same objectives
as a NGO newspaper or community radio station. In particular,
the questions of autonomy and independence of journalists are
posed in very different ways.
- Wider
consideration of the ways in which the media can deal with development
questions. This involves socio-economic issues which are too
important to be ignored or dealt with in the category "symposium
and seminars". But to seek to teleguide the way in which
the media deals with these questions amounts to thwarting the
efforts made elsewhere to their gaining more autonomy and responsibility.
Several ways are open: reinforce access to information, develop
the functions of "press attachés" in projects
rather than buying editorial or sound space, etc ...
- Aid to
associations and local groups in working with national media.
Limits to the "social communication" approach often
become apparent at political level and at the passage from local
to national. A local association newspaper which starts to express
political opposition has often no means of escaping censure.
Local groups often do not know how to approach the media in
order to express their points of view publicly.
- Analysis
of respective skill profiles and therefore training of journalists
and communicators. They have common parts (essentially the "technical"
parts) and very different points (the profession, professional
ethics). This leads back to the question of training programmes
in national and regional centres. Is it possible to cater for
different study streams within the same organizations.
What other
scenarios are possible which would avoid multiplying training
institutions which would then struggle to become profitable?
7
- Network activities and the next meeting
The
network's secretariat is continuing to identify and develop links
with new development cooperation bodies working on the African
media. A logo will be put forward at the next meeting ensuring
a clearer and more neutral outside image of the network and its
secretariat.
The network
newsletter appears to be interesting tool for the exchange of
information. To make it more lively, the secretariat needs to
receive information from the development cooperation bodies regularly.
Without being confidential in nature, it is nevertheless a professional
tool for exchange information between members and its dissemination
should not be widened. This is the role of other journals which
we should not compete with. As soon as most members have e-mail
addresses the newsletter will be distributed by e-mail.
Our documents
will be reorganized and updated with thematcally rather than being
based on institutional input so that each member can quickly locate
other members of the network to contact on specific themes or
types of activity.
In order
to facilitate exchanges and cooperation on precise subjects which
do not concern all members, the secretariat will organize meetings
in sub-working groups, either between our full meetings or in
the form of work shops during these meetings.
After discussion
on the possibility of participationby African partners participation,
the members of the network preferred to maintain the initial objective
of a network for professional exchanges between donors. For so
long as the profession is loosely organized or organized in a
conflicting manner the choice of partners to be invited is delicate
and risks provoking more negative effects than positive ones.
Two solutions are possible:
Invite others
members of the network more regularly to meetings with partners
organized by a member;
assist in
the organization of regional meetings between African partners
or else support of the network's development.
In order
to avoid a possible lack of balance between those development
cooperation bodies which are funding the secretariat and the others,
it is suggested that each body examine specific network support
activities for which it could be responsible.
The next
network meeting will take place in Bellagio, in Italy between
22 and 25 September on the invitation of the Rockefeller Foundation
Conference Centre. Development cooperation bodies wishing to organize
the 1998 meeting are very welcome.
The following proposals were made for topics for the next meeting:
- regulatory
authorities;
- harmonization
of training actions ;
- resource
centres and publishing companies, access to information, documentation
; press agencies and electronic information networks ;
- national
communication for development policies;
- support
funds for audiovisual production;
- forms
of support for the financial viability of the media.
- Final
themes will be selected after consultation with all members
of the network.
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