Media and Development - RNW - Radio Netherlands Worldwide

· As a tool to alert people in case of danger, calamities or natural disasters
· As a tool in education and training: e-learning could evolve in m-learning.
· As a tool in targeted audience surveys
The technology of mobile phones is relatively young and is innovating almost daily.
It would be good to exchange experiences and learn, especially from young people,
how this technology can be used to its full potential.
Media and development organizations could set up platforms and develop
partnerships with mobile phone operators. Training and instruction should be
offered to enable people to make full use of their phone.
5. Collaboration and networking, mutual learning: twinning
The experts in this group focused on ‘twinning’ as a method for collaboration
that fosters mutual learning and stimulates networking. It offers great potential
for media and development. Twinning is in essence a two way process, in which
co-workers from twinning organizations exchange positions for a certain period,
thus transferring knowledge and experience to one another. It can be done through
South-North twinning, but also through South-South networking. A strong example
of the potential of twinning is given by Zamcom, a media training organization in
Zambia, with their partner organization IAJ in South Africa.
To set up a successful twinning between organizations, it is necessary to take the
following steps into account:
· identify the (learning) needs of an organization
· identify what can be offered to the partner in terms of knowledge and
experience
· identify potential partners for twinning that are available in your professional
environment
· establish a clear structure for twinning projects, such as a memorandum of
understanding and a mutually agreed work plan
6. Educating donors
In the current practice of media and development, it is a reality that external
funding is needed to develop projects and programmes. Government agencies and
donor organizations are crucial partners for media organizations and NGO’s using
media for development. Most of these donors are unfamiliar with the world of
media, its potential for development and its needs for support.
A constructive dialogue between donors and media & development organizations
can contribute to an enabling environment for media and development.
Each donor organization has its own objectives and targets and has to be
accountable, both upwards (to their boards and/or parliament) and downwards (to
their beneficiaries and/or citizens).
Measurable and tangible results are required to safeguard their credibility and
their position. It is not easy to find measurable indicators for the impact of media
and development projects.
Media and development organizations should give more attention to the needs
of the donor and invest time and effort in developing good indicators for impact
assessment. Qualitative indicators should be developed, in combination with
quantitative indicators. Media and development organizations can combine and
share their knowledge and experiences in this.
At the same time, for donor organizations it could be helpful to have an ear and eye
open to the real needs of media and development organizations.
For example, many donors tend to fund the production of series of programmes,
while the media organization would benefit more from an investment in their
capacity building programme. Short term projects are more popular with donors
than projects and programmes aimed at mid term or long term results, while it is
clear that sustainability is better served by the latter.
The procedures of donor organizations are very complicated and require a lot
of paperwork. Media and development organizations would benefit from easily
accessible procedures for small projects or small groups.
The group came up with the following suggestions for actions:
· A constructive dialogue between media and development organizations and
donors is necessary and should be organized on a regular basis.
· Media and development organizations should invest time and effort in
‘educating’ the donors.
· Donors should invest time and effort in field visits to media and developing
organizations. In this respect umbrella organizations can play a crucial role.
· Donors should draft clear policies and procedures, with special procedures for
small groups. Language should not be a barrier, and internet can provide easy
access.
38 Media and Development | Chapter 6
Exploring options and opportunities 39