The project has three components:



The work was underpinned by the widest independent assessment of media development undertaken in recent years.

This was based on a survey of the media landscapes across sub-saharan Africa as well as reports on individual countries.

The 17 in-depth country reports cover Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

This "mapping" of the media landscape included qualitative interviews with practitioners - including state and public broadcasters, private and community media, large and small - as well as a set of overview assessments by leading practitioners.

The findings emphasise lessons learned and critical gaps, and set out areas for reform and development.



The output was considered at a high level technical workshop led by the members of the Advisory Group, held in September 2006.

This workshop reviewed the reports, and identified the priority areas which the initiative should address.

It set out options for the design and logistics to be presented to stakeholders at a Media Development Forum.

The aim of the technical workshop was to agree to an overview analysis, and to outline costed, specific programme activities.



A Media Development Forum took take place in South Africa in November 2006.

The Forum brought together practitioners, donors/investors, governments, civil society and other stakeholders to discuss and agree the arrangements for a new programme, and set out a plan to establish it.

The Forum considered the report of the Advisory Group and the set of specific recommendations prepared at the technical meeting.

It included preparatory meetings of donors, the private sector and government regulators.

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BBC World Service Trust - Research & Learning group

BBC World Service Trust - Media Development group