A critical review of common practices and strategies in International Media Assistance

Critically examining the sectorʼs performance is a routine practice of the Forum Media and Development (fome), a network of 32 German and Swiss organisations, all active in the field of International Media Assistance (IMA). With the active support in by icebauhaus in the years 2023 and 2024 a fome working group identified four areas in which the gap between aspiration and reality of media development co-operation appeared to be greatest:

• Dominance of Western values: IMA has been criticised for lacking awareness of its Western bias. The criticism is that Western concepts, while applied in the Global South, are unsuccessful in non-Western contexts.
• Local Ownership: Local ownership and participation are guiding principles in IMA; however, funders often dictate topics and objectives. This paternalistic approach has caused local partners to adopt a more constrained and less autonomous
  stance.
• International Coordination: Poor coordination of activities and strategies between IMA organisations active in the same country or context is a notorious source of inefficiency and subsequent problems in IMA.
• Measuring Impact: Due to a lack of resources or methodological challenges, the effects and longterm impact of projects often remain unknown; effects are claimed, but claims are not supported by evidence.

To broaden our understanding of these issues and find ways to improve practices and strategies within the International Media Assistence community, these topics were the subject of discussion at the 18th fome Symposium in Dortmund from Sep 30 – Oct 1, 2024. In advance, a survey was developed by a fome working group, and shared across the network to test some common assumptions.

icebauhaus has published the results of the fome working group 2024 in form of the brochure “Mind the Gap”. Four articles in this publication introduce the abovementioned subjects and summarise the speakers ʼ contributions at the mentioned Symposium too.

>>> You can dowload the brochure here!