At Panos Southern Africa, we believe that the media can be a potent force in driving development efforts that will benefit the poorest and most vulnerable members of the region’s communities. At PSAf, we maintain that an informed public is an empowered one. Our Media Development and ICTs Programme is our organizational backbone, and it works in close conjunction with our other thematic programmes to develop content, conduct capacity building workshops, disseminate information, and encourage dialogue and debate on vital issues affecting the lives of all the people of Southern Africa.
 

At Panos, we believe that media and communication are essential tools in shaping public opinion and we utilize them both to inform the public and to create an opportunity for marginalized groups to communicate directly with policy makers and other intervention specialists. Panos does this through a set of methodologies, both time-tested and innovative.
 

The goal of PSAf’s Media Development and ICTs Programme is to increase the access that poor and marginalized communities have to development information. One of the ways we do this is by increasing and enhancing media coverage of development issues in the region by engaging media players, (journalists, mainstream and community media institutions, and media training institutions), directly, through training workshops and fellowships that build their capacity to report effectively on development issues. We forge valuable links between the media and development and academic researchers and guide the media in creating more substantive content. We especially value community-based media outlets because they are the media centres that are most directly linked with communities at the grass roots level. We help them to realize their full potential as alternative sources of communication for the advancement of the poor and marginalized. In the same vein, we encourage the transformation of state broadcasters into Public Service Broadcasters. We do this by supporting reformatory processes of media policy and regulatory frameworks to conform to the informational needs of open democratic societies. We encourage national broadcasters to prioritize the needs and concerns of the people they serve, especially the poor and marginalized communities, rather than serve parochial interests, be they political or mercantile.
 

In order to make media outlets, especially community-based ones, more viable and more responsive to the needs of the people, we also endeavour to increase access to ICTs for media practitioners so that they can have the capacity to report on development issues more effectively. This includes supporting the production of web-based development content, with a special focus on that which originates with community-based media outlets. In addition, we also advocate for a policy environment conducive to enabling the poor and marginalized members of communities in the region to have access to ICTs. At PSAf, we recognize that development objectives will never be fully realized if access to reliable information is compromised or anything less than universal.
 

For more information about PSAf’s Media Development and ICTs Programme please contact general@panos.org.zm.
View PSAf Media Development and ICTs Programme publications