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Middle East and North Africa

Recommendations from the MENA Regional Forum for Global Development

Following are recommendations from the MENA Regional Forum for Media Development (RFMD) held in Beirut on November 1-2, 2008. 

  • The MENA region is in lack of an enabling legal and institutional environment that allows for free, independent, pluralistic media. As a component of this, we recognize the need for more education about legal rights and opportunities for recourse.
  • Joint campaigns for access to information should be one priority for media development and other civil society groups in MENA.
  • Advocating for safety policies of media practitioners and offering assistance and support to victims of violence and their families should remain a top priority, especially in collaboration with other organizations already devoted to fulfilling this mission.
  • Media development organizations in the MENA should develop guidelines for transparency and good governance inside media companies and organizations, including clear information on ownership and structures safeguarding editorial independence.
  • Understanding that regional and local differences exist, we still see a need for an inclusive approach to media development.
  • GFMD should assist in organization information exchange and dissemination of best practices for media development organizations in the region.
  • GFMD should assist in providing capacity building initiatives for media development organizations, in the area of advocacy, training, promotion of social responsibility, etc., as well as coordination between capacity-building efforts and identifying those agents most prepared to adopt and incorporate change.
  • GFMD in MENA should develop a networking strategy for MENA media development organizations, as well as with other regions around the world, including an ongoing compilation of relevant resources in local languages.
  • Recognizing that MENA is leading in digital activism; proportionally the region has one of the highest Internet usage rates and the highest adoption rate, GFMD sees an opportunity for incorporating digital tools and processes into the field.
  • GFMD in MENA should work towards increasing support for independent media, including preparing an advocacy strategy for social responsibility for MENA business aiming for them to provide support to independent media.
  • MENA media development organizations in the region should work to create and promote and independent rating/measurement tool for MENA media.
  • GFMD should identify ways to increase cooperation with different international and donor organizations in the region in order to increase recognition of the important of the role that free, independent, pluralistic media play in promoting democracy, good governance, human and economic development in the MENA region.
  • A business plan for the sustainability of GFMD at global and at a regional level should be developed, that defines the services to be provided by GFMD based on the diversity and richness represented in the network.
  • Based on these suggestions, GFMD in the MENA should develop a strategy with specific objectives for achievement in the next three years.