FOJO- Media Development Programme

The results and impact of the programme is summarised by outcome. Outcome 1 Partners strengthened and capacitated to deliver results in line with stakeholders’ Zimbabwe Media Development StrategyFojo has managed to ensure that the media programme was in line with Swedish policies, was flexible and met contemporary needs in Zimbabwe, was coherent and was coordinated with other media development programmes/projects in Zimbabwe. Fojo managed to strengthen partners in several different key areas, such as development of strategic plans, creation of fund raising strategies, as well as the development of visibility and communication strategies adapted to the rapidly changing way people receive and consume information. All the media partners through financial management training have put in place better management and accountability processes. Partners have also improved their financial monitoring and reporting systems. The finance training enabled both finance and non-finance staff members to gain deeper understanding of financial issues while at the same time ensuring improved relations and communication between programme and finance departments. The training strengthened the internal financial reporting, streamlined internal finance procedures and helped align the finance systems with systems audit report findings. All partners secured additional funding in the reporting period, allowing them to increase their activities in the lead-up to elections and beyond. However, long-term funding was difficult to achieve, due to the lack of donors with interest on media. Outcome 2: Advocacy efforts of Media organisations in Zimbabwe leading to key media laws being aligned with the constitutionMISA recorded a landmark victory when in February 2016 the Constitutional Court declared Section 96 of the Criminal Law unconstitutional. The provision in question provided for the offence of criminal defamation and allowed for journalists to be jailed for up to two years if charged under this law. The matter was filed in February 2015 by MISA together with independent media practitioners and the order sought was eventually granted in February 2016. Since then, there has been no arrests of journalists under this law. Following the alarming rise in cases of police attacks on journalists during the protest movement in 2016, MISA engaged with senior officers of the police force in mid-September 2017, after which no attacks on journalists were reported. MISA held a follow-up meeting with the police in December 2017 and continues toengage in what is a very positive dialogue, creating understanding and insight about the role of the media in society. Through the Media Defence Fund, MISA provided legal assistance and related support services to 26 journalists in the programme period, with the biggest number of 19 having been between March 2017 and February 2018. In December 2017, MISA made submissions to the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Law Reforms highlighting the need for the repeal of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA). MISA also submitted a model for the Zimbabwe Media Commission Bill. As a result, the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce consulted MISA on the final version of the Zimbabwe Media Commission Bill, as well as amendments that should be made to the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) and Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). Outcome 3 Increased access to information and means of expression, debate and dialogue for citizens in Zimbabwe, through alternative and community-based media initiatives.Magamba’s media platforms had a combined annual online reach of 1,2 million people in 2017, through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp and website pageviews. The Week news show recorded close to 1,9 million views since its launch in August 2016. Magamba’s youth-driven citizen journalism platform Open Parly continues to be an important source of political news in Zimbabwe, with an 80% readership increase in the reporting period. Open Parly is also frequently quoted by other media, with international outlets such as News 24 South Africa, eNews Channel Africa and Al Jazeera have cited them in their reporting. Through a series of Citizen Journalism Boot camps Magamba trained 60 citizen journalists and equipped 570 young Zimbabweans participants with Google Digital Skills, WordPress, investigative journalism and social media training. This resulted in a great number of new contributors to Open Parly Zimbabwe and Kalabash, which cumulatively published 1 200 articles in the reporting period, with over 100 videos online and 165 parliamentary and other political events covered live on social media. The result of this is a more diverse Zimbabwean media landscape offering new and alternative news sources and angles to its citizens, equipping them to engage in societal debate and making informed decisions. The screening of The Week Season 3 that ended in mid-September 2017 had over 430 000 views, over 3000 cumulative shares, and over 10 000 comments. The Week’s viewership also includes key decision-makers, including comments made by Nelson Chamisa, current MDC President and member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe, applauding the organisation for connecting the youth with mainstream politics. The kind of content that Magamba creates for youth on political issues is particularly encouraging given that the general global trends among youth is one of disengagement and lack of knowledge on political processes. As a result of the important political developments in late 2017, the production and screening of The Week Season 4 started 6 weeks ahead of schedule. The first episode had 60 000 views without any promotional boosting, evidence that The Week has become a reliable and trusted news source for a significant section of Zimbabwe’s internet users. Magamba has served as an incubator and inspiration for the creation of 51 new media platforms across the country, such as The Comic Pastor, Bus stop TV and Her Zimbabwe. Some of those are gaining regional and international recognition for their work. The gender mainstreaming drive, enabled women to become more confident to participate in community radio work, with some of them occupying leadership positions. For the first time ZACRAS has a female chairperson of the board. The information kiosks MISA operates 5 of these kiosks with an average of 25 visitors per day per kiosk, leading to an average of about 30 000 people using the kiosks annually. The kiosks play a key role in allowing people to access information through free newspapers. Outcome 4 Strengthened Professional Standards and Ethical Conduct of the media in ZimbabweVoluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe (VMCZ) recorded a total of 161 complaints over the three years, 93 were formal complaints and 68 were informal ones. Informal complaints are reports that do not follow through on the adjudication process. The highest number of complaints, were recorded in the period March 2017 to February 2018. VMCZ has been cultivating its cooperation with state-controlled media, which owns the biggest media houses in Zimbabwe, and in 2017 they successfully adjudicated 13 cases that had been filed against Zimpapers Group. VMCZ also developed codes of conduct for alternative media, which is all the more important given the fact that most people working for those usually have no formal journalistic training. All ZACRAS members are adhering to the VMCZ Code of Conduct for community radio stations, and the nation’s two main representative bodies for bloggers, the Zimbabwe Online Content Creators (ZOCC) and Bloggers Alliance of Zimbabwe (Blaze) have embraced the VMCZ Digital Media Code of Conduct. As afore mentioned, complaints are already being received and adjudicated against these codes. Finally, codes of ethics and conduct for community radios were developed, which is today used by all of the 22 radio stations that are members of ZACRAS. Both the codes for online content producers and community media are gender-sensitive, which is an important dimension to note as the gender dimension is often absent in similar policies and guidelines. Outcome 5 – Improved working conditions for media workers with a special focus on improving the gender equality in the media. Working with Gender Media Connect (GMC), ZACRAS has increased women’s voices in community radios from 5% in 2013 to more than 30% in 2018. Reporting of issues affecting women increased from 20% in 2014 to 45% in 2018. The number of women involved in programmes production increased to more than 50% in the five community stations that underwent gender mainstreaming with GMC. Women’s voices are now deliberately given space unlike two years ago. As a result, there are now also more women in listener clubs, directly impacting the programming of community radios. GMC has been training a group of gender champions since the beginning of the programme, building their capacity to strengthen gender awareness on all levels within the media sector. As of 31 December 2018, 47 champions have been trained and from that effort five community radios have introduced gender into their news production processes through the creation of gender policies, specific training activities for women as well as an increase of women as sources of news. An example of a community newspapers which has increased focus on women in their news coverage is TellZim which now has a column titled “Women Breaking Barriers”; and Weekly Gazette which has a column titled “Gender Lenses”. Working conditions for female media professionals in targeted media houses have improved through a number of different measures like the introduction of sexual harassment policies; maternity leave for female staffers; transport to home offered to those who work on late-night shifts; capacity building initiatives especially targeting women, etc. As a result of GMC’s advocacy work with management structures in Zimbabwean media houses, several of them took important steps towards introducing gender related policies, which send a clear signal within those media that the management prioritises gender equality and opposed for example sexual harassment. Alpha Media Holdings (AMH) developed a gender policy which is currently under review within the organisation and the Associated Newspapers (ANZ) incorporated a sexual harassment policy into their code of conduct, which at the time of reporting is at the Ministry of Labour for endorsement. National radio station ZiFM has mainstreamed gender into their code of conduct and Star FM radio station called on GMC to conduct training on sexual harassment, from which they are now developing a sexual harassment policy to be included in their code of conduct. The Association of Community Newspapers (CANAZ) has drafted a gender policy for their newspapers after some of their staff underwent training with GMC.  

A free, professional, diversified and independent media sector, serving democracy,human rights and development and allowing Zimbabwe’s citizens to expressthemselves.