- At least thirty-three media projects in Africa have been approved for funding by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for the new budget year.
UNESCO has awarded $2.1 million for 84 media development projects from around the world, ranging from producing programmes in indigenous languages in Mexico to training journalists in Kazakhstan and Cambodia.
The bureau of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) selected the projects at the group’s 54th annual meeting, held last week at the agency’s headquarters in Paris.
A total of 95 project proposals were submitted by community media organisations, journalists associations and journalism schools. The 84 selected – including 33 in Africa – were chosen on the basis of their contribution to three priorities of the International Programme: promoting freedom of expression and media pluralism; developing community media; and training for media professionals, UNESCO said in a statement released yesterday.
Among those selected are programmes to produce publications in the languages of Burkina Faso, develop investigative journalism in Colombia, and develop humanitarian news coverage in Palestine.
The Haitian Journalists Association also received a special grant of $130,000 following the 12 January earthquake that devastated the small Caribbean nation.
The bureau of the International Programme also discussed nominations for the UNESCO-IPDC Prize for Rural Communication, a winner for which will be chosen by the agency’s Director-General, Irina Bokova, and awarded during the meeting of the IPDC Intergovernmental Council, which will held from 24 to 26 March.
The IPDC Council meets every two years and comprises representatives of 39 member States elected by the UNESCO General Conference.
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