Media for Peace in Africa Programme

This project works to strengthen the role of the media in understanding and communicating about conflict in Africa by providing grants, carrying out research, developing and disseminating resources, and carrying out workshops and other education projects.

Specifically, one key strategy is providing fellowship grants that enable journalists to research and report in depth on conflict and peace issues in the region and publish or broadcast substantial features in major national or regional media. Selected outputs from the fellowships are included in bi-monthly “bulletins” published in French and English by Panos Western Africa and disseminated to editors throughout Africa via a website.

The programme also aims to provide journalists and media institutions with information and resources to stimulate a culture of high professional standards within the media industry. The idea is to use printed and online materials, as well as face-to-face interchanges, to foster reflection and dialogue. Examples of programme endeavours include:

• Publishing guides, manuals and briefs, such as:
  1. Best practice guidelines for reporting on conflicts
  2. Discussion documents on ethical and other dilemmas in reporting on conflict/peace issues
  3. Briefings on eneral conflict/peace themes, such as international intervention and or international roles relating to conflict
  4. Background briefing documents on specific conflicts in the region (designed to help journalists understand the conflict and report it responsibly).
• Promoting ethical and professional standards in conflict reporting by working with national and regional media organisations and journalists' unions to establish systems to monitor and analyse media coverage of conflicts and stimulate discussion of the findings among professional and civil society organisations.
• Offering seminars on national and international laws that bring together stakeholder groups to build knowledge and implementation of established rights and develop collaborative strategies for progress.
• Conducting workshops with local authorities on the role of the media as actors for peace. For instance, the programme offers a training/orientation workshop for participating journalists and editors at the start of each year.
• Implementing projects with higher educational institutions and schools to build media literacy and awareness of the role of independent media in democracy.
• Undertaking practical research into the impact of media in conflict situations, the results of which are disseminated to the public and policymakers

Conflict

The programme objectives are to:

• support and promote high-quality coverage by African media of conflict and peace issues in Africa.
• strengthen the capacity of journalists and media institutions to cover conflict and peace issues in a responsible and professional way.
• strengthen relations between the media, civil society and governments by fostering an understanding of and respect for the media's work, particularly with regard its role in promoting peace and democracy.