The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been supporting media for many years and has accumulated considerable experience in this regard. SDC takes a two-fold approach to working with the media: as a vehicle for development (see Communication for development (C4Dev)), and as an important actor in governance. This guidance is about the latter approach.
In 2017, SDC conducted a knowledge sharing exercise and literature review, which highlighted the need to update its previous guidance (published in 2004 and 2007), taking into account new trends, international standards and identified gaps. This renewed guidance replaces the previous two documents.
The guidance aims to give SDC staff and members of the Democratisation, Decentralisation and Local Governance (DDLG) network an updated view on media development – a field that is still relatively new and for which there is more and more demand. The guidance provides an overall understanding of the media sector and its reference framework, as well as needs assessments for various media types, information on SDC’s approach to media assistance, and a range of media interventions (including in specific contexts). It also offers guidance on how to assess and mitigate risks and how to monitor and evaluate media work.
The document is structured in nine chapters, the core being chapter 6, ‘Designing interventions’. This sets out six ‘segments’ of the media through which SDC can intervene (individual journalists, media outlets, media institutions, economic and technological factors, political and legal environment and safety, and social beliefs/cultural values). For each segment, the chapter gives a short introduction to the topic, describes potential interventions, and discusses issues to keep in mind.
Given that the literature has expanded significantly since the previous edition of the SDC Media Guidelines, and that there are now many examples of projects and interventions, we have adopted a twin-track approach to publishing the new edition. There is a printed version, available in French and English, with an extensive bibliography; there is also an online version, with links to reference documents, examples and videos, which will be regularly updated and enriched to make it a living document.
Additional resources
This report aims to bring key academic writing on the issues of media and governance to a non-academic audience and to make a contribution to bridging what is commonly seen as an academic-practitioner divide.
Link
Center for International Media Assistance CIMA
2012
Mary Myers
SDC has commissioned iMedia Associates (iMedia) to conduct a Capitalisation Exercise (CapEx) of its media assistance, with the primary objective of examining its current programmes and bringing out lessons learned. As the second output1 of this CapEx, iMedia has carried out a review of what other donors are doing on media assistance. As agreed, it focuses on current media support by five donors/agencies: DFID (UK Aid), Sida (Sweden), UNESCO, UNDP and the Knight Foundation.
Key Reading Document
iMedia Associates
2017
Mary Myers, Nicola Haroford and Katie Bartholomew
iMedia established the SDC's Media Assistance Report of Capitalisation Exercise
Key Reading Document
iMedia ASSOCIATES
2017
Mary Myers, Nicola Harford and Katie Bartholomew
This report addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development and reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity.
