A Welcome Letter from GFMD

13.04.09

Dear colleagues,

I am so pleased to send you the first issue of the GFMD Insider, an electronic briefing full of useful information for media development organizations. In it, you’ll find important insights on donor trends, management skills, program monitoring and evaluation, technology tips – and much more. The first Insider is going out to everyone working in the field. But future editions – one every three months – will go only to GFMD members, so we urge you to join the Global Forum for Media Development now at http://gfmd.info/index.php/about_gfmd/join_the_gfmd/.

Our goal is to give members the know-how to strengthen independent media around the world – and to make the strongest case to potential funders for increased investment in this pillar of civil society. One ambitious GFMD undertaking is a map of ongoing activities in the media development sector. Take a look at the sample map of Kenya in this Insider. In the coming year, we will identify all GFMD member programs on an interactive Google map. This valuable resource will enable funders and providers alike to see in an instant who has active projects in various regions of the world.

We have more exciting news to report. Our next GFMD steering committee meeting will be in Baghdad on May 25. It will be part of the first international journalism conference there since the war, organized by the International Federation of Journalists. The GFMD will run a special session on media development in post-conflict Iraq. A smaller group of steering committee members will meet in Oslo in June, at a gathering sponsored by the Global Forum for Free Expression. We also are planning a series of meetings and presentations for new funders in the U.S. and Europe.

We hope you enjoy this inaugural issue of the GFMD Insider – and we encourage you to send feedback and suggestions to assistant (at) gfmd (dot) org. If you are not yet a GFMD member, now is the time to join so you can take advantage of all the new membership services.

Warm regards,

Bettina Peters
GFMD Director