Policy and Learning Committee

The first GFMD Policy and Learning Committee was established in January 2022, after the body provided for the new GFMD constitution that was adopted at the GFMD General Assembly in September 2021.

How is the committee appointed? The GFMD Policy and Learning Committee is selected by the Steering Committee.

What is the role of the GFMD Policy and Learning Committee?

• To provide advice and support to the GFMD Secretariat, Executive Director and Steering Committee on policy and learning strategy, programmes, and activities.

• To nominate to media development practioners to the GFMD IMPACT advisory board.

The current members of the GFMD Policy and Learning Committee are:

• Maha Taki, Senior Advisor, Media Development, BBC Media Action

• Lars Tallert, Head of International Policy and Develoment, Fojo Media Institute, Linnaeus University

• Tabani Moyo, Acting Regional Director, Media Institute of Southern Africa - MISA

Maha Taki, Senior Advisor, Media Development, BBC Media Action

Maha Taki has worked for over 10 years as projects director in settings such as Lebanon, Turkey and Libya and now leading BBC Media’s Actions learning and strategy on media development. She has a strong dedication to knowledge sharing and collaboration and a track record of managing teams, partners and relationships with various stakeholders under testing circumstances.

Maha has a PhD in media and communication and co-researcher. and writer of the feasibility study for the International fund for Public Interest media, a study that details how a global fund would be an effective vehicle for supporting media, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

As a candidate for GFMD's Steering Committee in 2021, Maha wrote:

Having grown up in Lebanon (and now in London), with a personal history of exile, I believe the best learning, ideas and exchanges come together when there is a variety of different voices from multiple cultures. I often draw inspiration from, collaborate with and invite exchanges from different fields of cultural production and have a particular drive to bring the voices of those most underrepresented to the fore. For example, I am volunteer lead programmer of Otherfield film festival, an annual festival for filmmakers, that aims to stimulate and provoke new pathways and directions in creative nonfiction filmmaking and overcome the barriers that often exist between the professionals and those who often don’t have access to film schools or networks in the field. As programmer I have brought the work of female Arab filmmakers to audiences who would not usually have access to these voices.

I believe that there needs to be a stronger shaping of the media development policy agenda from the global south. I’m particularly interested in working with GFMD to foster more enabling and inclusive learning and collaborative environments that bring together the pockets of knowledge and experiences from across the world so that the advocacy agenda is truly bottom up and reflects the needs of all members, not just those most visible and vocal.

Lars Tallert, Head of International Policy and Develoment, Fojo Media Institute, Linnaeus University

Lars Tallert has 35 years of experience as a journalist and advisor to media organisations, NGOs, UN-agencies and governments. As Sweden's representative to the Intergovernmental Council of UNESCO/IPDC, and as a long-time UN-consultant, I have a fairly good understanding of the UN-system.

As a member of the GFMD Policy and Learning Committee Tallert will be representing GFMD in the UN-dialogue around the Sustainable Development Goals, not only focusing on 16.10 but demonstrating how good, sustainable journalism is a prerequisite for reaching all the SDGs.

Tallert's other focus includes exploring how journalism better can contribute to environmental, social and economic sustainability while at the same time improving the financial sustainability of the media.

Tabani Moyo, Acting Regional Director, Media Institute of Southern Africa - MISA

Tabani Moyo is the Acting Regional Director for the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), a media advocacy and lobby network with a presence in eight African countries.

Tabani's 15 years in media development includes being

• the chairperson of the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe, a network of the countries’ media development advocacy groups

• spokesperson of the Crisis Coalition, a network of 83 organisation fighting for human rights in Zimbabwe

• board member of the Africa Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX).

As well as being a member of the GFMD Steeirng Committee, Tabani is also currently:

• Board member of the Zimbabwe Internet Governance Forum (ZIGF)

• Steering Committee member of the Southern Africa Internet Governance Forum (SAIGF)

• Board member at IFEX, a global network that defends freedom of expression.

• Member of the African Commission on Human & People’s Rights’ Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and access to information.

Tabani was one of the six-member technical committee members that supported the previous Special Rapporteur on expression, Commissioner Mute in successfully reviewing the Declaration of Principles of Access to Information and Freedom of Expression to include the internet as a right in 2018.

In 2021, in commemoration of the Windhoek Declaration on Independent and Diverse Media, Tabani was appointed the moderator of the African Forum that reviewed Windhoek +30 declaration.