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The (year-delayed) GFMD General Assembly will take place on September 30th and October 1st 2021.
This year is going to be very different from previous years as the pandemic has not only put severe limitations on travel but also made organising an event for GFMD members and the wider media development and journalism support community impossible.
Due to these restrictions, the Secretariat is organising an in-person meeting of just over 20 representatives of GFMD general members in Tirana, Albania. This will be combined with a hybrid online General Assembly for all members.
We extend special gratitude to our member, , for assisting us in organising the event.
The in-person gathering will include:
GFMD Steering Committee members, who will convene for a series of working and strategic planning meetings.
The GFMD Secretariat for support and strategic planning.
A limited number of GFMD regional members and candidates for the new Steering Committee.*
* Nominations for the new Steering Committee are now closed. A list of candidates is . Voting for the new Steering Committee will take place online from online.
Members who are not able to travel to Tirana will be able to join the General Assembly online on and .
As not all General Members will be able to attend the in-person meeting many of the processes and decisions that are normal taken at the event will and the in-person meeting.
For example:
The nomination process for candidates for the GFMD Steering Committee was launched on via an email to the GFMD members mailing list.
Voting for the new Steering Committee will take place online .
And the results will be announce at the General Assembly on .
With this in mind, the Agenda for the 2021 GFMD General Assembly has been split into three sections:
Every four years (five in this exceptional case) GFMD general members vote to elect a new Steering Committee at the General Assembly.
The Steering Committee then elects a Chairperson, Deputy-Chairperson and Treasurer from among its number.
For more about the Steering Committee and the election, see:
VI. STEERING COMMITTEE in the
On 13 August, the Secretariat published the behind a series of suggested .
A - incorporating suggestions and feedback from members - was published and shared with members on 15th September.
Voting to approve the new Constitution will take place from .
The result will be announced at the General Assembly on .
The Secretariat has also developed a that will form the basis for discussion at the meeting on .
As we continue with the preparations leading towards the event, we will keep you informed. Stay tuned for more updates!
As well as announcing the date and explaining the hybrid format of the event the email announced that General members are able to submit applications to be a candidate for the next (2021-2025 Steering Committee using this form:
10th September was the deadline for General members to submit their applications to join the GFMD Steering Committee by August 20th 2021.
General members were able to submit applications using .
10th September was also the deadline for General members to submit their .
Read more about the Steering Committee's mandate in the , Section VI.
See our .
Secretariat publishes and shares:
Download the presentation that was shared at the meeting from the link below:
The announcement of the new Steering Committee marked the end of the 2021 GFMD General Assembly.
All members were then invited to attend the first meeting of the new GFMD Steering Committee which was held after a short break in proceedings.
During the meeting, the new GFMD Steering Committee voted for a new Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson and Treasurer.
The day after the General Assembly and Steering Committee meeting, members and partners held a series of discussions on GFMD's strategy for the coming four years.
Alongside the convening of GFMD members and partners for the General Assembly, two country-focused meetings were held on 30th September in Tirana.
In the appendices, you will find the text and videos of the speeches by:
FORMAT: In-person meeting in Tirana
A Voting Commission of three Steering Committee members met to review the votes for the new Steering Committee and Constitution and ensure that they had been cast and recorded correctly.
The GFMD Executive Committee nominated the following individuals to sit on the voting commission:
Ricardo Corredor, Outgoing Chairperson of GFMD
Mira Milosevic, Executive Director GFMD
Remzi Lani, director of Albanian Media Institute and outgoing member of the GFMD Steering Committee
While GFMD’s strategy for 2021-2025 will be discussed at the General Assembly, it will not be voted on until after the meeting.
This is in order to
Allow changes and additions to be made based on in-person and hybrid discussions at the General Assembly.
Ensure that all members (especially those not able to attend online or in-person) have time to review and provide feedback.
This period will also allow all members not able to attend online or in-person to provide feedback and vote on the adoption of the:
GFMD activity report 2017-2021
GFMD financial report 2017-2021
Strategic plan 2021-2025
The Secretariat announces the final results of additional online voting and comments and shares the following final documents with members:
GFMD activity report for 2017-2021
GFMD financial report 2017- 2021
GFMD strategy 2021-2025
All times Central European Summer Time (CEST) (GMT+2)
This session was an opportunity for members to discuss a range of issues facing GFMD and the wider media development and journalism support sector.
The discussion was be split into two sessions:
First, an in-person discussion among those attending in Tirana.
Secondly, a hybrid discussion for all members.
General members attending the event were invited to join and contribute to the following breakout groups to contribute to .
GFMD members present in Tirana volunteered to act as moderators and rapporteurs, whereas members of the GFMD Secretariat took notes to ensure that suggestions are presented and shared at the and incorporated into GFMD's strategic plan.
Venue: meeting room Antigonea 2, Rogner Hotel, Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit, Tirana
Venue: meeting room Antigonea 2, Rogner Hotel, Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit, Tirana
Venue: meeting room Antigonea 3, Rogner Hotel, Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit, Tirana
Building GFMD's membership and network:
Venue: meeting room Antigonea 2, Rogner Hotel, Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit, Tirana
This workshop was the final stage of drafting the .
It aimed to finalise strategic objectives for the Global Forum for Media Development until the end of 2025, drawing on input from the Steering Committee, members, partners, and experts from the wider network.
This Strategic Plan will help to define and focus GFMD’s programmes and core activities over the coming 4 year period.
On 30th September 2021 GFMD hosted an Afghanistan assistance coordination meeting in Tirana, Albania Three journalists from Afghanistan presented the current situation and spoke what assistance is nee
On October 2nd the Global Forum for Media Development issued a statement calling for the international community to take urgent steps to support journalism in Afghanistan - GFMD Calls for Urgent Support for Afghanistan Journalists.
The statement followed an event on the evening of 30th September where three journalists from Afghanistan shared their experience of seeking exile in Albania and the persecution and hardship that Afghan journalists are facing.
One of the journalists told the meeting:
“We are concerned about the destruction of the Afghan media community's achievements over the past two decades. In the last month, more than 150 media outlets have closed. The Taliban detained, beaten and tortured dozens of journalists.
More than 100 journalists were forced to leave Afghanistan.
Among these journalists are the best, most experienced, and well-known Afghan journalists.
Some of those who remained in the country lost their jobs, and others are being forced to follow the Taliban's illegal orders and continue their journalistic work with fear and trembling.
The pressure and threat on the Afghan media community are too high and so, self-censorship among journalists in Afghanistan has reached its peak.
Afghanistan had the most unique and democratic and free media system in the region but currently, there is no longer free and independent journalism in Afghanistan.”
The Afghan journalists outlined the actions that are required to save Afghan journalism, protect lives, and provide the means for the continuation of the necessary provision of credible information to the people of Afghanistan.
The priorities articulated by the Afghan journalists who spoke at the meeting were for governments, donors, and multilateral organisations to:
Put pressure on the Taliban government to ensure, stop harassment, especially of female journalists and their families.
Make the new government accountable to provide freedom of information gathering and information dissemination efforts of Afghan journalists in Afghanistan.
Make these elements conditions for recognition and engagement efforts with the Taliban government.
Provide continued technical and financial assistance to Afghan media outlets and journalists.
The called on states that support free expression, independent media, and human rights to immediately engage in the following three urgent actions:
Provide technical and financial support to Afghan media outlets and journalists to overcome the immediate economic crisis facing media outlets and Afghan journalists and their families.
Re-purpose development and assistance resources to support evacuated Afghan journalists so they can provide necessary independent information to the Afghan public.
Provide immediate resettlement for Afghan journalists that are in life-threatening danger and/or work with states willing to provide interim shelter to provide assistance in that effort, including funding for temporary settlement.
The international community and international journalists and media support organizations should continue their technical and financial assistance and support to the Afghan media.
The safety and security of Afghan journalists should be a priority of all of us.
Financial assistance to journalists who have lost their jobs.
Action should be taken as soon as possible to evacuate journalists whose lives are in danger and who have remained in the country.
International institutions and countries put political pressure on the Taliban to recognize and respect freedom of expression, human rights and media freedoms.
The cases of journalists who were beaten and tortured by the Taliban should be investigated by impartial international organizations.
Provide conditions for continuing the work of journalists and media outlets outside Afghanistan.
Journalists in Afghanistan do not have access to online and in-person training courses such as cyber and digital security, crisis coverage, safety tips, and Resilience. We can hold these courses for them here.
Provide internships and professional jobs for Afghan journalists in the Albanian media.
Hold short-term and long-term courses to increase the capacity and skills of Afghan journalists in Albania. Specifically master and PhD studies.
Provide research fellowships for journalism professors and outstanding journalists who are in Albania at the Albanian media institutes and universities.
Establish a multimedia newsroom with media equipment for Afghan journalists in Albania to freely and independently cover Afghan news and increase public awareness in a situation where the Afghan people do not have access to accurate and free information. By creating a news website, we can publish reports and news from Afghanistan and publish the reports of journalists inside Afghanistan under a pseudonym.
Conduct academic research projects to study the attitudes and perceptions of Afghan immigrants in Europe or other topics.
Afghan journalists in Albania can transfer their experiences from war and crisis reporting to journalists and journalism students in Albania and other countries. Providing visiting programs for Afghan Journalists to visit the media outlets and journalism schools in Albania.
How should can the Secretariat and Steering Committee work together to recruit new members?
How can GFMD best meet the needs of affiliate members?
Rapporteurs from the in-person breakout groups summarised what was discussed in the morning breakout sessions:
Those present in Tirana and members who are joining via Zoom were invited to contribute and add to the discussions.
Report from the "Albanian perspectives on media development and journalism support" a roundtable discussion at the GFMD meeting in Tirana on 30 September 2021.
Event:
Date: 30 September 2021 (0900-1045 CEST)
Venue: Rogner Hotel, Tirana, Albania
Moderator: Lutfi Dervishi, journalist, media expert.
Rapporteur: Blerjana Bino, Center Science and Innovation for Development
Importance of coalition of media partners (international community, media organisations, diplomacy level) and local actors, journalists, and media organisations to flag violations of media freedom and safety of journalists.
This coalition should also advocate for having media freedom and freedom of expression in the agenda of multilateral and bilateral relations.
It is paramount to work with local organisations which have better insight in media situation and landscape and partner them with international networks, forums, organisations to exchange experience and build partnerships to foster media freedom.
Echoed the messages of Ms Milosevic on the importance to understand local media context and build bridges with global media organisations.
Albania has a vibrant media landscape with still a significant support from the international community. The engagement of international community in media ecosystem in Albania has a legacy of both success and failures and it is important to understand both legacies.
A major concern currently in Albania is the danger of “false speech” – hate speech, misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, fake news. It is important for stakeholders to engage in a comprehensive discussion on this issue.
Appreciating GFMD as a global effort that is sustainable to impact free and independent media
Media freedom is fundamental to support all other freedoms and democracy as a whole
The GFMD workshop in Tirana is a great opportunity to share lessons learnt, experiences and contribute to partnership between different partners.
The aim is to identify common interests and foster new partnerships for media development between local and international partners and keep media freedom high up in the agenda.
Some of the concerns of media development and media freedom in Albania: concentration of ownership, risks of media plurality and financial sustainability, disinformation, fake news and how to sustain quality of journalism, self-censorship, media trust and unethical online media reporting including bribery for attacking business or organisations, regulation of online and mainstream media, self-regulation, and professional standards.
UK Embassy interest on climate change considering the Glasgow high level meeting in October 2021 on climate change. Sustainable energy, circular economy, and related environmental issues.
UK Embassy interest on security issues as well.
The role of media is crucial in exposing challenges around organized crime, corruption, climate change and enforcement of law and thus have complementarity of impact on democratic processes such as transparency and accountability of government, justice system.
Interest in identifying proposals on how the international community can support media freedom. Also building local and international partnerships, putting media freedom high up in the agenda, supporting media integrity, ethical reporting and tackling gender equality in media as well. Thus, the challenge is to make it work in Albania and share it as a success story.
Lufti Dervishi, moderator of the forum, highlighted significant changes in the media landscape and the blurring of boundaries between media and ‘audiences’ with cases of politicians becoming media. Also, trust in media is becoming a worrisome phenomenon with clear decline of citizens trust in the media.
Blerjana Bino made an overview of media landscape in Albania based on the findings of Safe Journalists Network report on Indicators on the Level of Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety in Albania 2020 highlighting challenges of media freedom in Albania particularly in terms of implementation of legal guarantees for media freedom, due prevention, due process and actual attacks, the position of journalists, particularly women, in the workspace, access to information, risks of disinformation/misinformation, but also censored information, centralisation of public information and propaganda.
So, in terms of the legal environment, even though the Constitution of Albania guarantees the freedom of expression, media, and information, such provisions are not thoroughly implemented in practice with clear signs of deterioration of media freedom. For instance, In Albania, defamation is still a criminal contravention and there have been recent attempts by governmental officials to increase sanctions. Investigative and critical journalists are particularly more often the target of defamation lawsuits particularly SLAPPs as a mechanism to censor, intimidate, or silence independent media.
In terms of the safety of journalists and due prevention measures, the report finds that Albania’s state institutions have not established yet effective mechanisms that are specific for journalists and media staff to provide protective measures when they are threatened. Also in terms of due process, we find limited follow-up investigation, cases of attacks against journalists have not been resolved yet and there is limited transparency about the investigation process remain critical.
In terms of safety, actual attacks against journalists have been recorded in 2020 such as actual physical harm, arbitrary detention, seizing of equipment and disruption of reporting. Threats against the lives and physical safety of journalists exist but, such cases are not systemic.
In terms of, journalists’ position in the workplace: journalists labour rights enforcement is not consolidated with the COVID-19 pandemic further impacting the economic position in the workplace (job contracts, salary cuts, social security and others), but more concerning is that women journalists face somehow increased difficulties compared to men in terms of salaries, intimidation, gap in leading positions in the newsroom, and harassment. Women journalists, particularly young, report facing sexual harassment in the workplace. However, such cases are not reported officially and usually no charges are filed due to an overall climate of intimidation and a general attitude of ‘blaming the victim’.
Self-censorship is still present. Copyright infringement is also a major problem in broadcast, print and online media. Thus, pointing to the overall quality of content, its diversity, and how much it is connected to audiences and communities’ needs. The report highlights the necessity for media, particularly local media, to venture into alternative ways of ensuring financial sustainability through engagement of audiences and communities, diaspora engagement, monetization of content and covering topics that have currently limited coverage including environment, climate change, empowerment of marginalised groups, impact of technology, gender equality and others. Soon a safe journalist index will be published for the region, including Albania with a comparative report and ranking of WB6 countries and Croatia.
Role of government (local, central government and other authorities) is problematic with attempts to introduce legislation that hinders media freedom; establishment of centralised public communication and media agency; intense propaganda and systemic attempts to replace journalism with pre-registered and pre-prepared media content by the Public Relations staff of Prime Minister, ministers, Mayor, and other authorities.
The challenges in law enforcement is another major concern with the media legal framework being good on paper, but with critical shortcomings in its implementation.
Limited political will to ensure a functioning and enabling environment for media freedom, endemic and grand corruption, limited functioning of justice system and overall limited democratic culture affect media freedom and independence.
Symbiotic relations between media corporations, politicians and businesses based on clientelistic and other vested interests hinder the overall media freedom and independence (limited media plurality, concentrated ownership, low media trust etc.)
Access to information, ensuring safe and enabling space to do quality journalism. Limited implementation of the legal framework on freedom of information primarily due to lack of political will, a culture of secrecy and retaining public information, limited practices to implement accountability and transparency measures. Limited access to information negatively impacts media reporting and in particular investigative journalism. Safety of journalists and access to public information is part of the Sustainable Development Goals (16/10) and this is a window of opportunity to pressure government to foster sustainability and accountability and better implementation of access to information legal framework. Also, it is important to highlight the public interest perspective also in accessing and using public information as a public good. Cross border collaboration and other coalitions with international organisations are needed for fostering access to information and EU and other donors can play an important role.
Investigative journalism as a key dimension of quality journalism and democracy. It is paramount to have an enabling environment and support for journalists and media organisations to do investigative journalism. Risk of SLAPP increasing as a threat to investigative journalists (financial burden), limited access to information, delays and other pressures to abandon stories and reporting.
Role of journalists in advocating for change or monitoring legal changes or changes in other legislation that affect media freedom, report, raise awareness and mobilise support for media freedom.
Role of international community and donors in supporting media organisations and the necessity of bottom-up approaches and engaging with local media without imposing donors’ agenda and interest.
Quality of data collection and publication for media freedom, journalists’ safety and link of media freedom with Sustainable Development Goals.
The necessity to create an enabling environment for journalists as professionals (individuals) to be able to do good journalism: capacity development, legal support, financial support, networking opportunity, improving labor rights.
Strengthening local media and local news.
Organisation and coordination among media associations, NGOs, and other actors involved in media landscape for better impact, advocacy, and outreach.
Trust in media and quality of journalism for increasing media trust in Albania.
Information disorder with issues such as fake news, hate speech, disinformation, conspiracy theories, propaganda deteriorate the overall media landscape in Albania. The information disorder is primary domestic and political with limited influence from Russia or China as in the rest of the Western Balkans region. The need for combining quality of journalism with quality of education through media literacy programmes.
A coalition of international and local partners to support media freedom.
Direct engagement with media in local contexts.
Journalism in the digital space including online safety and digital rights.
Focus on particular areas of interest for the future: climate change, organized crime, corruption, diaspora, gender and specific topics of interest to audiences.
Capitalising on the digital transformation of media and engagement with audiences.
Relevance of knowledge and skills through capacity development, exchange of experiences, networking and mobility of journalists.
Change of mindset and culture of how to do quality journalism.
Financial sustainability through alternative sources of funding and monetization.
Ensuring media plurality and breaking the concentration of media ownership.
Enforcing journalists’ labour rights.
Media literacy and in general digital literacies and critical thinking of citizens/audiences.
On 1 October 2021 members and partners of the Global Forum for Media Development met to discuss strategy and planning for the next four year period.
Members of the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) gathered during its quadrennial General Assembly to discuss the organisation’s strategy for the coming four years.
The strategic sessions were divided into two main sections:
Three in-person breakout groups focusing on:
A hybrid gathering of all GFMD members to discuss key takeaways from the breakout groups.
Following the breakout groups and group discussion, the following conclusions were drawn:
The discussions from the breakout groups and hybrid sessions will inform GFMD’s upcoming strategy. The latest draft of the strategy can be found .
Media development organisations are still processing the lessons learned from Afghanistan.
There was particular focus on issues of diversity in civil society and different approaches to media development, as well as discussion on the differences between media development organisations and other CSOs.
There is a need to advocate more for media development in the broader sphere of civil society.
Is GFMD’s role to facilitate conversations and advocacy between civil society and states to advance media development or is it to coordinate more at a local level? There are many issues and a need to develop priorities – they are all important but cannot be worked on all at once.
There was debate over GFMD’s role in multilateral mechanisms, namely the Media Freedom Coalition Consultative Network, the changing structure of the MFC and the new Secretariat that will soon be created.
All members are committed to having local associations, which could present opportunities for engagement. These are issues that should be discussed at upcoming events and forums.
The group raised questions of what and who GFMD is for: How many various coalitions are there that work in areas that are directly or tangentially linked to the work of GFMD? Should GFMD be present in those coalitions and networks and, if so, how?
GFMD should consider three core areas where it can work meaningfully. The three areas proposed by the breakout group were:
Convening emergency media development responses.
Convening around “windows of opportunity”, i.e. opportunities where media development actors see they can get involved in a particular country or issue and come together collectively to develop solutions and interventions.
The group asked whether or not GFMD was a forum for discussion or an alliance where members come together to have collective power.
On learning and the role of GFMD IMPACT, there is potential to bring in a wide variety of different stakeholders. There should not be a sole focus on institutional donors, but a wider group of experts who can bring knowledge about media development. As well as gathering knowledge from these experts, GFMD should be positioned to disseminate knowledge in meaningful ways.
We need to set clear criteria for membership applications. Who can become a GFMD member? Do we have clear requirements on applicants values and principles before they can be considered for GFMD membership?
Affiliate membership: GFMD must clearly state what can be provided to affiliate members.
GFMD must consider how we can avoid competition within the network of members, in particular with the introduction of affiliate membership.
There needs to be coordination between those who need support (for example through capacity building) and those who are in a position to provide it. Introducing affiliate membership will change the dynamics within the network.
As the affiliate membership is rolled out, GFMD will need to provide information and communication material in members’ respective languages as a means of clearly stating the benefits of membership.
On recruitment, GFMD needs to decide which organisations should be actively recruited, including digital media and rights organisations.
Facebook should be considered as a method of communication that the GFMD team should look into. Small organisations in other regions outside of Europe tend to use Facebook as their only social media platform. It could be a strong channel for recruitment and engagement of smaller organisations.
Translation of GFMD content should be prioritised to support inclusivity and diversity of membership. The GFMD membership page should be translated, in particular. As should the GFMD membership form. CFI has committed to assisting in a French translation.
Global membership meetings should be interpreted to accommodate the diverse attendance and to provide a platform for non-English-speaking members.
GFMD needs to focus on tech solutions for the management of the Secretariat and also to help build tech capacities for small- and medium-sized members.
Network Analysis Survey
GFMD conducted three surveys of the network, including members, donors, and other stakeholders. The network-wide survey uncovered varied opinions on how GFMD should operate. This is something that should be taken into account by members who operate at an international level – the interests of international members versus those who operate locally or regionally are often very different. The three most challenging issues identified by the survey were:
Issues with securing funding
Working in environments hostile to independent journalism
Inability to diversify revenue
The survey revealed that these issues affect all CSOs. Disinformation and the exchange of knowledge were both high on the agendas of those surveyed.
As the breakout group focused heavily on the number of coalitions that GFMD is a member of, the core question that needs to be addressed is how many coalitions GFMD should join, what the organisation’s role should be, and are the coalitions supporting locally-led media development.
The point that must be stressed is to increase emphasis on locally-led media development. How can GFMD members support this – either in an emergency or in a “window of opportunity”?
These are the coordination efforts that GFMD should be focusing on, but there is a need for improvement. The Lebanon coordination effort can be used as an example of best practice for coordinated support to locally-led and informed media development. The media development community is always calling on donors to coordinate their support, but in order for this to happen, media development organisations need to develop models that can be easily used, replicated, and showcased. GFMD does not necessarily need to be the body that coordinates this support, but members should be used to apply those models of best practice.
If there are three strategic areas of work: emergencies, windows of opportunity, and participation in development fora, what are the priorities for the GFMD Secretariat and staff? Allocation of staff resources and time need to be considered in addressing these three areas. More emphasis should be placed on the emergency aspect of the organisation’s work. GFMD can do all three, but resources need to be allocated correctly. GFMD could pinpoint its service more.
GFMD has a two-sided market, the media developers and the media “developees”. GFMD can serve as the link and mechanism between these two – between developers and donors.
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation has developed a set of media guidelines, setting a frame for the different entry levels into which media development can be enforced – from an individual level (namely journalists), to media houses and media organisations, to academia, legal and political environments, all the way to the societal belief and how much people value information and independent journalism. GFMD could stand to have an agreed approach similar to that of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. When there is a new project, initiative, or study launched in the sector, it would be valuable to see which of the aforementioned entry points for media development it is associated with.
It is beneficial to separate media development into these three tracks (emergencies, windows of opportunity, and participation in development fora) as mentioned previously. However, GFMD does not need to see these as three separate entities, rather they are interlinked. In particular the first and third options are clearly linked. The third option is not solely attending conferences on sustainability, but it should also be related to how we work locally and include a sustainability perspective in everything we do and then communicate that notion upwards. When it comes to windows of opportunities, it may be less important as it is more difficult to draw clear cut conclusions, especially as they typically close quite fast.
GFMD has the potential to play a role in spreading the message of media and independent journalism as a public good. As GFMD organisations work on broader media development issues, it is important to try and pass along this message to the general public, to encourage an understanding of the value of independent media. This is beyond the capacity of a lot of organisations, especially smaller ones, which potentially shows an area of priority for GFMD.
In GFMD’s target circles for policy and advocacy work – where there is an argument for a scale up in support for independent media – there is a lack of clarity of what is being asked for and who is asking for what. There are many different groups and coalitions which somewhat dilutes the message and the urgency of the need for support. GFMD can play a role in establishing clarity around the needs of the sector and the various groups working towards similar goals.
At a national level, there is an opportunity and hunger to engage with governments. GFMD can help facilitate the involvement of different coalitions and institutions at a national level, and to bring together those who are able to influence conversations at this level.
There is a question of where GFMD adds value and where it can be particularly helpful in raising the visibility, influence, and impact of news media and media sustainability in these global fora. GFMD is already currently active in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) through the launch of the Dynamic Coalition on the Sustainability of Journalism and News Media (DC-Sustainability). GFMD could participate more in the DC-Sustainability, in particular by assisting with the production of its annual report which highlights case studies and issues faced by members relating to regulation of tech platforms and its effect on news media.
With the UN Secretary General’s renewed emphasis on digital cooperation, there is an opportunity for GFMD to elevate the issue of news media sustainability in the broader discussions around Internet governance, disinformation, and other similar issues.
The pandemic has changed everything about the way GFMD works, as well as the wider media development and journalism support community. All GFMD members entered the pandemic with pre-existing conditions, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities. GFMD conversations need to focus heavily on this. The crises brought about and exacerbated by the pandemic have affected the GFMD community unevenly. In the Caribbean, priority issues relate to survival – people and organisations are looking to business models in order to survive.
The prevalence of social media and associated dominance of disinformation will also play a part in the struggles of media organisations. GFMD and its members need to continue looking at the regulatory environment for tech platforms that will take into account these aforementioned points as they play a part in the survival of independent media.
GFMD as a global organisation needs to make sure that it is shedding light on “dark pockets” in the global media development landscape. In the context of small island states, such as those in which ACM operates, the potential for achieving media development is significantly different to that in other environments.
Considering the current situation in Afghanistan, GFMD could contribute a statement of principles of the moral responsibilities of media development groups that are working in dangerous and conflict situations. The crisis in Afghanistan has highlighted a dependency on, and responsibility for, Afghan journalists and media workers. When media development groups are involved in making new media organisations in volatile environments and training people who will then inevitably work in these dangerous situations, what is the community’s responsibility to them? GFMD could take leadership in articulating that in a particular way.
The quality of conversation differs dramatically if members are all present in a room, versus online. As GFMD’s strategy evolves, it must consider how it can be genuinely inclusive. It is very challenging to operate equitably if a portion of meetings are in person and a portion are online. GFMD cannot go back to “the old days” when those who are in a position to travel to international meetings and conferences can make decisions and those who cannot travel (due to finances or geographical constraints) are less involved.
Involvement in other development trends, collectives, bodies, and discussion groups that focus on other development trends that resonate with media development e.g. environmental sustainability and seeing how they interact with one another.
Owais Aslam Ali, Secretary-General,
Mijal Iastrebner, Co-founder and Managing Director,
Ricardo Corredo – outgoing Chairperson of GFMD. Ricardo chaired the meeting until the new chair was elected.
All GFMD members and partners who attended the General Assembly in Tirana were invited to attend the meeting as observers.
All members of the GFMD Secretariat attended the meeting.
All members of the new Steering Committee who were present were invited to introduce themselves.
The GMFD Executive Director explained that the GFMD Steering Committee has three subcommittees:
(which would be elected during this meeting)
(elected at the next Steering Committee meeting)
(elected at the next Steering Committee meeting)
6.9.2 General purpose of subcommittees
Steering Committee subcommittees shall play an advisory role to help guide the and about matters falling within their mandates.
Subcommittees shall not have decision-making powers but shall be able to act in a more flexible and efficient way to advise the, and staff, in accordance with this Constitution.
The GMFD Executive Director also explained the roles of GFMD Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, and Treasurer.
Chairperson: The Chairperson of the Executive Committee, also chairs meetings of the Steering Committee. They also act as a public figurehead for the organisation alongside the Executive Director.
Deputy Chairperson: In the absence of the Chairperson, the Deputy Chairperson chairs meetings of the Executive Committee and Steering Committee.
Treasurer: The Treasurer works with GFMD’s finance team on fundraising and business planning.
It was agreed that all candidates for all roles should come forward to allow the Steering Committee to consider the right balance of the Executive Committee.
The Executive Director encouraged women to run for positions on the Executive Committee, noting that:
The last two chairs had been men.
For the last 2 years, the Executive Committee had been exclusively male.
The Chair reinforced this point and added that:
The previous three chairpersons have come from the United States, Europe, and Latin America and so the Steering Committee might want to consider a candidate from outside of those regions.
Ruth Kronenburg -- Director of Operations, put herself forward for the position of Treasurer. There were no other candidates.
Ruth Kronenburg was elected as treasurer.
Three Steering Committee members put themselves forward to the position of deputy chair.
Ayman Mhanna, Executive Director,
Jan Lublinski, Head of Department, Policy and Learning,
Wesley Gibbings, Executive Member,
Before voting commenced Ayman Mhanna withdrew his candidacy:
“There are amazing candidates here and I'm totally ready to support them. Our involvement in GFMD is continuing through the Lebanon coordination process and the other activities. So please, I would like to withdraw my name.”
An online poll was sent to all Steering Committee members.
The result of the online poll was shown to the Chair who announced Jan Lublinski as the new Deputy Chair.
The candidates for Chairperson were:
Tabani Moyo - Acting Regional Director,
Zoe Titus - Director,
On invitation from the outgoing Chair, both candidates spoke about their vision for GFMD and the role of Chair for the next four years.
An online poll was sent to all Steering Committee members.
The result of the online poll was shown to the Chair who announced Zoe Titus as the new Chair of GFMD.
It was agreed that as not all Steering Committee members were present and the new Chair was reaching the meeting via telephone, discussion of the rules of Steering Committees’ working rules with the Secretariat would be discussed at the next meeting of the Steering Committee.
It was agreed that a draft agenda and suggestions about working rules would be shared with the Steering Committee and the next meeting would take place the week beginning 18th October.
The new GFMD Chair, Zoe Titus, thanked the Steering Committee for their show of confidence.
“I appreciate it very, very dearly. And as I said earlier, I'm here to serve. [...] I look forward to receiving the minutes and updates of the proceedings over the last few days. And I look forward to working with the Secretariat of the rest of the membership. Thanks very much. And hope to speak to everyone soon.”
-- ENDS --
Marija Ristic, Regional Director,
Marija was in Tirana for the General Assembly meeting but had to attend a meeting with a donor during the Steering Committee meeting.
Her colleague, Milka Domanovic, Head of Business and Partnership at BIRN attended the meeting.
Marija cast her vote for the Deputy Chair and Chair via email)
Mira Milosevic, Executive Director, GFMD
The GFMD Executive Director is a non-voting member of the Steering Committee
Prue Clarke, Co-founder, Executive Director, Editor,
Via Zoom
Roula Mikhael, Executive Director,
Via Zoom
Ruth Kronenburg, Director of Operations,
Present in Tirana
Sharon Moshavi, President, (Online)
Via Zoom
Tabani Moyo, Acting Regional Director,
Present in Tirana
Toby Mendel, Executive Director,
Via Zoom before voting for the Chair began.
Vusumuzi Sifile, Executive Director,
Via Zoom
Wesley Gibbings, Executive Member,
Via Zoom
Zoe Titus, Director,
Via telephone. (Zoe was travelling by road between Namibia and South Africa to attend a funeral) Zoe joined the meeting via telephone after the vote for Deputy Chair had concluded.
Ayman Mhanna, Executive Director, Samir Kassir Foundation - SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom
Via Zoom
Caroline Vuillemin, General Director, Fondation Hirondelle
Via Zoom
Drew Sullivan, Co-founder and Publisher, Journalism Development Network/OCCRP
Via Zoom
Jan Lublinski, Head of Department, Policy and Learning, Deutsche Welle Akademie
Present in Tirana
Lars Boering, Director, European Journalism Centre - EJC
Joined online via Zoom during the meeting but before voting began for the positions of Chair and Deputy Chair.
For background and FAQs on the GFMD General Assembly see:
A full list of is available here:
The outgoing Chair:
Reminded members that they had voted at GFMD’s 15-year anniversary celebration last year to postpone the General Assembly until at least some members were able to meet in person.
Thanked the Albanian Media Institute, especially its Director, outgoing Steering Committee member Remzi Lani, for helping organise the General Assembly in Tirana.
Reported that GFMD is in better shape to contribute to overcoming the challenges faced by the sector, highlighting four main improvements over the last five years; financial stability; providing better services to our members; a more solid Secretariat – “We have a staff of 9 wonderful professionals from different parts of the world”; and finally, that GFMD is more influential in the sector.
The GFMD Executive Director:
Outlined the trends that are not working in favour of professional journalism; lack of international development and international cooperation; securitised responses to multiple crises; freedom of expression and media freedom is often an add on, an afterthought and not human rights by design.
Explained that GFMD’s response has been to make the case as to why investing in journalism and media is important.
Warned of the challenges in the digital sphere, where small, non-profit, community, investigative, and similar newsrooms and media are not recognised by the system and have experienced removal of their content and accounts.
“As we go forward every organisation and every project in our network should think about contributing to securing the future of journalism, with less competition and more working together.
This means that without policies that envisage new public funding, regulation of digital markets, and enhanced international support systems for non-profit media, independent professional journalism is in danger of becoming an expensive luxury rather than a universal public good.
Over the last five years, GFMD members, Steering Committee, our Secretariat team with generous support from our partners have succeeded in making GFMD a trusted partner and strong organisation.”
Mira and Ricardo gave a tribute to the .
Special thanks and mention was given to:
Joyce Barnathan – outgoing president of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and Chair of GFMD from 2008-2012.
Mark Nelson – outgoing senior director at the Centre for International Media Assistance (CIMA)
The Chair confirmed:
That the voting Commission – himself, Mira Milosevic, and Remzi Lani – had met to verify the results.
Out of GFMD’s 103 members, 81 were up to date on their fees and eligible to vote. Of those, 60 general members voted.
The votes were cast anonymously and there was no possibility of any member being able to cast more than one vote.
The new Constitution was approved by over 96% of general members.
As this exceeded the two-thirds threshold outlined in , the Chair declared the new Constitution adopted, adding:
“I hope that you will all agree that the new constitution will make GFMD a much more efficient and effective organisation but also makes our Steering Committee more representative and diverse and therefore better able to work on behalf of the sector.”
The General Assembly also agreed:
The Steering Committee and Executive Committee will be registered in Belgium as Administrators of GFMD.
That the new constitution, once reviewed by GFMD’s lawyers, will be registered as the organisation’s new statute.
The Executive Director:
Informed the General Assembly of a new Belgium law that regulates the operations of companies and also of associations from both local and international that was adopted in 2019 and is coming into force gradually. As GFMD is registered in Brussels this new law requires all general members to meet once per year to adopt both activity and financial reports but also to approve the choice of auditor for the financial audit;
Gave notice that when the Secretariat shares the meeting report from the General Assembly, members will also be sent information about the two auditors that GFMD has been using over the last two years. With one of them put forward for General members to approve to audit GFMD’s 2021 accounts;
Noted that annual General Assembly meetings will take place online, with every fourth taking place in person unless the Steering Committee decides that circumstances allow for more frequent in-person meetings.
The GFMD Executive Director presented brief highlights from the 2016-2021 period.
Members of the GFMD Secretariat gave an in-depth briefing of activities and achievements.
Fiona Nzingo – Membership and Engagement Manager – who spoke about the GFMD's recruitment and retention of members:
Anne Marie Hammer – Programmes and Project Manager – who spoke about the launch of the GFMD MediaDev Fundraising Guide
Ivana Bjelic Vucinic – Programmes and Project Manager – who spoke about GFMD's coordination activities in Lebanon and elsewhere
GFMD Finance Manager, Klea Trbovic Zivkovic, informed the meeting that over the past five years, GFMD has received core and programmatic grants from institutional and private donors for specific activities including from; the National Endowment for Democracy (NED); Open Society Foundations (OSF); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (UK FCDO); International Media Support (IMS); Free Press Unlimited (FPU); DW Akademie; UNESCO; and BBC Media Action (BBC MA).
The Executive Director:
Reported that the Steering Committee has approved GFMD’s financial reports and audits over the last four years.
Noted that GFMD was in negative equity in 2017 and 2018 but with careful collaboration between GFMD’s members and partners and financial support from some members such as Free Press Unlimited, the organisation is in a good position administratively, programmatically, and financially.
Explained that GFMD now has a diverse revenue stream. As well as programmatic and core support from donors and funders, membership fees provide between 35 to 38% of GFMD’s revenues.
“And this is really important to make us a credible partner and also to have some independence and do things that are sometimes urgent, but we don't have funding for them. As we progress, we will think about how to diversify the revenue stream even further and to work with both members and partners to make GFMD an even more strong and stable organization.”
Predicted that the GFMD Secretariat will not grow much larger than it is.
“We are planning to provide better conditions for our staff that have been with us for more than two years, too, also invest more in the capacity of our members around the world to join us in doing joint policy and advocacy."
Jan Lublinski, Head of Department, Policy and Learning, Deutsche Welle Akademie:
“I think this presentation of Mira and the team she's built is quite impressive because it has shown what GFMD can do with the content work that we needed to do. And it can do it on many different domains. [...] The fact that this team is active and [...] dealing with all these things is quite an extraordinary achievement of Mira but also of her team.”
Jesper Højberg, Executive Director, International Media Support (IMS):
“It is important to discuss priorities [...] because the team is not big. [...] It's actually overwhelming how much you have been able to achieve. So, of course, all praise for that. But I think when we look forward to having an impact on some of these very, very complex issues that you also brought up Mira so well, I think we need to discuss what it is that we expect from the Secretariat. [...] I don't think we should leave without having somehow clarified some of those key priorities that will allow us, all of us in particular the Secretariat, to not end up being overstretched.”
Ricardo Corredor, Outgoing Chairperson of GFMD:
“I hope you agree with me that this team deserves a great round of applause for all the work they've done.
The GFMD activity reports and GFMD financial reports were both adopted by general members present in Tirana and those who attended via Zoom.
It was noted that the adoption and approval of the audit was provisional to allow members unable to attend in person or by Zoom to vote. Recordings of the presentations will be shared with all members on 11th October. The final deadline for objections and/or questions and voting will be 22nd October.
Tom Law from the GFMD Secretariat explained the nomination and voting process:
The outgoing Chairperson Ricardo Corredor informed the meeting that:
Out of GFMD’s 103 general members, 81 were eligible to cast a vote (as per the Constitution, only members who are up to date on membership fees are able to vote at the General Assembly).
60 votes were cast. There were no invalid votes.
The outgoing Chairperson Ricardo Corredor announced the duly elected members of the new Steering Committee.
Owais Aslam Ali, Secretary-General,
Prue Clarke, Co-founder, Executive Director, Editor,
Drew Sullivan, Co-founder and Publisher, /
Marija Ristic, Regional Director,
Lars Boering, Director,
Mijal Iastrebner, Co-founder and Managing Director,
Wesley Gibbings, Executive Member,
Ayman Mhanna, Executive Director,
Roula Mikhael, Executive Director,
Sharon Moshavi, President,
Vusumuzi Sifile, Executive Director,
Zoe Titus, Director,
Caroline Vuillemin, General Director,
Jan Lublinski, Head of Department, Policy and Learning,
Ruth Kronenburg, Director of Operations,
Tabani Moyo, Acting Regional Director,
Toby Mendel, Executive Director,
The outgoing Chair thanked all those who had put themselves forward as a candidate.
“It is really heartening to see such enthusiasm for the work of GFMD and your willingness to contribute to the future of our network. I am sure that we will find constructive ways to engage you all in our work over the next few years.
It is also very welcome to see that 8 of the 17 members are women. This is a vast improvement from the 5 out 19 women who served on the previous Steering Committee.”
The GFMD Executive Director extended “warm congratulations to the members of our new steering committee. All of us at the Secretariat are really looking forward to working with you.”
Tributes were paid to Ricardo Corredor, Outgoing Chairperson of GFMD by Mira Milosevic, Ayman Mhanna, and Jaime Abello.
The Chair brought the 2021 GFMD General Assembly to close.
-- ENDS --
Dear Chair, GFMD members, partners, supporters, colleagues,
Thank you all for being with us today. I am grateful that we can be here in Tirana, and finally see some of you in person. We are all excited and emotional.
I would like to start with a quote that I believe describes well the situation that we found ourselves in. Unfortunately, this is only one of the trends that are not working in favour of professional journalism. As we heard from our Albanian colleagues, and we see it around the world, even though we are seeing some of the best journalism being produced today, long term, all odds are set against us.
When we look at international development and international cooperation, COVID-19 has shown us the fragility of our institutions and the fault lines in international cooperation, just as the need for unified action is more urgent than ever.
Many international actors continue with securitised responses to multiple crises, while protection of civic space, more accountable and inclusive societies, and respect for human rights, including freedom of expression and media freedom is often an add on, an afterthought and not human rights by design.
We have been making the argument for many years why investing in journalism and media is important, and we somehow seem to be stuck at 500 and the same siloed approach, while countering violent extremism, countering misinformation and stratcom approaches are gaining momentum. Other development areas rarely recognise relevance of professional reporting for achieving their goals.
At the same time, in the digital sphere, small, non-profit, community, investigative and similar newsrooms and media are not recognised by the system. On the contrary, large disinformation operations, influencers, and troll and content farms are currently making much more money than journalism and finding ways to large audiences.
Many of our members and their partners have experienced the removal of their content and accounts by Facebook, Google Search, YouTube, and others without meaningful notice and appeal mechanisms. Instead of becoming a major provider of credible, ethical, reliable information, with clear paths for monetisation, journalists and media are relegated to the roles of fact-checkers, trusted flaggers, and occasionally grantees of big tech corporate programmes looking to capture any innovation.
These are two major influence and policy areas for our network and while one continues to be short term, mid-term priority, securing the future of journalism in new hybrid environments will continue to be a long term priority for all of us.
Even though the media development and journalism support community have an extraordinary track record in freedom of expression policy and advocacy, there are very few organisations that have the resources and expertise to effectively identify advocacy opportunities, implement research and analysis, produce adequate and relevant documents, and successfully advocate on media pluralism and viability/sustainability in both of those policy areas.
There is a resource, knowledge and expertise gap related to digital markets, competition policies, state aid rules, media pluralism, and future digital and media regulation that needs addressing for our sector to be able to appropriately advocate for the inclusion of joint policy positions into current policy discussions.
We are facing a similar situation when attempting to develop policy and advocacy addressing the wider UN system, OECD donors, World Bank and other Development Banks and related institutions, other global and regional intergovernmental bodies and initiatives, individual governments, private sector and advertising industry etc.
We also need more global voices bringing information, evidence, and local solutions to these debates. We need to reinforce their capacity.
What a journey we’ve had over the last five years. As you will see from our reports and the new network analysis, members remain dedicated and loyal to GFMD; they see value in information and knowledge exchange, policy and decision-making support, and networking.
Our main job is to connect and the connectedness of the GFMD network has improved since the previous . It appears that members are forging connections with each other and in such a way that the connections are distributed equally rather than concentrating around a select few organisations.
Yet, when looking at the Global North/South divide, we see that the connections between GFMD members are still dominated by the North.
The three most challenging issues identified about the media support sector in general include:
• issues with securing funding
• working in environments hostile to independent journalism
• and having an inability to diversify revenue
These are some of the issues that have informed and shaped our work over the last couple of years, and are outlined in our next .
In response to these challenges, we have created spaces to talk, share knowledge and experiences and act together.
In collaboration with GFMD’s larger network and partners, we have amplified journalism and news media voices and impacted policy agendas.
As the pandemic has highlighted – now more than ever – voices representing small, local, independent journalism and media organisations need to be heard in the policy and regulatory fora in order to secure the future of professional journalism.
As we go forward every organisation and every project in our network should think about contributing to securing the future of journalism, with less competition and more working together.
This means that without policies that envisage new public funding, regulation of digital markets, and enhanced international support systems for non-profit media, independent professional journalism is in danger of becoming an expensive luxury rather than a universal public good.
Over the last five years, GFMD members, Steering Committee, our Secretariat team with generous support from our partners have succeeded in making GFMD a trusted partner and strong organisation.
Thank you all for your support and for being part of our network.
-- ENDS --
A lot has changed in the last five years for GFMD we must admit since our last global forum in Jakarta. But in terms of our mission, I am afraid many of the urgent large issues still remain great challenges for all of us, as Mira mentioned some of them: democracy and freedom of expression is threatened in many countries, the sustainability of media, in general, is still a big question mark, support for media development from foreign aid is still low, technology continues the drive the whole game and the big digital platforms have all become stronger and more powerful key players.
But precisely because we still have all those challenges and more, this network of people and organizations is needed more than ever. If I learned anything from all of you throughout these years is to be persistent and even headstrong in pursuing and not giving up on the goal of having a world where media freedom is a reality and democracy is strong. You all every day wake up and put all your energy and resources in order to achieve this and because of that, you have my total admiration and respect!
The good news however is that our organization, GFMD, is in better shape to contribute to overcoming these goals and challenges. Many things have changed in the last five years while I have been the chair of the organization and I want to highlight four:
Financial stability
We are providing better services to our members
Our secretariat is more solid and now we a staff of 9 wonderful professionals from different parts of the world
And finally, we are more influential in the sector
Those results should make us all very proud and there are so many people I would like to thank. So let me take this opportunity to say gracias to several people.
First, I want to thank Jaime Abello the general director of the Fundacion Gabo. As you know until 2018 I worked with Jaime and the Fundacion as executive director and it was Jaime that allow me to represent the Fundacion at this network. So for that and for many other things I’m thankful. Gracias Jaime if he is awake!
I want to thank my colleagues on the outgoing steering committee. All of the 18 members have been absolutely fantastic to interact with.
Cyprian Ndikumana (Burundi), Director General of the Panos Institute, Great Lakes.
Diana Senghor (Senegal), founder and Director General of the Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA).
Thierry (France), advisor to the General Manager of CFI.
Petra Berner (Germany), head of Strategy and Consulting Services at DW Akademie.
Tihomir Loza (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Executive Director of the South Eastern European Network for Media Professionalization (SEENPM).
Kateryna Myasnikova (Ukraine), Executive Director of the Independent Association of Broadcasters.
Gisèle Khoury (Lebanon), President of the Samir Kassir Foundation – SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom.
Mousa Rimawi (Palestine), co-founder and Director of the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms-MADA.
Owais Aslam Ali (Pakistan), Secretary-General of Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), Chair of Pakistan Press International (PPI).
Nezar Patria (Indonesia), member of Indonesian Press Council for 2016-2019 and Chief Editor of The Jakarta Post Digital. Co-founder and Managing Editor at VIVA.co.id.
Denis Chabrol (Guyana), Second Vice President of the Association of Caribbean Media Workers. Publisher of Demerara Waves Online.
Jeanne Bourgault (USA), President and CEO of Internews.
Leon Morse - Michael Mirny (USA), Senior Media Advisor at IREX and Managing Editor of the Media Sustainability Index. Misha Mirney
Leon Willems (Netherlands), Director for Policy and Programmes of Free Press Unlimited);
Jesper Højberg (Denmark), Executive Director of International Media Support (IMS);
James Deane (UK), Director for Policy and Learning at BBC Media Action;
Joyce Barnathan (USA), President of the International Center for Journalists;
The late Jeannette Minnie (South Africa), the founder of Zambezi Fox, whose membership of GFMD’s Steering Committee was extended for a third and final term by the new GFMD Constitution, adopted on September 10, 2016.
A special thanks gracias to my colleagues on the executive committee, Jan Lublisnki and Thierry Vallat. We have been working together a lot these last months and is been a joy to work with you two. Merci, Danke!
And also to the previous secretariat: Ayman Mhanna, Stephanie Khalaf, and Caroline Giroud.
But the main gracias goes out to all of you are members that are here and connected online. It’s for you that we have done all that we have done, I said it before and will say it again: to chair this organization is been a privilege and it's been a professional career highlight.
When I was packing I decided to bring this book. These are a sort of memoirs of the publisher of one of our main news digital sites in Colombia, la Silla Vacia. It was published last year but I hadn’t read it until the plane flight. The empty chair as is called is been for 10 years and Juanita describes all the struggles she is been through to keep it independent and competitive. She is doing an amazon job I am a great admirer of what they do.
Remzi Lani (Albania), Executive Director of the Albanian Media Institute; and
Thanked the outgoing Steering Committee and Jaime Abello, General Director of the Fundacion Gabo for their support over the last five years.
Expressed caution that while the media development and journalism support community have an extraordinary track record in freedom of expression policy and advocacy, there are very few organisations that have the resources and expertise to be effective in media and journalism sustainability policy areas as there is a resource, knowledge, and expertise gap.
Called for more global voices bringing information, evidence, and local solutions to these debates.
Thanked members for their dedication and loyalty to GFMD; seeing value in information and knowledge exchange, policy and decision-making support, and networking;
Highlighted the three most challenging issues identified about the media support sector in general; securing funding; working in environments hostile to independent journalism; an inability to diversify revenue.
Explained how members could contribute to GFMD’s 5-year strategy by using the spaces GFMD has created to talk, share knowledge and experiences, and act together.
Avenue du Martin Pecheur, 56 bte 26 - 1170 Watermael-Boitsfort, RPM Bruxelles
TVA: BE0466163093
Auditor - Christian Missante
The GFMD Secretariat would like to put forward CHRISTIAN MISSANTE SRL to audit GFMD accounts for the current financial year.
Tom Law – Head of Policy and Learning – who spoke about the launch of the International Media Policy and Advisory Centre (GFMD IMPACT): https://impact.gfmd.info/
Biba Klomp – International Partnerships Manager – who spoke about the results of a network analysis of GFMD's membership: https://strategy.gfmd.info/planning/network-analysis
Olga Komorova – Communications Manager – who spoke about improvements to GFMD's communications including the launch of the new GFMD website: https://gfmd.info/
All times Central European Summer Time (CEST) (GMT+2)
Global Forum for Media Development - TIRANA, 2021
Venue: Meeting room Antigonea 2, Rogner Hotel, Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit, Tirana
Moderator: Lutfi Dervishi, journalist, media expert.
Opening remarks:
, Director, Global Forum for Media Development - GFMD
Remzi Lani, Member of the Steering Committee of GFMD, director of
Keynote
, UK Ambassador to the Republic of Albania (and former Co-ordinator of the Global Campaign for Media Freedom at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Open discussion:
The state of media freedom in Albania.
Investigative journalism and reporting organised crime and corruption.
Responses to information disorder and approaches of media development donors in Albania.
International mechanisms of media freedom and media development (such as Media Freedom Coalition and International Fund for Public Interest Media)
Recommendations and Conclusions
Rapporteur: Blerjana Bino, Center Science and Innovation for Development
Venue: Meeting room Antigonea 2, Rogner Hotel, Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit, Tirana
The Secretariat explained the process:
The Secretariat gave an overview of the key changes:
The Chair announces the results.
Discussion: The floor was be open for any comments by members.
Members of the GFMD Secretariat presented brief highlights from the 2016-2021 activity report.
GFMD Executive Director, Mira Milosevic, presented highlights of the activities of the Global Forum for Media Development between 2016 and 2021.
The GFMD Secretariat provided an update to members about the achievements and activities of the network since 2016.
Fiona Nzingo - Membership and Engagement Manager - who spoke about the GFMD's recruitment and retention of members:
Anne Marie Hammer - Programmes and Project Manager - who spoke about the launch of the GFMD MediaDev Fundraising Guide
Ivana Bjelic Vucinic - Programmes and Project Manager - who spoke about GFMD's coordination activities in Lebanon and elsewhere
Full activity reports for adoption can be reviewed and downloaded on the
Strategic reports for adoption can be reviewed and downloaded on the
Full financial reports for adoption can be reviewed and downloaded on the
GFMD members were given an update on the network's finances since the last General Assembly in 2016 by the GFMD Secretariat.
GFMD Executive Director: Mira Milosevic
GFMD Finance Manager: Klea Trbovic Zivkovic
GFMD General members were be invited to discuss and adopt the GFMD activity and financial reports.
* The adoption of the GFMD activity reports and GFMD financial reports will be provisional to allow members unable to attend in person and by Zoom to vote. .
The GFMD Secretariat will explain:
The nomination and
Changes to the structure of the Steering Committee that were approved in the .
The declares whether the votes have been cast and counted fairly.
The outgoing Chairperson Ricardo Corredor announces the duly elected members of the new Steering Committee.
The General Assembly is brought to a close by the outgoing Chairperson.
Venue: Meeting room Antigonea 2, Rogner Hotel, Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit, Tirana
Three journalists from Afghanistan presented the current situation and speak about the forms of assistance most needed.
Find below list of participants who will be taking part in meetings and GFMD General Assembly in-person.
The sessions and breakout discussions around the 2021 GFMD General Assembly were attended by almost 100 participants either in Tirana or online.
27 in-person participants for the , , and (+8 members of the GFMD Secretariat).
Tom Law - Head of Policy & Learning - who spoke about the launch of the International Media Policy and Advisory Centre (GFMD IMPACT) https://impact.gfmd.info/
Biba Klomp - International Partnerships Manager - who spoke about the results of a network analysis of GFMD's membership
Olga Komarova - Communications Manager - speaks about improvements to GFMD's communications.
26 additional attendees for the session on "Albanian perspectives on media development and journalism support".
Name
Title
Organisation
Alastair King-Smith
British Ambassador to Albania
UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office
Anisa Curaj
Albania Coordinator
Thomson Foundation
Bill Orme
Author, editor, and independent consultant
Author, editor, and independent consultant
David Quin
In addition to GFMD's Executive Director, Mira Milosevic, the eight members of the GFMD Secretariat attended the General Assembly in person.
Name
Title
Anne Marie Hammer
Programmes and Project Manager
Biba Klomp
International Partnerships Manager
Fiona Nzingo
Membership and Engagement Manager
Ivana Bjelic Vucinic
Programmes and Project Manager
Jordan Higgins
Advocacy and Policy Manager
GFMD members and partners that registered/attended via Zoom, included:
Name
Title
Organisation
Ayman Mhanna
Executive Director
Skyes Centre for Media and Cultural Freedom
Birgitte Jallov
President
Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE)
Caroline Vuillemin
Director of Operations
Fondation Hirrondelle
Courtney Radsch
Development Director
Thomson Foundation
Davor Marko
Balkans Programme Manager
Thomson Foundation
Guy Berger
Director for Strategies and Policies in the Field of Communication and Information
UNESCO
James Deane
Director for Policy and Learning
BBC Media Action
Jan Lublinski
Head of Department, Policy and Learning
DW Akademie
Jesper Højberg
Executive Director
International Media Support (IMS)
Jodie Ginsberg
Chief Executive Director
Internews
Lars Tallert
Head of Policy and International Development at Fojo / Sweden's representative to UNESCO's IPDC Intergovernmental Council
Fojo Media Institute
Laurence Burckel
Responsable développement et partenariats - Afrique
Canal France International
Leon Willems
Director for Policy and Programmes
Free Press Unlimited
Marija Ristic
Regional Director
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN)
Marvin Hokstam
Journalist
Association of Caribbean Media Workers
Mary O’Shea
Senior Technical Advisor – Information & Media
International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX)
Milka Domanovic
Head of Business and Partnership
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network - BIRN
Mira Milosevic
Executive Director
Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD)
Nayla Abdelnour
Project Manager
Samir Kassir Foundation/ Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom
Nona Majidi
Deputy Chief of Party
Balkan Media Assistance Program
Rebecca Stringer
Deputy Head, Global Democracy & Media Freedom Department
Open Societies and Human Rights Directorate | Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Remzi Lani
Executive Director
Albanian Media Institute
Ricardo Corredor Cure
outgoing GFMD Chairperson
Fundación Gabo
Ruth Kronenburg
Director of Operations
Free Press Unlimited
Susan Abbott
Co-Chair of the Media Development Working Group
International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)
Tabani Moyo
Acting Regional Director
MISA Zimbabwe
Thierry Vallat
Chairman and Managing Director
Canal France International
Klea Trbovic Zivkovic
Financial Manager
Olga Komarova
Communications Manager
Tom Law
Media Policy Advisor
Freelance
Media policy expert
Cristina Zahar
Executive Director
ABRAJI
Cyprien Ndikumana
Director
Institute Panos Grands Lacs
Denis Chabrol
Senior Vice President
Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM)
Drew Sullivan
Editor
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)
Ehsan Ahmed Khan Sehar
President
Rural Media Network Pakistan
Fatemah Farag
Director
Welad Elbalad
Francesca Silvani
Key Expert, Freedom of Expression Technical Assistance to EU Delegations
Media for Democracy (M4D)
Haron Mwangi
Director, Programmes and Resource Mobilization
Panos Institute Great Lakes - IPGL
Ines Drefs
Employee
Media Development Assistance in the 21st Century (MEDAS 21)
J.Y. Hoh
Legal Officer
Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD)
Jaime Abello Banfi
Director-General
Fundación Gabo
Jeanne Bourgault
President and CEO
Internews
Jeremy Druker
Executive Director
Transitions Online (TOL)
Joyce Barnathan
Former President
International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
Kiran Maharaj
President
Media Institute of the Caribbean
Lars Boering
Director
European Journalism Centre (EJC)
Layla Bahnam
Program Manager
Maharat Foundation
Malcolm Joseph
Executive Director
CEMESP Liberia
Mark Nelson
Former Director
Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA)
Maryam Barre/ Maryan Seylac
Executive Director
Somali Media Women Association (SOMWA)
Mijal Iastrebner
Co-founder
SembraMedia
Milica Pesic
Executive Director
Media Diversity Institute
Mogens Schmidt
Senior Advisor on Press Freedom and Media Development
Olumide Ogunlade
Editor-in-chief
Acclaim Nigeria Magazine
Owais Aslam Ali
Executive Director
Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)
Prue Clarke
Co-founder & Executive Director
New Narratives
Rawan Damen
Director-General
Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism - ARIJ
Robin Backer
Founder
Media Development Collective (MDC)
Roula Mikhael
Executive Director
Maharat Foundation
Sameer Padania
Lead Rapporteur, Sustainability of Journalism
Forum for Information & Democracy / Macroscope London
Sharon Moshavi
President
International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)
Susan Angle
Director
Media for Democracy
Tihomir Loza
Executive Director
South-East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM)
Toby Mendel
Director
Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD)
Vusumuzi Sifile
Executive Director
Panos Institute Southern Africa
Werner Eggert
Director
Interlink Academy for International Dialog and Journalism
Wesley Gibbings
Executive Member
Association of Caribbean Media Workers (ACM)
Yahye Mohamed
Executive Director
Somaliland Journalists Association
Zoe Titus
Director
Namibia Media Trust
