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IPDC member states exchange at informal meeting in preparation for 33rd Council in November
The IPDC Chair welcomed the 70 participants attending the event highlighting IPDC’s role in catalyzing discussions on emerging media policy issues, while providing essential support to grassroots media development projects.
UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Tawfik Jelassi, acknowledged the mounting challenges faced by journalists, and by the media sector as a whole. “This context underlines the importance of IPDC, UNESCO, and our partners on the ground in taking significant strides in countering those challenges — both threats to journalists’ personal safety, but also to their livelihoods as a result of economic pressures”, he added.
He thanked the donors supporting the Programme: Andorra, Finland, France, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, as well as the two newest donors Poland and Uruguay. Uruguay is the first Latin American donor, following its hosting of World Press Freedom Day in 2022.
The contributions provided by these donors have enabled the IPDC to approve 142 new media development projects in 2021-2022, for a total of over US $4.3 million.
Ms. Brandt addressed key aspects of IPDC’s record of accomplishment. She referred to the regional distribution of IPDC projects. In line with UNESCO’s Global Priority Africa, over a third (34%) of the funding for projects was channelled to Africa in 2022, while Latin America and the Caribbean received 25% of funding, Asia and the Pacific 24%, the Arab States region 11% and Central and Eastern Europe, 6%. An additional 240,000 USD was channelled to eight special allocations, the largest one of which targets media professionals working in conflict and post-conflict situations.
Delegates received an update on the new draft Strategic Framework for IPDC which the 33rd Council will be invited to approve. Saorla McCabe, IPDC Deputy-Secretary, underlined that the purpose of the strategic framework is to “clarify and strengthen the strategic positioning of IPDC within UNESCO and outside, and the selection and implementation of interventions.”
The Secretariat briefed participants on IPDC’s contribution to the 10th anniversary of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, which will culminate in a High-level conference organized by Austria in Vienna on 3-4 November in collaboration with UNESCO and OHCHR. The IPDC has supported four regional and two thematic consultations – one focused on digital safety and the other on the gender dimensions of safety – that will feed into discussions at the Vienna conference. The IPDC has also initiated work towards the development of a model protocol for legal measures on the safety of journalists, building upon an initiative that started in Latin America. Highlights of the Director-General’s 2022 Report on the Safety of Journalists will be showcased at the event to draw attention to latest safety trends.
Saorla McCabe, Deputy-Secretary, also shared information on the development of high-level principles for enhancing the transparency of internet platform companies, and referred to the high-level conference on Internet for Democracy to be convened by UNESCO in February 2023.
The meeting was also an opportunity for the Secretariat to showcase the new IPDC website, launched last week.
Established in 1980, the IPDC is the only multilateral forum within the UN system designed to promote discussion and support for media development in developing countries, countries in transition and countries in conflict and post-conflict situations.
