The consultation process

Mar. 22 2024. - The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) adopted the final principles.

Mar. 2024 - Final principles presented to and approved by the OECD DAC GovNet.​

Feb. 2024 - Principles draft finalised by OECD DAC GovNet drafting committee.

Dec. 2023 - Feb. 2024 - The OECD DAC Network on Governance organised public consultations on the principles, including opportunities to provide written feedback.

Jan. 2024 - As part of this process CIMA and GFMD hosted a virtual panel discussion on 16 January 2024.

Dec. 2023 - OECD DAC GovNet launched a consultation process for all stakeholders to comment and make suggestions on the draft principles.

Sept. 2. 2023 - GFMD launches report on funding in the media development sector: “Transforming Media Development – Recommendations for Effective Funding and Collaboration“. This study is based on a body of desk research as well as a series of online interviews with GFMD members from Eastern Europe, Asia and South America. It documents the challenges that GFMD’s members face daily in their attempts to raise funds and meet donor expectations on reporting and accountability.

28 June 2023 - OECD DAC GovNet members at the annual plenary meeting welcomed and made constructive comments on a first draft of the Principles on Effective Support to Media and the Information Environment document. France offered to join Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and US as the drafting group for the next steps of the process.

16 June 2023 - The 67th meeting of the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Council of Unesco's International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) welcomes the OECD DAC GovNet process to Principles on Effective Support to Media and the Information Environment document.

7 June 2023 - A group of OECD donors, including Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and US take over the process of drafting the principles from GFMD and CIMA in order to present them to the OECD DAC GovNet plenary meeting on 28 June.

1 May 2023 - GFMD and CIMA convene a meeting of directors and CEOs of GFMD members attending UNESCO's World Press Freedom Day in New York to update them on the process and for further consultations.

28 April 2023 - GFMD co-organises with Philea (Philanthropy Europe Association) a briefing of European foundations on how best to support independent media and journalism in Ukraine.

30 March 2023 - GFMD & CIMA host a working meeting on how to operationalise the principles for effective media assistance on the sidelines of the Summit for Democracy in The Hague, The Netherlands.

27 March 2023 - As part of the process to gather commitments to the Summit for Democracy via the Media Freedom Cohort: The Media Freedom Coalition’s Media Development Working Group, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the United Kingdom, GFMD, and CIMA committed to advancing their engagement with the GovNet to update the existing media assistance principles,in line with a GovNet commitment in its programme of work 2023-2024.

To complement this commitment GFMD and CIMA issued a statement calling for engagement by the Summit for Democracy and the Media Freedom Coalition.

Feb. 3, 2023 - in partnership with UNESCO IPDC, the Namibia Media Trust, and the Editors' Forum of Namibia, GFMD organised a roundtable on media viability in Namibia. The roundtable was part of a series of national consultations that brought together key local and international stakeholders, including media support organisations, donors, big tech representatives, policymakers, and media professionals around the question of building resilience in the Namibian media sector.

Jan. 24, 2023 - in partnership with UNESCO IPDC, the Al Khatt Foundation, and the EU's Programme d'appui aux médias tunisiens, GFMD organised a roundtable on media viability in Tunisia. The roundtable was part of a series of national consultations that brought together key local and international stakeholders, including media support organisations, donors, big tech representatives, policymakers, and media professionals around the question of building resilience in the Tunisian media sector.

Jan. 18, 2023 - in partnership with UNESCO IPDC, the Samir Kassir Foundation, and the Maharat Foundation, GFMD organised a roundtable on media viability in Lebanon. The roundtable was part of that brought together key local and international stakeholders, including media support organisations, donors, big tech representatives, policymakers, and media professionals around the question of building resilience in the Lebanese media sector.

Nov. 25, 2022 - UNESCO's IPDC council welcomes the principles process.

Nov. 23, 2022 - GFMD co-organsied a seminar with the EU-funded Sahafa Med project on the challenges and perspectives for media support programs in the Southern Neighbourhood region. The meeting brought together 40+ donors, NGOs supporting media and journalists and implementing partners working with media outlets and journalists in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

21-22 Nov. 2022 -The process to develop principles for effective media development is adopted into the OECD DAC GovNet programme of work 2023-24.

Sept. 13, 2022 - The process to develop principles for effective media development is adopted into the OECD DAC GovNet programme of work 2023-24.

Aug. 4, 2022 - In partnership with Article 19 Tunisia & MENA, the CIMA organized a roundtable discussion in Arabic with media support organizations, media outlets, and civil society based in Tunisia. The 25 participants discussed how to make principles for effective media assistance more specific, actionable in Tunisia and the MENA region.

June 28, 2022 - GFMD Chair Zoe Titus presents the principles process at a joint GovNet-UNESCO event on ‘The economic Impact of Covid-19 on media and potential ODA responses’.

June 2022 - GFMD held a series of meetings for members (in English, French and Spanish) with members to discuss the structural, environmental, and administrative challenges they face when applying, implementing, and reporting on journalism support and media development projects and programmes.

June 15-16, 2022 - The principles process is accepted onto the official agenda of the annual meeting of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Council of the International Programme for the Development of Communication(IDPC) in November 2022.

May 2-3, 2022 - With UNESCO and the Government of Uruguay, CIMA and GFMD hosted a roundtable discussion with participants at the UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay. CIMA and GFMD also hosted a panel discussion at UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day Conference in Uruguay - “Developing Principles for Effective Media Assistance” - featuring Abraji, Sembra Media, and UNESCO.

April 14, 2022 - In partnership with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), GFMD organised a roundtable discussion in Belgrade, Serbia. The 25 participants were asked to contribute ideas for how to make the general principles for effective media development more specific and actionable and to interpret how the principles might be actioned in specific contexts.

April 13, 2022 - GFMD's Executive Director presented the work on the principles to date to the OECD DAC's GovNet session on Overseas Development Aid (ODA), public interest media and information ecosystems. The objective of the session is to firm up interest among OECD member states and galvanise support for this area of ODA for GovNet's programme of work 2023-24.

Feb. 9, 2022 - CIMA and GFMD organised a session on renewing the principles for effective media support at the Global Conference for Media Freedom in Tallinn, Estonia. The session was co-convened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (UK FCDO), and UNESCO. As well as hearing from all co-conveners, the session also heard from the Council of Europe, as well as regional and international media development organisations.

Feb. 1, 2022 - After a review of the literature to identify the general principles and guidelines for effective support and engagement, GFMA launched a survey to gather perspectives from across the field. The survey was used to query donors, practitioners and other stakeholders on which of the general principles have seen the greatest progress, which the least, which should be prioritised and gaps.

Jan, 27, 2022 - CIMA and GFMD convened an invitation-only virtual roundtable to discuss principles for effective media assistance with 18 representatives of national and regional media development organisations, members of GFMD’s policy and learning committee, and GFMD IMPACT regional coordinators.

Dec. 7, 2021 - CIMA and GFMD hosted a webinar on principles for effective media development, which was one of over 40 events held on 7 December as part of the Global Democracy Coalition Forum, a virtual 24-hour event convened to provide recommendations to the Summit for Democracy. The webinar, which heard from four civil society and media development stakeholders, as well as representatives from UK FCDO and UNESCO, distilled three recommendations to the Summit for Democracy.

Nov. 23, 2021 - A first draft of the concept note, developed by CIMA and the GFMD IMPACT help desk, was discussed at the Media Freedom Coalition’s Working Group on Media Development. After the meeting the roadmap and rationale were revised.

July 2021 - Recommendations from the submission were used as a basis for an options note presented by the UK FCDO to a meeting of the MFC Working Group on Media Development. The option to review and update the principles for effective media development was among the options that were received positively.

May 2021 - Responding to a request from the Media Freedom Coalition, the GFMD IMPACT help desk - in partnership with CIMA, produced a two-page briefing on ways MFC could work with members to improve media assistance, ODA data, and information sharing.