# GFMD at ARIJ Forum 2025

GFMD was founded at a meeting in 2005 in Amman, Jordan. This year, we will be marking the 20-year anniversaries of both GFMD and ARIJ at the [18th Annual ARIJ Forum](https://gfmd.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8319290829244f21c232b3830\&id=018ae41f88\&e=04c7958921). 

GFMD’s Deputy Director, **Tom Law**, will be participating in the following meetings: 

Saturday, 6 December: 

* **Regional meeting of members hosted by GFMD’s Steering Committee members from the MENA region:** Rawan Damen (ARIJ) and Shireen Al Khatib (MADA Palestine) 
* **EED Side Event:** Evolving Support for the Resilience and Scalability of Independent Media 
* **Meeting of publishers from the region** 

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Sunday, 7 December: 

**MENA donor coordination meeting** 

Agenda 
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| **Time (Aman time)** | **Session**                                                                                                                                                        | **Speakers / Moderators**                                                   |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **10:00–10:03**      | **Welcome & Opening**                                                                                                                                              | Dr Zahera Harb (ARIJ)                                                       |
| **10:03–10:30**      | **US Funding: Legal Updates** + Q\&A                                                                                                                               | <p>Speaker: Alexander Papachristou (Vance Center)<br>Moderator: Tom Law</p> |
| **10:30–11:15**      | <p><strong>Sustainable Funding: MENA Strategies</strong><br>• Summary of recent sector events<br>• Interactive discussion on funding priorities & donor shifts</p> | Moderator: Tom Law (GFMD)                                                   |
| **11:15–11:25**      | **Coffee Break**                                                                                                                                                   |                                                                             |
| **11:25–11:50**      | <p><strong>Sustainable Funding (cont.)</strong><br>• Collective advocacy<br>• EU MFF overview & Media Support Toolkit<br>• Development bank engagement</p>         |                                                                             |
| **11:50–12:40**      | <p><strong>Impact Assessment & Donor Engagement</strong><br>• Current challenges<br>• Agile tools & collaboration<br>• Coordinated impact dissemination</p>        | Moderator: David Hivet (SahafaMed)                                          |
| **12:40–12:45**      | **Closing Remarks**                                                                                                                                                | Rawan Damen (ARIJ)                                                          |

**Jesper Hojberg**, Executive Director of IMS, one of the founding members of GFMD, will  speak about the anniversary at the ARIJ awards on Sunday evening.

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For literature review on journalism support and media development see resources and literature review [here](https://impact.gfmd.info/meetings/2025/mena-april/literature-review).&#x20;
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