Theories of change & impact measurement (March 2021)

“Support for media development is one of the most complex areas of the whole international development practise. No one has all the answers. The business model for independent media is under severe stress and this whole area is changing and really unpredictable ways.” - Meeting participant.
Agenda
On March 15th GFMD IMPACT hosted a donor-practitioner-academic learning and information sharing meeting in collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA).
Meeting agenda
Case studies 
The meeting heard three case studies where donors and practitioners spoke about their collaborative approaches to learning, evaluation and the effectiveness of their work. The first case study also heard from an academic who had carried out research with the donor and media development organisation presenting the case study. 
Following the case studies, attendees broke out into three groups to hold more detailed discussions.
At the links below you can find summaries of the three case studies including the highlights of the breakout group discussions.  
Theories of change in media and governance programmes
PRIMED - Protecting Independent Media for Effective Development
Measuring the impact of investigative reporting
Introduction to GFMD IMPACT
The co-conveners of the meeting opened the session by sharing their hopes and ambitions for the GFMD IMPACT - the Global Forum for Media Development’s International Media Policy Advisory Centre.
Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD)
GFMD's Executive Director, Mira Milosevic, opened the meeting by explaining that GFMD IMPACT aims to assist donors, funders, policy-makers, practitioners, and other stakeholders in making informed, evidence-based decisions on strategies, programming, funding, and advocacy for media development and journalism support. 
Activities in 2021 will include hosting meetings bringing together donors, practitioners and researchers (the meeting on “Theories of change and impact measurement” was the first of these meetings) and establishing a Help Desk, which will use a network of experts and resources brought together by GFMD to respond in a timely fashion to requests from donors. 
For information about the meeting background, consultations, studies and co-design sessions that have led to the creation of GFMD IMPACT see: 
Consultation (2019)
Co-design (2020-2021)
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Melina Papageorgiou explained that SDC has supported the creation of GFMD IMPACT as the sector needed a better long-lasting mechanism to
exchange evidence about what works to better inform media support policies of donors 
complement and bring together other initiatives 
distil learning from decades of media support
respond to a very fast-moving field full of challenges
provide a forum for media organisations in resource-poor and fragile contexts to share their perspective with donors, practitioners and researchers. 
contribute to more coordinated policies for media support.
Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) 
CIMA's director, Mark Nelson, said that dealing with the relationship between donors and practitioners and the knowledge and information that they accumulate during the course of their work was critical. 
A growing sense of urgency borne out of the economic crisis facing the media, accompanying misinfodemic, and the growing attention to media support gives momentum for change. 
“We really need to share knowledge and learning about what works and what doesn't and to catalogue that knowledge so that we can get better results and be able to articulate those results. We also need new approaches to media development that is not only built on rigorous research, evidence and practical experience, but which also leverages from other areas of the development agenda to address the enabling environment for the media, the governance of the media, the governance of the Internet and social media.”  
Feedback
As well as being heartened by the large turnout and lively discussions at the first meeting we are also pleased to report that the meeting received overwhelmingly positive feedback:
80% design/structure = good/excellent.
90% quality and effectiveness of the speakers, chairs & rapporteurs = good/excellent.
90% relevance of themes and topics discussed = good/excellent.
There is also considerable support for holding more in-depth conversations on subjects discussed: 
60% thought the breakout groups were too short 
90% want to attend a longer meeting dedicated to the breakout group that they attended. 
For more detailed feedback from the event see: 
Feedback
​Join the GFMD IMPACT email group 
We will use the GFMD IMPACT groups.io email list to announce future activities, including the next GFMD IMPACT learning meeting, which is scheduled for June. 
To subscribe either: 
Send an email to [email protected] 
or 
Follow the instructions from this page:  https://groups.io/g/gfmdIMPACT​
We also recommend that you...
... sign up for our newsletter - MediaDev Insider 
You can read the MediaDev Insider newsletter about this GFMD IMPACT meeting here.
​Subscribe here. ​
And finally...
Please use the options at the bottom of the page to navigate to the first case study or skip to the one you are interested in using these links: 
​Theories of change in media and governance programmes​
​PRIMED - Protecting Independent Media for Effective Development​
​Measuring the impact of investigative reporting​