During 2005, the BBC World Service Trust coordinated input from the African and international media development community to the Commission for Africa.
The Commission report, 'Our Common Interest', highlighted the critical role of the media in creating government transparency, internal accountability and greater responsiveness.
The report recommended that this be addressed through the establishment of an 'African media development facility' to boost support for the sector.
The African Media Development Initiative arose from the objectives of the report.
Our partners in AMDI were Ahmadu Bello University (Nigeria), Rhodes University (South Africa) and a network of researchers from the 17 countries surveyed.
Reports were produced for Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Read the executive summary and download the reports.
The study aimed to:
- Assess the key changes and developments in the media sector in Africa over the past five years
- Show how training and capacity building activities have contributed to the development of the media
- Identify future actions with that would have the greatest potential impact on the development of the media sector in Africa
AMDI's findings provide a unique insight into the media in Africa. They show how donors, investors, media and media development organisations can collaborate in supporting Africa's media sector.
