Post-war Nation’s Media Development Aid Program Falls Short of Expectations
IN JANUARY 2015, the United States Aid for International Development (USAID) announced the start of a bidding process for a US$10 million Cooperative Agreement to implement the Liberia Media Development (LMD) Program.
THE PRIMARY GOAL of the program, according to the USAID, is to increase Liberian citizens’ access to independent and reliable information and empowerment to engage in well-informed public discussion of important issues of the day. “It is expected that program support will focus with both commercial media outlets and Community Radio Stations (CRS).”
USAID HAD PREVIOUSLY partnered with IREX, a U.S.-based NGO that works on media development, to support a comprehensive media initiative.
AT THE END of the process four US-based NGOs emerged as serious bidders: Irex, Internews, Search for Common Ground and Equal Access (in a consortium with leading global media player Thomson Reuters Foundation and Liberian NGO New Narratives).
IN THE END, Internews which has a history of collaborating with USAID was selected.
INTERNEWS SELECTION came at a time when some media executives raised concerns that while IREX did do a lot to aid community radios, a large portion of the commercial media including radio and television in the capital were ignored.
THE PROBLEM for many has been finding ways around addressing the business issues confronting most media houses.
THE EFFORT SO FAR has failed to focus on business models that will aid those media institutions benefiting from such programs and link them up with business mentors, access to low interest loans, training in new media developments and setting up relationships with US mobile entrepreneurs like Google.
THE MODELS that have worked so far have come from Journalist for Human Rights and New Narratives which put highly experienced local and international trainers in newsroom settings. A successful project being run now by Thomson Reuters and New Narratives has aided local journalists in reporting the oil sector with grants for reporting and long term mentorship by experienced Reuters journalists as compared to workshops.
THE MODELS introduced so far in Liberia by Irex and now Internews have failed to target just the media houses serious about developing an independent business model. By working with those who are not serious these agencies waste valuable resources and undermine the efforts of those serious about doing honest journalism.
IT HAS BEEN EIGHT MONTHS, since the January 2016 launch in Monrovia by Internews but the impact is far from being felt as the organization has been struggling to keep its administrative house in order.
THEN CAME a FrontPageAfrica revelation this week that Linda Nwoke, the recently announced Deputy Chief of Party, had undergone a probe during her tenure at the BBC Media Action.
FRONTPAGEAFRICA REPORTED that Nwoke was fired from her previous job at the UK-based charity BBC Media Action after a regular audit turned up financial irregularities in 2014. After an extensive investigation Nwoke was found to have engineered a scheme to defraud the charity. She faced disciplinary action and was fired.
INTERNEWS SEEMED UNAWARE of this history when FrontPageAfrica contacted them last week. Within 24 hours of that inquiry Internews informed FrontPageAfrica that Ms Nwoke had been put on administrative leave. Sources within the organization said she had been sent home to Nigeria just two weeks into the job.
INTERNEWS AFRICA DIRECTOR Mr. Brice Rambaud did not answer a query as to whether Ms. Nwoke’s references were checked saying simply: “In response to your inquiry yesterday, I can inform you that Linda Nwoke is currently on administrative leave from Internews. Internews follows industry standard best practices in all human resources processes”.
ALL THIS COMES eight months after Internews professed a commitment to innovation and local ownership in Liberia as well as a pledge to ensure sustainability and responsiveness to the real needs of the Liberian media sector.
SADLY, FROM OUR perspective, Internews failure to include a local among its top hierarchy shows the lack of a knowledgeable point person with a grasp of the real needs of the media.
THE ORGANIZATION HAD to settle with its former Deputy Chief of Party who was let go under a cloud of controversy and has changed Chief of Party twice already.
WHAT THIS SHOWS is that the US taxpayers are being short-changed by a program that is failing to address the needs of the Liberian media for which it was designed.
MANY MEDIA house continue to struggle in an environment where the guns have been silence but one which many media institutions have to rely on government advertising which takes months to pay and in most cases fails to pay up debts owed.
THE ONGOING UNCERTAINTY over administration at Internews is bad for USAID image and even troublesome for US tax dollars.
LOOKING BACK, it appears that USAID may have gambled in settling for a formulaic approach with the selection of Internews, regarded as the Goliath in the U.S. media development world, with strong lobbyists in Washington to ensure that they are first in line for all U.S. media development grants.
WHAT THE SELECTION failed to count on is what the Liberian media was really in need of and not a one size fits all approach. USAID own review team, which travelled to Liberia in 2014 to assess the media development needs, called for an innovative new approach that focused on boosting the business model, rather than offering the tired workshop/training model.
IT WAS MADE CLEAR THEN that Liberian journalists know what independent reporting is. They do not need more training in how to do it. What they need is media houses that can afford to pay the expenses and salaries it costs to do the real, honest reporting Liberia needs.
USAID ITSELF SHOULD have been much more vigorous in its vetting of the selection process. The aid agency’s failure has not only exposed the frailties of the media development initiative but it has left media institutions vulnerable and poised to lose out on the full benefits of much-needed aid which from all indications was well-intended but continues to fall prey to a trail of recurring missteps and a sea of short expectations.