Strengthening Leaders in Tanzania in Support of Pluralistic Media

Tanzania, April 2018 – Media4Democracy and the EU Delegation to Tanzania launched in early April a pilot Fellowship initiative and they are working together to identify a group of talented Fellows to participate in an intensive programme and create projects to advance media pluralism in the country.  The initiative will select leaders of media institutions who are in positions to help build inclusive, professional, gender-sensitive institutions that can truly respond to the challenges and opportunities in Tanzania to advance media pluralism.

Media4Democracy Expert, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, is supporting the launch in Tanzania with a rapid assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the landscape for media pluralism and has begun meeting with a wide range of stakeholders.

 “From the very first day of the assessment, it has been clear to me that improving dialogue among media stakeholders is essential and could have a strong impact on media pluralism,” says Bjerregård. “Strong, cooperative institutions are very important for upholding media pluralism and influencing effective media legislation.”

Media4Democracy is working in close cooperation with the EU Delegation in Dar es Salaam, and Francesca Silvani, Media4Democracy Capacity Building Expert says: “We believe that it is essential to strengthen the institutions and policies that support media pluralism, so that the media can enable citizens to exercise their right to freedom of expression and access to information. We are delighted to launch in Tanzania the pilot phase of this fellowship initiative – Strengthening Media Institutions in Support of Media Pluralism”.

Fellows will spend one month in Denmark in September to participate in a curated programme, coordinated by Media4Democracy and supported by Bjerregård. During this month, Fellows will be introduced to renowned European media institutions, with peer-to-peer engagements and intensive learning and introduction to new concepts. This will ensure they gain new skills and build their confidence to take on the challenges of leadership for their work in Tanzania.