I s s u e  27   -  J U L Y  ,  2 0 0 1

PHASE II OF MEDIA PROJECT SIGNED

Phase II of Media Project Signed
The project document for a second phase of the UNESCO/UNDP Media July Project was signed by the three parties: Government, UNDP on behalf of the donors and UNESCO, the implementing agency. The signing parties met in the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, including an important numbers of the project's bilateral donors: Norway, Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Portugal.
The minister stressed in his speech at the signing ceremony that a second phase is made possible through the positive results of the first phase of the project, including the training of some 350 journalists and editors; the establishment of 2 communication centres in Beira and Tete; the support to the independent print media through a paper fund, which developed into a joint paper purchase scheme; the support to establishment of eight com-munity radio stations as well as to five radios already on air with equip-ment, training and running costs; support to the establishment of a provin-cial delegation of Radio Mozambique in Gaza and an FM transmitter for Gaza of the national RM programme. Furthermore phase I of the project had an in-depth study carried out on the status of journalism education in the country, and organized a national high-level seminar to discuss this matter and propose possible solutions to the challenges identified.
The signature of the phase II document means that the activities reported in this un-ambitious, monthly newsletter will continue into the second consolidation phase, where institutional strengthening will be at the core of all our work, be it with Community Radio stations, Communication Centers, the emerging independent print media or in support of the conti-nued decentralization and gradual autonomy of Radio Mozambique's provincial delegations. The special focus on the management capacity in the media, is intended to continually strengthen their sustainability.
The project will also continue to carry out training courses, has a special component targeted at women journalists foreseen, and will - also in the name of sustainability - work actively to strengthen existing technical maintenance capacity, including technical support structures for community radios and communication centers.
The planning of this work has already started and a Tri-partite meeting will on September 5 scrutinize and approve initial work plans for the first year.

Media Development Project c/o UNESCO, P.O.Box 1397 Maputo, Mozambique
Tel. + 258.1. 498752/ 490840 Fax +258.1.498717 E-mail: unesco@mediamoz.com