Update: Zambia Media Support Fund.

Following a brief conversation with the Assistant Director (Press and Public Relations) Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services, we are still waiting for a follow-up on this issue. However, from the surface a few points have been noted (subject to amendment).

POINTS NOTED:

• The Media Support Fund falls under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. It’s purpose is to benefit the state-owned institutions such as the DailyMail, The ToZ, ZNBC or similar to alleviate capacity issues faced by media institutions. However, in a published article from the Lusaka Times it was reported that the facility was open to both private and public media institutions countrywide. It is clear that public media institutions qualify for this fund, but we are yet to confirm whether or not private institutions are eligible.




• There seems to be a mix up between the Media Support Fund funded by the Government of Zambia and the Media Trust Fund (provided for by the Norwegian Government). The latter was created in 1998 as a result of a study that drew attention to the lack of training of media professionals and the serious economic difficulties the media faced. The Media Support Fund seems to part of a Government initiative to help media institutions.




• The Media Support Fund is not available to individuals – only media institutions.

IN LIGHT OF THIS IT WOULD BE NICE TO KNOW THE FOLLOWING:

• The eligibility criteria for the funds and what milestones are expected to be achieved?
• Fund budget?
• Source of funds? As in which Government expenditure programme is responsible for this?
• If private institutions qualify – how do they go about applying for these funds? Are there any electronic applications in place? Any specific targets? Fund limits? Any Deadlines for applications?

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