Feature Article

USAID: Fostering Peace through Media Assistance

By Kaitlyn Sweeting

Media hold the power to provoke destruction as well as foster peace. In a United Nations report, Ross Howard and Shamil Idriss discuss media’s power to, “starve [people] of understanding,” arguing that misconceptions and stereotypes all too often feed conflict, violence, and hostility. In response, USAID has adopted media strengthening as a central tool of conflict prevention and reconciliation. From Haiti to Serbia to Iraq, USAID has implemented programs around the world in the hopes of building systems of free press despite repressive governments and equipping journalists with the skills necessary to provide the informative and balanced news citizens need to support enduring peace.

USAID introduced its Haiti Media Assistance and Civic Education Program, or RAMAK, in October 2001. Since then, USAID has worked with 40 community radio stations and 22 local and regional associations of journalists around Haiti to vastly increase the quality and the influence of Haiti’s media outlets. Corruption, violence, minimal resources and general low quality of press have haunted Haiti’s media for many years. USAID is tackling these challenges by providing extensive training in areas including conflict resolution, fundraising and management, and equipment repair. RAMAK has enabled Haitians to begin overcoming their struggles and not only establish a more effective, independent and professional media system but also to sustain it over time.

USAID’s Civil Society & Media Development program focuses on fostering a well-functioning media in Iraq. Improving independent media has gained priority since the United States invasion of Iraq and is therefore a primary concern of USAID within that country. A free press and diverse, capable news sources will be central to Iraqi citizens’ ability to monitor their new democratic government. Without information provided by non-state actors, Iraqis will lack the information necessary to hold their government accountable. Efforts of the Civil Society & Media Development program have resulted in the implementation of over 125 Iraqi media outlets, paving the way for the media system to become a significant tool for Iraq’s citizens.   

More recently, USAID launched the four-year, $8 million Serbia Media Assistance program in October 2008. USAID’s work in Serbia differs from that in Haiti and Iraq because it focuses on a media system that is already relatively established. Rather than laying the groundwork for an independent, informative, and neutral press, USAID is focusing in Serbia on improving the quality of specific broadcast media outlets already in existence. The implementation of regulations binding media outlets has also served as a primary focus for USAID in Serbia. The goal of this effort is to foster a stable, predictable media system throughout the state.

USAID has invested extensive time and resources into catering all of its media assistance programs — in Iraq, Haiti, Serbia, and beyond — to the particular needs of the country at the focus of its efforts. No two programs are the same. The nature of conflict, state of the media system, local culture, and many other factors are considered before efforts to strengthen local media systems, in the hopes of fostering peace, are commenced.