Hearing the Voices of the Poor: Encouraging Good Governance and Poverty Reduction through Media Sector Support

"'Politics is as important to successful development as economics,' said United Nations Development Programme's Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, the principal author of the UNDP's 2002 Human DevelopmentReport 'Deepening Democracy in a Fragmented World'. Reforming governments and sustainingprocesses for reform in developing economies require the active participation of the governedthemselves. The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process insists on widespread citizenparticipation in policy discussions, but to be effective, participation must be of a certain quality, or discourse may be stalled, at best. At worst, it may lead to resentment and social conflict.

To participate effectively in policy formation, citizens and their representatives need timely, relevant, and clear information and analysis of political and economic issues. Among society's institutions, an independent media is best positioned to disseminate information, educate the publicand policymakers, create a platform for diverse views, and keep the citizenry informed aboutsocioeconomic developments, especially as they relate to the PRSP process.

Yet, in most developing countries, the media are not prepared for this role. Media sectors, as awhole, face large obstacles to realizing their potential as government watchdogs and champions ofpublic interest. Further, many governments do not support a free and robust media sector, regardless ofits importance to democratic and economic growth. As a result, many people in developing countriesare not only unaware of the intricacies and arguments surrounding political and economic issues, theyare unaware of the role of international financial institutions and of the entire PRSP process itself.

Clearly, without this knowledge, citizens cannot adequately contribute to policy discussions, monitortheir government, or even formulate informed opinions to convey to civil society organizations andpolitical representatives. To better meet the needs of their societies, media need support, includingsupport for the entire sector. Current 'communication strategies' for helping the media sector introduceand sustain political and economic discourse, even those strategies developed specifically to disseminateawareness about the PRSP process, are inadequate to meet the challenges.

This paper argues that heightened media involvement in the PRSP process could help build astronger independent media sector while preparing citizens to take an active role in dialogues thatwill have a huge impact on their lives. Media involvement would help frame issues for discussion; provide background analysis; and disseminate results of the consultations, noting minority ordissenting points of view. In addition, similar to the steps taken to strengthen the private sector indeveloping countries, the resulting PRSP itself could include legal and regulatory reforms that wouldfacilitate the development of an independent media sector. A skilled and viable independent mediasector is a society's most promising tool for providing citizens the information they need to bringabout and sustain government reform and poverty reduction...