Transforming lives through media and communication.Here’s how…

bbcmediaaction.org

A part of the BBC, but apart from the BBCWe apply the BBC’s editorial standards to everything we do. But we’re not funded by the BBC licence fee. As a charity, we rely on grants and donations from individuals, foundations and institutions to carry out our work.

Who we areWho we are

BBC Media Action is the BBC’s international development charity. We use the power of media and communication to help reduce poverty and support people in understanding their rights. Our aim is to inform, connect and empower people around the world. We work in partnership with broadcasters, governments, non-governmental organisations and donors to share timely, reliable and useful information.

BBC Media Action’s programmes reach

21 million people worldwide a week*

BBC Media Action is a creative, vibrant charity – its role is unique and its impact is huge.Francesca Unsworth, Director, BBC World Service Group and Chair, BBC Media Actionc

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We create and support television and radio debate shows, dramas, public service

announcements, mobile-phone

based initiatives, digital broadcasts and social media. We encourage

people to participate in debates and

discussion, and help them communicate

across political, ethnic, religious and

social divides.

Audiences are at the heart of everything we do. We shape

our projects based on research into the needs of our

audience members –listening to them helps us

design projects to address the

challenges they are facing.

Partnerships and sharing knowledge are central to our

work. We help strengthen the skills of journalists and

broadcast partners in the countries we work in. To do this we work closely with partners in other NGOs and local and national

government to help them improve their communication with the people they are

supporting.

We illustrate to policy shapers

and development practitioners

how media and communication

can help improve outcomes in our

priority areas: governance and rights

health resilience and humanitarian

response

Where we work

We reach over 200 million people a year across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Londonoffice

Countryoffices:Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kenya/Somalia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, North Africa (based in Tunis), Palestinian Territories, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia

We also have project activity in these countries:Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Serbia, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine

London

Algeria Libya

North Africa

Belarus

Turkey

Ukraine

Palestinian Territories

Sierra Leone

Nigeria

South Sudan

EthiopiaSomalia

Kenya

ZambiaTanzania

Armenia

SerbiaNepal

India

Georgia

IraqAfghanistan

IsraelJordan

Syria

Lebanon

Moldova

Azerbaijan

Bangladesh

Myanmar

Cambodia

Indonesia

Governance Our governance and rights programmes support more accountable, inclusive and peaceful states and societies. We use TV, radio, online and mobile platforms and a range of factual and entertainment formats including drama, debate programmes and public service announcements (PSAs). Wherever possible, we work in partnership with local programme makers and broadcasters. We deliver training to journalists and in-depth capacity building to radio stations. We also support governments to develop regulatory frameworks that protect freedom of information and expression.

HealthWe use media and communication to help people make healthier choices. With the help of our partners we provide health information and explore the environmental

factors and social and cultural beliefs that prevent good health in some of the most challenging places in the world. Our work aims to build people’s skills, knowledge and confidence to help them to live longer, healthier lives.

Resilience and humanitarian responseOur work helps people improve their economic opportunities, and reduces their vulnerability to disaster. When a humanitarian emergency occurs, we work with the BBC and local partners to provide information and enable two-way communication with those affected. At a time when reliable information can mean the difference between life and death we provide reassurance, help people stay safe, and then as situations move on, help them hold their leaders to account and rebuild their lives.

To encourage their fellow villagers to improve sanitation, these men organised a procession featuring this model toilet mounted on a tricycle. The image forms part of a storytelling project which showcases efforts to improve sanitation across India.

I never miss a programme, that’s the reason I carry my radio with me everywhere I go.Umar Faruk, listener to our radio programme on family health, Ya Take Na Arewa (What’s Happening in the North), Nigeria im

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In a crisis, people don’t just want to hear their problems fed back to them – they need to hear and discuss solutions.Jackie Dalton, Lifeline Programme Senior Producer/Trainer

Key themes

Capacity strengtheningWe work in partnership with local media, NGO partners, and local and central governments. Working with partner TV and radio stations we mentor journalists and media managers and supply broadcast equipment. We help development practitioners and local and national governments improve their communication with vulnerable people.

Informing development policyOur research and policy expertise helps us demonstrate the role of media and communication within international development. We share useful, accessible and timely publications, give briefings and organise live and online events with national and international agencies, non-governmental organisations, and academic audiences.

Research and insight To understand the impact we have, our work begins and ends with research. To design projects to reach the people who most need our support, we have to know how they live, what they believe and the issues that affect them. When our projects are underway our award-winning research teams monitor and evaluate them carefully – to understand what works and make future projects even more effective.

To date, our Research & Learning Group has delivered research in 42 languages across 37 countries, including conflict-affected states. In 2015, we reached more than 30,000 people through our research activities.

Key goals

From top: BBC Media Action Tanzania presenter Meena Ally interviews entrepreneur Jackie Bomboma during the recording of the 100 Women debates in Tanzania; interviewing for an episode on water scarcity on Talk Your Own in Nigeria, our national radio programme giving Nigerians the chance to discuss the issues affecting them; the BBC Media Action office in Freetown

The training gave me the opportunity to enquire and ask those hard questions to make sure we improve governance… according to the will of the people.

Collins Liberty Adede, Pwani FM, Kenya

Highlights

We would have saved a lot more mothers and children if Jember had come earlier.

Listener, Amhara, Ethiopia

Our “reality” TV series Amrai Pari (Together We Can Do It) in Bangladesh features rural communities that work together to prepare for and increase their resilience to extreme weather events. For nine months of the year the village of Narayanpur of Tala Upazila in southern Bangladesh is completely waterlogged. With the help of Amrai Pari and a surprise visit from the Bangladesh cricket team, families worked together to reinforce the banks of a pond, built platforms to help them grow vegetables and a bamboo bridge to help them cross the water. Pictured, women from the village gathered in the early light to tell their story to Amrai Pari producers.

In Ethiopia our weekly health-themed radio programme Jember (Dawn) is one of the most popular shows on radio. Our researchers regularly hear the phrase, “I heard it on Jember”. One listener told us:

In India, despite recent progress, more than 50,000 women a year die of pregnancy or childbirth-related complications. To improve maternity services and help save lives, we train health workers and give pregnant women healthcare advice via easy-to-access mobile phone services. Impressed by the effectiveness of Mobile Academy (our training course) and Kilkari (our mobile phone messaging service), the Indian government adopted our work nationally. They aim to train 10 million health workers and give advice to 1 million pregnant women and mothers.

In Myanmar the hugely popular radio drama The Tea Cup Diaries aims to bridge ethnic and religious divides in this diverse country. More than half of listeners surveyed said they knew more about conflict resolution as a result of the programme.

Getting people talking

Boosting health

Building resilience

Humanitarian response

Whenever we want to raise our voice… somebody threatens us. So we are really interested in participating in programmes like this.

Norzia Ahmadzai, audience member, Open Jirga debate show, Afghanistan

In the aftermath of violence sparked by contested elections in Kenya, our political discussion show struck a chord with viewers. Sema Kenya (Kenya Speaks) aired for three seasons and, in the words of one audience member, helped people exercise ‘their democratic right to talk without fear’. We are now supporting the national broadcaster KBC to develop its own topical discussion show Beyond the Headlines. It is on track to become KBC’s flagship programme ahead of the next elections.

BBC Media Action was getting messages out to the affected people within hours of the earthquake.

Stewart Davies, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance

When the earthquake struck Nepal in April 2015, BBC Media Action responded quickly. Within hours our emergency “lifeline” radio programmes were broadcasting via the BBC Nepali service and a network of more than 250 radio stations.

To help Syrian refugees get access to the health, education, social and legal support services they urgently need, we screen information films in refugee centres in Lebanon and Jordan. These countries respectively provide temporary home to 1 million and 600,000 fleeing people.

In Afghanistan, our TV and radio debate programme Open Jirga reaches 3.2 million listeners and viewers, almost a third of whom are women. Audience members travel from all 34 provinces to take part in the show. The programme gives people a chance to discuss sensitive matters of national importance – ranging from security and education to national identity and migration.

Highlights

Encouraging debate

Norzia Ahmadzai, audience member, Open Jirga debate show, Afghanistan

Find out more

bbcmediaaction.org

@bbcmediaaction+44 (0)207 481 9797

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supportmediaaction @bbc.co.uk @bbcmediaaction

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Our supportersBBC Media Action is not funded by the BBC licence fee but relies on grants and donations from governments, institutions, companies and individuals (who support us as major donors through the catalyst fund, payroll giving and events). We’re grateful to the following companies and institutions for their support:

Abt Associates ActionAid Africare Barr FoundationBBC World ServiceBill & Melinda Gates FoundationBMB Mott MacdonaldBritish Council CARECDACChildren’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)Christian AidDAI Department for International Development (DFID)Development Alternatives Inc.

European CommissionForeign & Commonwealth Office (FCO)GOAL GlobalInstitute of Development Studies (IDS)Internews IREX KPMG National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)Nippon Foundation NIRASNorwegian GovernmentOffice of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA)Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)

Oxfam Plan InternationalPlan UK Relief InternationalRestless Development Save the Children InternationalSociety for Family Health Somalia Stability FundSwedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection

department (ECHO)

The Paul G. Allen Family

Foundation

U.S. Department of State

U.S. Middle East

Partnership Initiative

(MEPI)

UK Government’s Conflict,

Security and Stabilisation

Fund (CSSF)

UNDP

UNICEF

United Nations Population

Fund (UNFPA)

University of Manitoba

USAID

World Health Organisation

World Vision

Registered office: Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London W1 1AA, United KingdomRegistered charity number (England & Wales): 1076235 Company number: 3521587©BBC Media Action 2016