Media support: aid funding does not match donor rhetoric
Laure-Hélène Piron (TPP Director) presented her analysis of official development assistance to media and the information environment to the Governance Network of the OECD Development Assistance Committee on 6 March 2024.
The draft report can be read here. It shows that the rhetoric of governments which support freedom of expression and condemn disinformation is not matched by sufficient resources. ODA for media and the information environment has increased since 2002, reaching USD 1.2 billion in 2021, but this only represented 0.5% of total ODA in that year. When infrastructure support is excluded, ODA for media fluctuated around USD 500 million a year since 2008 (representing 0.24% of total ODA in 2021). This is despite the growth of threats facing media, such as the rise of censorship and the dominance of technology platforms.
And not enough aid directly reaches local organisations. Only up to 8% of ODA for media and the information environment (so 8% of the 0.5% of total ODA) is directly channelled to media organisations in partner countries, such as journalists, media outlets or civil society organisations working with media or on access to information.
Podcast: Subsidies and Social Protection - Reforms for a Sustainable Transition
Why are subsidies so difficult to reform, even when more effective alternatives exist? In this podcast by Socialprotection.org, TPP Director Neil McCulloch examines the political, institutional and economic challenges that have made subsidy reform one of the most complex issues in social policy.
Governing climate action? Governance, political economy and systems change in country platforms
Climate Country Platforms promise to bring finance and policy together around national climate goals. But in this paper, Brendan Halloran argues they'll only deliver if they confront the political economy, power and governance barriers that keep holding climate action back — and he sets out how, with practical steps for governments, banks and funders.
TPP supports innovative apiculture initiative in the Republic of Congo
(Photo shared by @AfricanBee)
The Policy Practice is supporting an apiculture initiative in the Republic of Congo with Palladium under the Partnerships for Forests. Led by Theodore Trefon, it aims to scale beekeeping into a market-based model, combining political economy analysis, digital tools and participatory revenue systems.