News

• Call for proposals – documentation and event management
  January 27, 2015

  Hivos Tanzania, which manages Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) is looking for competent service providers in the following areas:

  1. Documentation and awareness raising – to provide videography, phorography and writing services to support TMF to raise public awareness of its achievements.

  2. Event management – to organise two major events between February and May 2015.

  TMF was established in order to increase the quality and quantity of public-interest and investigative journalism outputs in a sustainable manner, that better inform the public and increase critical citizens and therefore contribute to greater accountability. By the middle of 2015, the TMF project will have run in two phases – the first from 2008 to 2011 and the second from 2012 to May 2015. Both assignments aim to create and sustain public discussion on the role of media in promoting accountability in Tanzania. Applications must be submitted no later than 5 February, 2015. For more information, download the terms of reference – Call for proposals – TMF Show case events and Call for proposals – documentation and awareness raising.

   

• TMF grantees attend academy on quality, sustainability
  October 8, 2014

  

  Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) began a Transformation Academy for seven of its institutional grantees on Tuesday, October 7, 2014 at Kunduchi Hotel in Dar es Salaam. The grantees attending the academy are Jamhuri Media Ltd (Dar es Salaam), Daraja Development (Njombe), Kahama FM Stereo Radio (Kahama), Pesa time – Mpakasi.com (Dar es Salaam), Standard Radio Voices Ltd (Singida), Kigoma Press Club (Kigoma) and CG FM Radio (Tabora).

  The Transformation Academy is the second stage in the implementation of TMF’s contract with these institutional grantees. It follows after the customisation visit, which was conducted immediately after the grantees were contracted in September 2014, in order to determine the structural challenges that TMF would partner with grantees to address.

  According to TMF’s Senior Programme Officer (Grants), Alex Kanyambo, the challenges identified during are in three main categories – governance and management, financial stability and quality content production. During the academy, grantees will discuss these structural challenges in greater detail and develop activities that it will implement in the next six months in order to address them.

  ‘We have been supporting content production in our institutional grantees but it has not been sustainable. That is why we are now pushing this thing called transformation, said TMF director Ernest Sungura, speaking at the opening of the academy.

  During the Transformation Academy, grantees will be guided by a team of mentors from both inside and outside the country. Martin Davis and Durosimi Thomas from UK based media company, Between the Posts, will work with Abdul-Razaq Badru and Wence Mushi of Branding Resources to take grantees through the key components of the transformation process. TMF monitoring and evaluation officer Sanne van den Berg, will orient grantees on the importance of monitoring and evaluation. At the end of the three-day academy, on Thursday, October 9, 2014, each organization will have developed a media business transformation strategy and plan.

  TMF launched the Transformation Grant in October 2013, with the view to create a type of grant that allows for it to partner with a media organisation for a significant length of time during which it can contribute to structural changes promoting sustainability in the grantee particularly and in the Tanzanian media sector generally.

   

• Commercial journalism course emphasises ethics, balance and responsibility
  October 2, 2014

  Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) last week collaborated with Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) to host a critical journalism workshop during the Arusha African Film Festival. The workshop, which TMF funded as part of its efforts to promote learning in the media sector, focused on commercial journalism and posed a critical question on balancing sponsor’s expectations with journalistic ethics and responsibility.

  “Journalists and media have power. They need to learn how to use it even in contexts in which a sponsor is advertising their products. There does not have to be a compromise on quality and representing people’s issues and concerns,” said TMF Learning Officer, Raziah Mwawanga.

  

  Ten journalists from electronic and print media attended the short course, which was held in Arusha for five days, from 23 to 27 September. They include Juma Mtetwa (TBC 1), Irene Stanley (TV1), Violet Kimwaga (Star TV/RFA) and Jamilah Mohammed (Arusha One), who are all form electronic media. Others were Hassan Bumbuli (Bingwa – New Habari), Lilian Joel (Uhuru), Seif Mangwangi (Jambo Leo), Fr. Privatus Karugendo (Tanzania Daima), Edward Qorro (The Citizen) and Imani Mani (The Daily News)

  The course was run by three trainers. One was renowned Tanzanian filmmaker (Maangamizi, Mama Tumaini), Professor Martin Mhando. Mhando is currently Associate Professor in Media studies with Murdoch University in Australia and in the past worked for ZIFF for many years.

  The other two were Italian filmmaker, Fabrizio Colombo and film maker/critic and Associate Professor Dominica Dipio, from Uganda.

• TMF awards final grantees; to become an independent organisation in 2015
  September 17, 2014

  After a competitive grants selection process, through which the organization received 71 applications for its institutional grants, Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) has contracted its final batch of institutional grantees until after June 2015. Sixteen (16) media houses qualified for financial and capacity building support from TMF for the period from September 2014 to March 2015.

  The 16 new institutional grantees are Alkemist Media (Dar es Salaam), CG FM Radio (Tabora), Daraja Development (Njombe), Jamhuri Media Ltd (Dar es Salaam), Kahama FM Stereo Radio (Kahama), Kigoma Press Club (Kigoma), Radio Kitulo FM (Makete), Local Media Entertainment (Dar es Salaam), Mbeya Highlands FM (Mbeya), Pesa time – Mpakasi.com (Dar es Salaam), Radio Habari Njema FM (Manyara), Standard Radio Voices Ltd (Singida), 94.8 Sunrise FM Radio (Arusha), Super Brains Media Ltd (Dar es Salaam), Upendo FM Radio (Dar es Salaam) and Zanzibar Broadcasting Corporation (Zanzibar).

  This brings to more than 100 the total number of institutions that have received support from the Fund since its inception in 2008. Still, demand for TMF products, which also includes grants to individual journalists, in the media landscape in Tanzania is huge. To date, the project has offered capacity-building and financial support to over 500 journalists to cover some of the country’s most significant development stories. But more remains to be done.

  Addressing journalists during a press conference on Friday, 12 September to announce the new grantees, TMF Director Ernest Sungura said, “Media has a significant role to play in addressing the challenges that exist in our society.”

  TMF grants provide much needed financial and technical support to enable media houses and journalists do this. This year alone, for instance, TMF has visited more than five regions across the country that to provide journalists in these areas an opportunity to pitch public interest or investigative journalism story ideas to mentors who would then assess the idea according to set TMF guidelines. Through this approach, the organization identified 91 journalists based in Manyara, Singida, Shinyanga, Tabora, Rukwa, Mbeya, Zanzibar and Geita regions to receive rural dispatch grants. They will be contracted in October.

  Though TMF was set up at the initiative of a group of development partners in 2008, it will in 2015 become an independent legal entity that promotes an independent, diverse, and vibrant media, towards enhancing domestic accountability. While it transitions from being a donor-managed initiative to an independent organisation, TMF will focus on working with its 16 new institutional grantees and 91 new individual grantees as well as finalising its existing contracts. The organization will not be accepting new applications for individual or institutional grants between now and June 2015.

• TMF no longer receiving new grant applications
  September 9, 2014

  The Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) would like to inform all its stakeholders that it is no longer accepting new applications for individual or institutional grants. This is because until the end of May 2015, TMF will focus on finalising its current contracts as it transitions from being a donor-managed initiative to an independent organisation.

  To stay updated on any new developments at the organisation, please regularly check the TMF website. You may also follow @TheTZMediaFund on Twitter or visit the official TMF Facebook page on this link. For any questions or more information, email us on info@tmf.or.tz or call the office on the numbers (+255) 215 3146/215 3768/714 333 334.

• Call for Organisational Development expert for new TMF
  August 29, 2014

  Hivos Tanzania, which manages the Tanzania Media Fund (TMF) until May 2015, is looking for an organisational development expert. The right candidate will assess and address the capacity strengthening needs for TMF and help design a programme of organisational strengthening, towards the establishment of an independent TMF. The assignment will take place in September 2014, for a maximum of 15 actual working days.

  Applications must be submitted before the close of business on 4^th September, 2014. For more information, download the Call for Expressions.

• SDC LOOKING FOR AN EXTERNAL REVIEWER FOR TMF
  August 6, 2014

  TMF’s lead donor, SDC, is looking for an external reviewer to assess the performance of TMF. The overall objective of the review is to assess the performance of the project as it reaches the completion of phase two (May 2015) in order to determine its relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability as well as draw lessons that will inform TMF’s future strategy.

  It is recommended that the reviewing team consists of two people: a lead consultant and contractual partner bearing the responsibility for the timely delivery and quality of products as per the contract. The inecption report is expected by 30 September 2014, and the final review report needs to be completed by 14 November 2014.

  More details can be found in the Terms of Reference.

   

• 2ND TMF CONTENT ANALYSIS
  June 29, 2014

  What defines quality in reporting is the content of your story. TMF’s objective is, among others, to increase the quality of reporting in Tanzania. Through mentorship and practical experience, TMF grantees have the opportunity to work on their skills as journalists. But does this TMF intervention really have an effect on the quality of reporting? In 2013 TMF started analyzing the work of its grantees and compared their work to that of Tanzanian journalists who had not received TMF funding. The first content analysis took place in the second half of 2013. The second and most recent content analysis was completed in April 2014.

  The TMF authors performed better than the non-TMF group in many areas, including:

  -          Rural focus

  -          Average number of sources

  -          Use of authorities and ordinary people as sources

  -          Use of ordinary perspective and, in general, a higher number of perspectives

  -          Providing opposing viewpoints

  -          Providing right to reply.

  TMF uses these findings to monitor the overall perfomance of its grant categories, and to identify areas in which training and mentoring needs to be increased. However, the findings are helpful to everyone in the Tanzanian media industry trying to improve the quality of journalistic work. Please find out more about the content analysis by reading the content analysis reports.

  Content Analysis Report (October 2013)

  Content Analysis Report (May 2014)

• TMF AUDIENCE SURVEY
  May 29, 2014

  Late 2013 TMF commissioned Synovate to carry out an audience survey. The survey itself was done between November 2013 and January 2014. The audience survey looked at the performance of various TMF grantees, as well as views of the public on media and accountability in general. The grantee-specific results of the audience survey are shared with TMF’s grantees so that they can use this information to improve their programming and reach a broader audience. The audience survey forms part of TMF’s monitoring and evaluation framework, and is used by TMF to measure the performance of its grantees and learn lessons for the future. The public section of the report is published here.

  Public version – TMF audience survey

  For those interested to know more about what Tanzanians think about their media, and how they consume media, have a look at our Public Perception Survey that was carried out late 2012:

  TMF Public Perception survey

   

   

• WOMEN BROADCASTERS FELLOWS 2014 ANNOUNCED
  May 23, 2014

  TMF would like to congratulate all overall  broadcast women journalists Excellence in Journalism Awards (EJAT)2013 winners who have been selected for the first ever  TMF Women Broadcasters Fellowship Programme. This is in response to TMF Director’s commitment to fund women winners during (EJAT) Gala at Mlimani City on 14/3/2014.

  The selected broadcasters will be the pioneers of the Women Broadcast Fellowship Programme which will be launched on 30th May, 2014 that will run for six months from June to November 2014.

  1.     Regina  Kulindwa, Afya Radio

  2.     Clara Patrick, Afya Radio

  3.     Peninah Kajura, Afya Radio

  4.     Grace Kiondo , Hits FM

  5.     Khadija  Mzee, Mlimani TV

  6.     Hawa Bihoga, Afya Radio

  7.     Mwamini Andrew, TBC Taifa

  8.     Hawa Halifa Msangi, Kili FM

  9.     Cecilia Ndabigeze, Afya Radio

  10.  Rose Pallangyo, Kilimanjaro Film Institute

  Other fellowships that will also be launched are Extractive Industries for Senior Journalists, Gender-Based Violence for Women, Combating Drugs Trafficking and Preventing Drug Abuse for Senior Journalists and Editors and Television Fellowship for Senior Producers.

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