CFI presents four projects to accompany media assistance initiatives in six countries by the French Foreign Ministry’s Crisis and Support Centre

CFI presents four projects to accompany media assistance initiatives in six countries by the French Foreign Ministry’s Crisis and Support Centre

By strengthening the bonds between governments and civil society, the media play a role in amplifying the effect of humanitarian and development programmes.

At the request of the Crisis and Support Centre (CDCS) of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, CFI, the French media cooperation agency, has designed and implemented four projects that work with local media to broaden, deepen and raise the credibility of debate and current affairs in six countries hit by conflict, political destabilisation and pandemics.

Faso Media: democratising the coverage of political news in Burkina Faso

The Faso Media project, which is also in receipt of a substantial grant from the European Union, works through Burkinan media organisations to get citizens involved in the reporting of political news. The project is scheduled over a 24-month period and a clear sign of its relevance is already apparent in the form of the upcoming presidential election.

Two voices, one future: enhancing the role of women in Malian radio

Two voices, one future aims to boost the presence of women in the country's media. The 36-month project contains two sections, focusing respectively on editorial content and on management.

Guinea Health: providing more healthcare information in the media

The purpose of the Guinea Health project, launched at the start of the Ebola crisis in 2014, is to mobilise the media (commercial radio and TV as well as the printed and online press) to combat the spread of pandemics. The training sessions are aimed at creating and broadcasting content that audiences will act on, to help bring healthcare crises under control.

ILYM ( Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Media): rethinking the role of the media in crisis-hit countries

The ILYM project is organising a discussion on journalistic practices in crisis situations, based on the experiences of twelve journalists working in three countries in the midst of an ongoing crisis.


These four initiatives offer proof of France's desire to provide support, via CFI, to the media in the global South both in emergency situations and over the long term. Working regularly with the Crisis and Support Centre, as well as with Expertise France for larger-scale projects, allows CFI to demonstrate its ability to respond to the crises that afflict the globe by offering innovative solutions based on mobilising local media.

Recent news from projects on the ground