Plans are being finalized for a new joint project within the framework of the program called “Press Freedom 2.0” between the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University (ACFJ) and the Netherlands-based World Press Photo Foundation. Covering a five-year period (2011-2015), the project will support initiatives to improve the quality of the press and promote civic participation and greater accountability of democratic institutions in Asia.
Maarten Koets, deputy director of World Press Photo, in a letter to Dean Jose M. Cruz S.J., PhD, of the Ateneo School of Social Sciences, expressed his organization’s intention to partner with ACFJ in a project that seeks to strengthen visual journalism in the Philippines. Towards this the project will build ACFJ’s institutional capability as a media support organization.
The “Press Freedom 2.0” program involves an alliance of Dutch media NGOs working globally with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ThePress Freedom 2.0 alliance aims to support the ‘process of development and structural poverty reduction by improving the quality of media, the participation of civil society and the accountability of democratic institutions.’
A focal point of the WWP-ACFJ partnership is the development of the multimedia journalism diploma program and institutional capacity building. The multimedia program has recently been launched with 12 Asian working journalists participating. An organizational scan of ACFJ has also been implemented and its results will be thesubject of further planning.
Another element of the partnership focuses on bridging the gap between marginalized groups in the country and the ACFJ as a professional training institution through cooperation with NGOs in a local community. This will involve a baseline study in the use of visual journalism to bring about positive change in governance. The research will also provide insights into the underrepresented issues in the country that will lead into more concrete activities in the future.
ACFJ and World Press Photo are expected to draw the final agreement for this five-year project this month.
