The Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed RahmanSwaray, has participated in the Paris Peace Forum and International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) in France, on the invitation of the Forum’s President, Pascal lamy. The event, took place in the French capital, Paris on 11th and 12thNovember, 2022.
The Minister’s participation in such a highly rated forum is clearly linked to the fact that under the leadership of President Julius Maada Bio, Sierra Leone has made steady progress in the evolution of the media landscape and is also a clear manifestation of Government’s efforts in promoting an open media. Most notable among the moves made by his government, is the removal of the criminal Libel law, which has given journalists the free space to operate. Sierra Leone is also the 5th African Country to join the Global Media Coalition, which is aimed at protecting the work of journalists.
The International Fund for Public Interest Media is a transformative multilateral response which provides an efficient, legitimate, and independent mechanism to scale up financial support to independent media in crisis in resource-poor and fragile settings and accelerate the development of long-term, systemic solutions to the financial challenges confronting the sector. The Fund has received backing from several philanthropic actors and Tech. companies. The President of The United States of America, Joe Biden himself, announced up to $30 million of seed funding to IFPIM at the opening of the December 2021 US summit for Democracy.
Sierra Leone is one of the few countries that have been selected to benefit from the International Fund for Public Interest Media, and all of that can be credited to the hard work of the hardworking Minister of Information and Communications.
During a private roundtable discussion involving Ministers, Government officials, Philanthropists, Journalists and tech corporations, actions to scale up financial support to independent media in low and middle-income countries were the major subjects on the table. Update on the Fund and views were heard from existing and new supporters as well as journalists most affected by the crisis.
The Minister of Information and Communications Mohamed RahmanSwaray spoke about media viability and Sierra Leone National Fund for Public Interest Media. He showcased Sierra Leone as a great example of a nation building a strong ecosystem for freedom of expression and media viability.
“Sierra Leone is in a pole position to benefit from the International Public Interest Media Fund. This shows the great success story from the recently held Media Investment Conference convened by the Ministry of Information and Communications in collaboration with Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) BBC Media Action and other Media partners” he concluded.
