In September last year, the Civil Society and Media – Strengthened Together and Advancing in New Directions (CSM-STAND) program, implemented by a consortium of global partners co-led by Pact and IREX, launched the Sustainable Independent Media Activity (SIMA) in South Sudan.
It is a three-year project funded by USAID to improve access to credible, accurate, and reliable information for South Sudanese citizens by promoting the sustainability of high-quality, independent radio operations.
Radio Tamazuj caught up with and sounded out Ferhanaz Kermali, SIMA’s Chief of Party about the challenges faced by journalists and the media and how the project aims to mitigate some of them.
Below are edited excerpts:
Q: Can you please introduce yourself to our audience?
A: Thank you to Radio Tamazuj for having me. My name is Ferhanaz Kermali and I am the Chief of Party of the Sustainable Independent Media Activity (SIMA) which is being implemented by IREX here in South Sudan. SIMA is a 3-year project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and we are focused on increasing access to quality reliable journalism for the benefit of South Sudanese.
Q: When did IREX open its office in Juba?
A: IREX did open its office in Juba last year. We first registered as an NGO here in the country in July 2022 and established our offices just a bit later that year between October and November.
Q: What will be your unique contribution to the media environment in the country?
A: Our project is drawing on IREX’s decades of experience and media work around the world. As you know, IREX is a global organization that is working in about 100 different countries and we will be drawing on that expertise from this diverse programming in youth in education and government. But most specifically here in South Sudan, as per the title, SIMA will focus on building the sustainability of independent media.
SIMA is also part of a global mechanism that is driving civil society strengthening but we have the benefit of being a part of a larger consortium led by PACT. So, we have a lot of those resources to draw upon as well.
Q: What are some of the main challenges that you foresee in the next three years?
A: We know that our other related focus is to help communities and journalists prepare for elections in the country.
And we are also focused on highlighting issues around gender equity, inclusiveness, and the voices of youth. Any challenge will be around the sustainability of the media sector given many of us know the struggles for media houses here to remain financially and operationally viable.
The message is clear that media houses have to keep diversifying their revenue streams away from donor dependency and that is not easy. The market opportunities are still relatively few here in South Sudan and the operating environment for radio particularly is still very costly.
Another challenge or reality for us is we have a pretty wide coverage area across the country you know some of those locations are very difficult to operate in and some of those areas do not even have existing media houses.
So, the way forward for our team and our media partners will be to find innovative ways to get information to these communities, perhaps through the right partnerships with existing civil society and other organizations on the ground and even the use, for example of mobile communication methods.
Q: Do you have a mechanism or plan for media houses that will help them be independent and sustainable?
A: It is going to require a lot of shared thinking because advertising remains very limited. We come from historical media partners and USAID projects have some success in digital revenue generation. Other successes start with community-based support. In the near term, there will still be some dependence on donors for those media houses that might not be able to tap into a high amount of advertising revenue.
Some media houses have had success by finding other ways to generate revenue through related ventures, perhaps by renting their land or existing buildings and finding revenue-generation opportunities that are not directly inside the radio or media.
And yet we also know another way that is not so much revenue diversification but cost reduction. That is an important strategy for media houses so they can find ways to make their operations even leaner over time.
Q: Which media houses are already doing this?
A: We know that those partners that have been typically working with USAID projects in the past, including Eye Media which operates Eye Radio, the community-based Radio Community as well as a partner in the Abyei region called Abyei Information. So, they are just a few of the legacy partners that SIMA will continue working with and we know have been implementing versions of these strategies over time. But as I noted, our objective is to work across a diverse set of counties and states in South Sudan so we will find those other media houses with a demonstrated interest and even capacity to keep doing this kind of sustainability work.
Q: What role can independent media play so that South Sudan becomes a viable democracy?
A: A Very huge role of course. Independent media will continue to be sources of information for all the communities during the first general elections in December 2024.
For example, media will help build an informed population. This will require training journalists to tackle sensitive issues while also preserving their ability to do their work as safely as possible. This information can be on everything from electoral processes, to building community dialogue to talk about these issues but also, we remember the media play this role to inform decision makers so that they can understand what their constituents are thinking and experiencing.
This is the kind of linkage we see in many societies that is very vital and one that the media uniquely offers as a voice for all levels of society. And we have been talking about media in general, but of course, you know here in South Sudan as well as for the focus of SIMA, that radio can reach this wider audience because of its accessibility despite challenges of literacy and the limited Infrastructure. This is where the media can help connect communities that might be isolated because of their geography or lack of resources and connection to major urban areas. And that is going to be the case as we lead up to the election.
Q: Journalists and the media have often complained about intimidation, arrests, and censoring by the state. What are your thoughts on this?
A: It is a really important topic that you are raising. I can focus a little on what SIMA plans to do around building professionalism with journalists and even the role of one of our national partners. The unique element of SIMA is that we are working very closely with the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS). So, we will play a very important role in our implementation. AMDISS has a long history as an organization working for the protection and even skill development of journalism.
AMDISS will be our main partner in providing capacity-building and advocacy support to our other media partners. That is going to be one way we plan to address these challenges and it will also be a very sustainable way to do it because we are focused on localizing our efforts using the talents here.
Another challenge that journalists face is that misinformation remains a difficult reality across the world and different types of media platforms including radio. So, we will be working very closely with all of our partners in tackling that by strengthening core journalism skills, emphasizing the importance of editorial integrity, media efforts, and even accuracy of reporting because we know that is at least one way to ensure some level of protection for media houses and the journalists.
Q: Which other partners are you going to work with?
A: We do. Part of our focus at SIMA as I mentioned earlier is inclusion and gender equity. So, we will be working with a couple of other regional partners to ensure better diversity and inclusion of women as well.
Our local partnerships will be many and varied. I mentioned a few that have been historical partners and USAID fund the media projects. These include Eye Radio, The Radio Community, and the partner in Abyei but we will also be issuing open competition for sub-grants to encourage other forms of innovative media as well as trying to reach those that we intend to work with.
Q: How will you practically ensure that there is inclusivity for women in the media?
A: Thank you for this excellent and really important question. You know, we had a project launched here in Juba a couple of weeks ago and one of our panelists presented her thoughts and experiences. Our regional partner will be rolling out a curriculum called breaking the barriers which will focus on ensuring that media houses have to include women in leadership and in decision-making roles as well as of course roles in producing the content.
Also, we will be making sure that through our capacity-building programs, we are not just targeting journalists who are already attached to media houses, but also freelancers, because we know that there has been a barrier to entry for women in full-time or formalized roles.
So these are a couple of the ways that we want to make sure that gender equity is at the heart of our work.
Q: What other challenges do journalists and the independent media face in South Sudan?
A: One that I would touch on is the reality that journalists have not necessarily covered an election before. And given that we know civic engagement, civic education, and electoral preparedness are a big focus of SIMA, we want to make sure that we are identifying the right type of training and skill building to prepare journalists to do that kind of work so that by no means is an instrumental challenge, but more programmatic imperative that we have to do.
Q: Is IREX planning to open offices in the states?
A: Right now South Sudan has such a diverse set of programming needs and priorities. You already touched on education being one area that IREX has so there is a possibility of extension. Right now, we are focused on SIMA and I, and my team want to ensure this project is off to a successful start because media is such a connector across different sectors. We can keep building connections between SIMA and IREX and other important development and humanitarian programs so that we can, at minimum, emphasize the role that media can play and also see if there are opportunities for building capacities that IREX should be extended. Our main focus is sustainable independent media. There is hope for continued growth.
Q: What is your final message to the people of South Sudan and especially to the media?
A: We want to emphasize that SIMA is built around the principle of working together to support the South Sudan news media.
At the same time, the media have this outsized responsibility as the one to give back to communities while facing a lot of challenging burdens and keeping media houses operationally and financially viable.
I need to acknowledge that the media themselves are part of the solution to make changes. They are already working to identify new and creative wings and are already working to ensure they produce accurate and reliable information.