Chair of Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD)
Ms Zoe Titus of the Namibia Media Trust has been elected Chair of the Global Forum for Media Development’s (GFMD) newly elected 12-member steering committee. She was chosen by members of the newly elected steering committee who also elected Jan Lublinski of DW-Akademie as elected as Deputy Chair, and Ruth Kronenburg of Free Press Unlimited as Treasurer.
The election of the GFMD steering committee took place during the 2021 GFMD General Assembly hosted online and in Tirana, Albania on September 30 and October 1, 2021.
The election which saw 60 out of 80 eligible member organisations participating saw the election of the following into the steering committee: Owais Aslam Ali, Secretary-General of Pakistan Press Foundation (Pakistan); Prue Clarke, Co-founder, Executive Director, New Narratives (Australia); Drew Sullivan, Co-founder and Publisher, Journalism Development Network/OCCRP (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Marija Ristic, Regional Director, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (Serbia); and Lars Boering, Director, European Journalism Centre (Netherlands).
Other elected members of the steering committees are Sharon Moshavi, President, International Center for Journalists (USA); Wesley Gibbings, Executive Member, Association of Caribbean Media Workers (the Caribbean); Mijal Iastrebner, Co-founder and Managing Director, SembraMedia (Latin America); Ayman Mhanna, Executive Director, Samir Kassir Foundation – SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom (Lebanon); Roula Mikhael, Executive Director, Maharat Foundation (Lebanon); Vusumuzi Sifile, Executive Director, Panos Institute Southern Africa (Zambia); and Zoe Titus.
Following their election, members of the steering committee elected Zoe Titus as Chair.
The Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) is an international network of about 100 journalism support and media development organisations working in around 50 countries. It was established in 2005 in Amman, Jordan, and based in Brussels. GFMD’s core value is to support the creation and strengthening of journalism and free, independent, sustainable, and pluralistic news ecosystems, as defined by the declarations of UNESCO at conferences in Windhoek, Almaty, Santiago de Chile, Sana’a, and Sofia. Its main focus is to ensure proper collaboration as well as an exchange of information and experience among its members with a view to creating a strong, independent, and pluralistic media environment, which contributes to the development of empowered societies.
