MEDIA DEVELOPMENT

Evaluation Report
Executive summary Côte d'Ivoire
Counteracting the polarization of society: Advocating for conflict
resolution and giving a voice to the youth

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BackgroundAs one of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) reform
cooperation partners in Africa, Côte d'Ivoire
is increasingly a focal point of German international cooperation. Although the violent conflict that characterized the 2000s
was officially resolved in 2011, Côte d'Ivoire
remains highly polarized along ethno – political lines. This was most recently visible
during the presidential and parliamentaryelections of October 2020 and March 2021.
Fear of violence remains high among thepopulation, while trust in the political elites
is low. Socio – economic inequality is immense, as a large part of the Ivorian population has not benefited from the country’s
strong economic growth of the last decade.

mation, fake news and hate speech,
especially in social media, which aremainly used by young people;– rapidly changing media use, to whichmedia institutions have, so far, reacted inadequately, due to laggingdigitization;– strong concentration of media in the urban centers (especially Abidjan) and theresulting disadvantage of rural populations;– lack of viable business models for independent media professionals;– over – regulation of the media by government, making it difficult for new media
services to join the scene;– threats to the safety of journalists.

Political polarization is becoming especiallyapparent in the media landscape. Despiteslight improvements over the past fiveyears, media remain under the influenceof political parties and independent mediaoutlets are rare. Although more than halfof the population is under 20 years of age,
there are hardly any relevant or high – quality media targeted at young people. Journalism training is largely inadequate and viablebusiness models for independent media arelacking. While freedom of the press and of
information are enshrined in the Ivorianconstitution, the media landscape as awhole is unable to effectively exercise itsrole as the fourth estate.

The three – year country project in Côted'Ivoire (2019 – 2021) addresses severalof these challenges. It forms part of theregional program Freedom of Expression
and Media Development in Africa, with thegoal to “advocate for conflict resolution
and give a voice to the youth”. The projectis commissioned by the BMZ. To achieve
its project goal, the country project works
across four project lines:

The key challenges in the media sector of
Côte d'Ivoire are:– lack of professionalization of journalists;– limited journalistic independence due toprecarious working conditions and political influence;– widespread dissemination of disinfor-1) Qualification of young journalists
through multimedia – based, practicaltraining, with special attention to digital development and conflict awareness(partner: Studio Mozaik).
2) Promoting media literacy through thetraining of MIL multipliers who conduct
training sessions with young people on
the topic of disinformation (partner:Centre d’Education pour une Société
Durable, Centre ESD).
3) Creating spaces for social dialogue byholding radio debates in cooperation
with local broadcasters (partner: Réseau

des Femmes Journalistes et des Professionnelles de la Communication de Côte
d’Ivoire, ReFJPCI).
4) Media monitoring and measuresagainst hate speech in the contextof the presidential and parliamentary elections (partners: Plate – forme de la presse numérique de Côted’Ivoire, PNCI, and Union Nationale desJournalistes de Côte d’Ivoire, UNJCI) andthrough two online discussion groups
for alumni from all four project lines.
Since 2021, the measures to combat hatespeech have been integrated into projectline 1 and the online discussion groups
into project line 3. In the area of qualification, the project has been using part of theBMZ funding as its own contribution to theEU – funded project “Esprit Jeunes, Espritde Paix” since March 2020.
The aim of the evaluation was to promotelearning within the project and help to further develop the project strategy as wellas to provide the BMZ with an account ofthe goals that were achieved and the broad
outcomes of the country project. The evaluation took place between December 2020
and March 2021. Due to the COVID – 19
pandemic, data was collected only virtually(interviews and focus groups via videoconference, online survey). In accordancewith DW Akademie specifications, theOECD – DAC criteria — relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact andsustainability  — served as the basis forevaluation, each of which was broken
down into specific evaluation questions.

Conclusions of the project evaluation
Relevance: With its four project lines andactivities, the young country project addresses essential challenges of the media sector in Côte d'Ivoire. Project staff,
partners and other international media
development organizations active in Côted'Ivoire, independent media professionals, and the BMZ assess the project as
highly relevant in terms of its approaches,

the expertise it offers and the challenges
it addresses. However, the visibility of DW
Akademie's activities in Côte d'Ivoire hasbeen, so far, rather limited. The Relevancecriterion is rated as “comprehensivelyfulfilled”.
Coherence: With regard to coherence, thefindings are more ambivalent. On the one

hand, external coherence is weak, partly
because DW Akademie has only started
to work in Côte d'Ivoire fairly recently andalso as travel to and within the Côte d'Ivoire
has been restricted throughout the pandemic. To address these issues, the project
team has used the evaluation period toinitiate steps to strengthen coordination
with international media developmentorganizations in the country. The aim is toidentify and better exploit potential synergies in the future. On the other hand,the compatibility of the country projectwith the goals and existing efforts of thepartner organizations can be rated asvery good, for the most part. The criterion
Coherence is rated as “partially fulfilled”.
Effectiveness: All intended results of theproject at the output level have either
already been achieved or, according to thestakeholders interviewed, will most likely
be achieved by the end of the project. Effectiveness at the outcome level is high,especially in project lines 1 and 2 and withregard to the online discussion groups.
Across the other project lines, results atthe outcome level cannot yet be ascertained, partly due to delays or conceptualchanges in project activities brought onby the COVID – 19 pandemic. However, thecountry project responded appropriately
and swiftly to the unexpected challengesof the pandemic, so that the overall impact
on the project results was limited. The criterion of Effectiveness is rated as “overallfulfilled”.
Efficiency: The efficiency of the country
project is negatively affected by what thepartner organizations perceive as very
high demands, lengthy processes, as wellas language barriers in dealing with contracts and financial administration. Those

involved are aware of these difficulties andare developing solutions. In contrast, thecost efficiency of the country project andthe distribution of roles between the project team and partner organizations arerated well. The criterion Efficiency is rated
as “partially fulfilled”.
Impact: Project activities that focus on
young Ivorians, in particular, achieve
impact that corresponds with the goalsof DW Akademie’s regional program inAfrica. Tangible impacts for young people
can be identified in all four project lines.
Impact for residents of disadvantaged andrural regions as well as for women prove
more elusive so far and should be further
strengthened. The criterion Impact israted as “overall fulfilled”.
Sustainability: With regard to sustainability, the partners and the target groups inall project lines demonstrate a high degreeof willingness to continue to carry out thework beyond the funding period. Participants in the MIL workshops and graduatesof Studio Mozaik show particular interestin continuing their work, which further
underlines the potential of alumni. However, the majority of the partner organizations state that they are not (yet)in a position to continue the project
activities without financial support fromDW Akademie. The criterion Sustainability
is rated as “partially fulfilled”.

DW Akademie

is Deutsche Welle’s center forinternational media development,journalism training and knowledgetransfer. Our projects strengthen thehuman right to freedom of expression
and unhindered access to information.
DW Akademie empowers people
worldwide to make independent
decisions based on reliable facts andconstructive dialogue. DW Akademie isa strategic partner of the German
Federal Ministry for Economic
Coopera­tion and Development. We
also receive funding from the Federal
Foreign Office and the European Union
and are active in approximately 60
developing countries and emerging
economies.

CONTAC TDr. Laura Moore
Head Research and Evaluation
laura.moore@dw.com
Berlin, Germany
DWAkademie@dw_akademie
DWAkademie
dw.com/newsletter-registration
dw.com/mediadev

The objective of the external evaluation is to provide a constructive assessment of the project results. It does not necessarily align with theperspective and planning of DW Akademie. Nevertheless, all findings were discussed in order to allow lessons learned to be incorporated into
the development of future strategies.