No News is Bad News - Zimbabwe EJC and FPU have both been active in Zimbabwe in recent years through MFSII funding. EJC collaborated with the Thomson Reuters Foundation since 2011 to establish The Source. Key accomplishments include: launching and initiating an independent financial and business news service and nation-wide stringer network; providing technical consulting on designing the operational model and IT infrastructure, training, recruitment and mentoring of business journalists and stringers; distribution of stories into national media; and providing legal support and indemnity insurance. STRATEGY L&A FPU/EJC: Through its partnerships with The Source and MCZ will support lobby and advocacy activities on the restrictive media environment and increasing government accountability, access to information and open data, and citizen engagement in media platforms. In order to be successful, an additional partner(s) needs to be identified in the area of monitoring media freedom, freedom of expression and reporter safety. The media partners will cooperate closely with civil society groups to promote women empowerment in the country. STRATEGY FOR CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT FOR L&A EJC/FPU: Capacity development for lobby and advocacy of partners will focus on the following key themes: Strengthen capacity of partners to further expand content and open new platforms for syndicated news and advocacy commentary, launch an Investigative Bureau and sections focused on women- produced content and female audiences; Support and improve journalists’ role as civil society watchdogs by increasing their capacity to produce high-quality, ethical, data-driven investigative, financial and accountability reports and strengthen their capacity on safety & Internet security issues and use of secure whistle blower platforms; Support the ability of partners and their networks to effectively monitor press freedom/content quality/safety issues as part of their overall lobbying efforts directed toward appropriate government agencies and officials; Strengthen capacity of partners to interact and strategically integrate into pan-African media networks and to engage with local civil society advocacy partners such as Zimbabwe Editors Forum, Media Monitoring Project, Media Commission; Develop digital tools, training and media literacy activities in order increase overall citizen engagement in media, with particular focus on increasing the participation of women and youth; Provide citizen journalism training in order to equip journalists and (citizen) journalists with needed skills and tools to provide uncensored information and news throughout Zimbabwe. GENDER EQUALITY will be approached through two kinds of interventions: Increasing awareness among the boundary partner of the necessity of instituting gender policies and exploration of a developing a formal gender policy in order to ensure that current hiring practices, communications and all in-house materials/resources reflect gender sensitivity; Gender mainstreaming will be reflected in The Source content production on all levels: gender of reporters/stringers, sources of information and topics on gender will be emphasised and monitored. Specific safety/security situation of female journalist will be focused on. SAFETY ASPECTS will be approached through three kinds of interventions: Safety and security measures (physical and cyber) will be mainstreamed into internal policies as well as staff capacity building training materials; Safety/security matters will be internally monitored regularly and reported to a domestic and international audience; Safety/Security resources will be produced and utilised by all The Source staff. media professionals, women, CSO stakeholders CONTEXT ANALYSIS: Zimbabwe has seen the biggest political change in nearly four decades, with longtime ruler Robert Mugabe resigning on November 21 after his own party, ZANU-PF started proceedings to impeach him while the military took over control of the country and placed him under house arrest in a de facto coup. Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s long-time aide who he had dismissed as his deputy on November 6, was nominated to take over as party and government leader, to complete his term of office and stand the ruling party’s candidate in the elections in 2018. Mugabe’s fall was preceded by increased levels of political unrest, which escalated since April 2016, after a video by a local pastor went viral and sparked a chain reaction across the country. In just a short time, massive civil unrest displayed online grew into a national movement offline, the so-called #ThisFlag movement. By July that year, movement leaders managed to successfully organise a national shutdown, followed by other peaceful protests across the country. The government responded by retaliating with violence. Journalists and other civil society activists run high risks of being arrested without charges or physically assaulted. Protests were banned, although the High Court proclaimed the protests legal and constitutional. The new president has promised a raft of changes since he took office, including a return to the rule of law and respect for property rights as well as constitutionally allowed human rights. The president is under pressure from civic society, would-be investors and opposition parties to implement political and economic reforms as the country is due to hold elections by July 2018 in the first big test of his legitimacy. Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe was among the world’s most censored countries with a raft of laws to muzzle or restrict the few independent media that existed. Even then, they often were physically attacked, jailed and faced persistent harassment. According to the Media Institute for Southern Africa (Misa), between 2017 and 2017, there have been 32 instances in which journalists had been assaulted or harassed while doing their jobs. The new president has so far not exhibited extremist behaviour and has sought to engage with the media and the public via interviews with mainly international media, and social media. He has promised to respect democratic rights but has hardly mentioned human rights or media rights. One can only hope that those rights will include media freedom and that the government will remove laws that have been used a free media environment. He has done nothing yet, however, to remove or reduce the plenty mechanisms for controlling the media in Zimbabwe that were put in place by Mugabe. These mechanisms include the new Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Cyber Security as well as the country’s so-called “access to information” law, which includes the powerful Media and Information Commission regulatory body. Zimbabwe is classified as a low-income country; ranked 155 out of 188 countries in the Human Development Index. PROBLEM ANALYSIS: Zimbabwe's press freedom declined and is currently ranked 162nd and as 'not free' in the 2016 Freedom of the Press Index. Although freedom of expression and press freedom are protected in the 2013 constitution, in practice these rights are curbed and stifled by the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). Under POSA, public demonstrations and protests are effectively illegal. AIPPA stifles freedom of expression and criminalises defamation and libel. The Majority of Zimbabwe's media is owned or controlled by the state. Zimbabwe's media landscape and sector remains highly polarised. Print media sector is the most developed sector, yet very small, with few independent players who have difficulty securing readers outside of the 2 main cities (Harare and Bulawayo). Its radio and television sector is predominantly state-owned despite some newcomers in the radio sector. Due to this situation, there are no truly independent local and licensed radio or TV stations. Those that can be called independent, including EJC's The Source, depend largely on donor funding, which has been declining since 2013. Journalism education is of poor quality and lacks necessary equipment. Journalism graduates lack both theoretical as well as practical knowledge. It is very common for a TV journalism graduate not to have used a camera during his/her study. However, with internet spreading, mainly through mobile telephones, new opportunities for improving the quality of journalism and increasing/strengthening freedom of expression have developed. Professionalism is poorly developed. Independent media are continually under threat of being arrested. Salaries are low and brown envelope journalism widespread. Mainstream media hardly report on any developments outside of the country’s capital and they also largely ignore women as an audience, not addressing issues that are important to them. Gender–based violence and gender-based discrimination is rampant in the country, but little effort is made by media outlets to shed light on the growing gender divide. There are very few influential female journalists. Recent developments are the licensing of several community radio stations, which are all aligned to the state. The announcement of the digitisation process, which has been delayed, comes with high expectations. It remains to be seen how and if this will change the current state of affairs. Gender is an underdeveloped segment in the sector. Apart from the women's glossy Jewel, there are virtually no women-centered and gender balanced content. Her Zimbabwe is still there, but its activity has been minimal.