Posted by The Civil Society Fund of Denmark (CISU) has approved a project of two years, six months to the tune of 2,681,152 Danish Kroner, equivalent to about 19.5 million Gambian Dalasi, for the GPU and its Danish counterpart, Gambia Media Support (GAMES), a Denmark-based non-profit organisation set up to support the Gambian media. The project, which is biggest ever project of the Union, seeks to further strengthen Gambia Press Union as an advocate for members, the media and democracy in The Gambia.
Through this project, the GPU and GAMES would initiate policies and programmes geared towards strengthening the Gambian media to play its rightful roles in the country’s fragile democracy, development and the transitional justice process.
The project is deliberately designed to address the welfare of Gambians by addressing issues such as the rampant lack of issuance of employment letter to journalists, low and irregular payment for staff as well as lack of standard wage rate for freelancers.
The project also has a huge component to address the issue of safety and security of Gambian journalists, particularly as the country slowly drifts to the next cycle of national election which is usually a time for rising tension against journalists.
Through the project, the GPU secretariat and executive board together with the six identified affiliate media organisations would be strengthen on the key areas such as formulation of policies, organisational administration, financial management, project implementation and management.
On the democratic component, the GPU will involve counterparts and partner organisations in advocacy for freedom of expression, freedom of information and good governance in The Gambia.
In a nutshell, the project is a target for GPU members and secretariat as well as affiliate journalist organisations, media houses, media owners, the security sector, the government and the civil society.