Liberia Media Development Program (LMD) “Fostering Democracy Through Improved Media for Strengthened Capacity and Enhanced Sustainability”.

The Liberia Media Center (LMC) build on its capacity, leveraging on the professional relationship established over the years with various media outlets around the country, in the implementation of the five-year LMD project titled, “Fostering Democracy through Improved Media for Strengthened Capacity and Enhanced Sustainability”.

The Liberian Media Center (LMC) led on-site business and professional journalism training, media monitoring, advocacy, provided support for equipment maintenance and training. To ensure that this was done effectively and efficiently, the initial phases of the project’s lifespan put emphasis on increasing human resource and building internal capacity. The recruitment process increased the number of LMC’s trainers from three to six (6), The trainers underwent series of refresher training of trainers (ToT) exercises, with assistance from Internews to further enhance their capacities on management issues and on using audience data as a tool to increase and expand revenue. The trainers provided quarterly on-site training and mentoring at each target media outlet.

As a way of building a vibrant and sustainable independent media under the project, the LMC worked with Internews to ensure that community radio stations with demonstrated need for additional technical equipment benefited from equipment grants. As a starter, the LMC conducted a technical needs-assessment visit of fifteen (15) CRSs in the fifteen counties, and five (5) Monrovia-based outlets, all were identified by the LMD project. The assessment was follow-up for a similar one done by the LMC under the IREX CSML cost extension project. This technical assessment visit which lasted over a month give LMC a clear understanding of the technical capacity needs of each CRS. During the life span of the project twenty (20) non-state news outlets were assisted through technical assistance led by the LMC. A total of thirty (30) equipment grants were provided in all, ten (10) in the first year and twenty (20) in years two to five. The Liberian population with access to independent media sources increased to at least 90% by the end of year one, as a consequence of the LMD project interventions led by the LMC.