This research project seeks to characterize the different relationships established as part of international media assisstance ventures (i.e. to
representatives of international NGOs or donors) and identify factors that are perceived as conducive or unconducive to effective partnerships from the perspective of the so-called “local
partners”.
The theoretical basis of this research is established by use of organizational institutionalism as a perspective for tracing the logics that shape contemporary media development
practice. This allows to build an integrative analytical framework that discerns social transformation logics and managerial logics.
In a first step, the study relies on semi-structured interviews with selected local partners so that experiences and points of view can be grasped in full complexity. Based on that, more standardized evidence is collected by means of a quantitative online survey.
The goal of this project is to develop recommendations for media development partnerships that are able to successfully tackle specific needs of media systems and that are rewarding for all parties involved.
Supervisor: Prof Dr Susanne Fengler, Erich Brost Institute
Project partner: fome - Forum Medien und Entwicklung
Contact: ines.drefs@tu-dortmund.de