The focus of this session will be to explore the progress of the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), a bold initiative that seeks to distribute a new raft of resources at scale and s...
Zoe Titus
Driven by her passion for the profession, Zoe Titus has dedicated the last 26 years of her life to advancing media freedom and development. She has used her experience of fighting for rights, to develop a broader intersectional approach to her work and push for access to information as the underpinning foundational bedrock of all other rights. Her obsession for universal ATI helped give birth to the high-level lobby group - African Platform on Access to Information (APAI) Working Group, which successfully campaigned for UN recognition of September 28 as International Day for Universal Access to Information under her leadership.
Her decade long stint as former regional director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) saw her spearheading a number of projects and campaigns designed to provide practical support to journalists in danger. At the same time she worked on transforming the policy environment to support a vibrant and independent media sector.
Titus is presently the Director of the Namibia Media Trust (NMT) which, as of 2018, is the first African organisation to contribute financially to the sustainability of the Unesco Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. In understanding the potential of the media, she has contributed to ground breaking initiatives to making a positive and profound change on the lives of people in the region.
She serves in advisory capacities to several regional and international initiatives, including ARISA (the Advancing Rights in Southern Africa project), and is co-founder of the single massive open online teaching platform on media policy in Africa, the Jeanette Minnie Memorial Course in African Media Policy in the Digital Age, hosted by the Link Centre and Wits online platform, edX. She also serves as the chairperson of the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD).
