| Affiliation with other organizations: |
We have worked with UNESCO on workshops on Conflict & Inter faith issues, with a focus on media portrayal .
We also worked with UNESCO on election training & good governance workshops.
We also work with local NGO's and High Commissions in regional workshops on topics related to social development and media output.
DFID also works with the CBA on a scheme to encourage British filmmakers to travel to developing countries to make short films on social development.
The Foreign and Commonwealth office partners with the CBA to provide funds for bursaries for members to travel to the UK to pursue an MA programme for a 1 year.
The Commonwealth Foundation partnership offers members from development countries to travel to another country for a culture exchange as well as research. |
| Publications: |
Update for members on a bi weekly basis hightlighting new developments and forthcoming training & events.
Also a bi monthly magazine "Commonwealth Broadcaster".
Guidelines for Broadcasters on Promoting User-generated Content and Media and Information Literacy 2009
CBA Directory - The annual list of CBA member organisations and other key broadcasting bodies in the Commonwealth
Covering Elections in Small States 2008
CBA Editorial Guidelines (with UNESCO)updated 2009
Guidelines for Broadcasting Regulation
Second Edition 2008 with UNESCO
Parliamentary Broadcasts as a Public Service 2007
Performance Measurement 2008
Short Story CD's produced annually and disturbuted throughout the Commonwealth.
Monthly Radio programme with stories from around the world available on the CBA website. |
| Purpose of the organization: |
To foster and promote freedom of expression. Also develop skills of broadcasters in developing countries to produce good progarmmes for its audience.
Promote the Millennium goals and good goverance.
Provide audiences with information on Culture, Health, Gender, through programmes. |
| Confirmation of the activities of the organization at the regional, national or international level: |
This has been a fantastic year for the CBA. We won three Awards. One was the Friends of Canada Award, which is for international leadership. It came with a grant of CN$500 to spend on research. As a result, the CBA commissioned research into the needs of its members which will be the basis for plans for future development. CBC in Alberta also won a Friends of Canada Award, in the Canadian category. The second Award, The IABM Tom McGann Training Award 2010, came with an even bigger cash grant, this time for £20,000. This is the third time that the CBA has won this Award. The funds will be spent on three distance learning courses for broadcasting engineers which will once again be in the competent hands of the CBA’s Technical Adviser, Neil Dormand. It will be web- and e-mail based. The third award comes from the AIBD in Malaysia. It will be presented in May 2010 in Beijing and is in recognition of the CBA’s role in helping with the setting up of the proposed Institute for Broadcasting Development.
I am pleased that the CBA continued to work for Media Freedom throughout the year, publishing a booklet for the Tonga Conference on Covering Elections in Small States. It also covered media freedom issues regularly on its website and in its magazine, and took a particular interest in following events in Fiji. With the suspension of Fiji from the Commonwealth, all the CBA members in Fiji lost their Full Membership, as this is only open to organisations in Commonwealth countries. This is not only in line with standard practice, but is also in keeping with the CBA’s principled stand on encouraging democratic norms and good governance. It is however heart-warming that, notwithstanding developments in Fiji, some CBA Fiji members have opted to continue as affiliates, for which there is no requirement that they are in a Commonwealth country. This involves a loss of certain membership benefits, but means that the CBA can still keep in touch with its members there, and assist them from time to time. It also offers us the opportunity to monitor the pulse of democratisation in that country.
In November the CBA published a pamphlet based on original research called “Guidelines for Broadcasters on promoting User-Generated Content and Media Information Literacy”. This was suggested by UNESCO which supported the study. The author is Martin Scott, a Lecturer at the University of East Anglia, who pulls together how broadcasters round the world are now using material sent in by the public, and how best to handle such materials. The CBA magazine, Commonwealth Broadcaster continued to inform broadcasters round the world about developments in the industry – for some it is the only broadcasting magazine they see, and it updates them with specialist information that is otherwise hard to obtain. The monthly radio programme Pick of the Commonwealth, and the CD of the 26 winning Commonwealth Short Stories, for broadcast, continued a tradition of high quality output for broadcast. On the training front – which is especially close to my heart, and which has been a major priority for me at Voice of Nigeria – the CBA has continued to innovate and develop. Much of its work is now done by Distance Learning. The CBA is a leader in the use of this format for the training of broadcasters. In cooperation with the CTO, and using some technology developed by the Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver, the CBA launched its first course which stays up on the website and which can be completed at any time by the student, with the PC correcting all his or her answers. The CBA is a pioneer in this aspect of broadcasting training, which can train large numbers in the most cost effective way possible. |
| A list of members of the governing body of the organization, and their countries of nationality: |
CBA Executive Committee
President
Abubakar Jijiwa, Director General, Voice of Nigeria
Vice-Presidents
Ken Clark, CEO, EM TV, Papua New Guinea
Mano Wickramanayake, Group Director, MTV Channel PVT Ltd, Sri Lanka
Executive Committee Members
Syafiq Al Fonse, Director General, Management, Radio Television Malaysia
Nanise Fifita, A/General Manger, Tonga Broadcasting Commission
Lisa de Wilde, CEO, TVO, Canada
Gary Linnane, Head, ABC Secretariat, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Phil Molefe, GM, International Relations, South African Broadcasting Corporation
Narayan Rao, CEO / Executive Director, NDTV, India
Kingsley Reetsang, Chief Engineer, Department of Broadcasting Services, Botswana
Richard Sambrook, Director BBC World Service & Global News, UK
Richard Stursberg, Executive Vice-President, English TV, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Duraid Quereshi, CEO, Hum TV, Pakistan |
| Description of the membership of the organization, indicating the total number of members: |
Membership is for a broadcasting organisation, who have a broadcasting and public service remit. Affiliate membership is also available for private broadcasting organisations
Membership is calculated on the size of the organisation and also if it is a developing or developed country.
In 2010 the CBA has 101 members in 52 countries; a complete list is available on the CBA website. |
Quadrennial report due? Read more on our updated page.
Questions on applications, reports, or other inquiries
Applying for ECOSOC Consultative Status?
Obtaining a UN Grounds Pass
Registering for a UN Conference?