The EU-funded MedMedia programme launched this week an innovative online database aimed at enhancing the representation of women in news programming across the Southern Mediterranean Region. Launched in the run-up to International Women’s Day on 8 March, Khabirat is an online Arabic-language directory of women experts designed for use by editorial teams at national media outlets.

The initiative is based on strong national partnerships with institutions such as public broadcasters, journalists’ unions, publishers, regulatory authorities and women rights’ groups. It aims to promote consistent national policies which improve women’s contribution to media outputs on a national and regional level.

The Khabirat directories, being developed across the region, will debut in Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Palestine, where special events are scheduled to showcase their content and resources.

Recruitment campaigns and other forms of participatory engagement will help to expand the directories, which are hosted on independent websites and managed locally by national consortia.

The EU-funded MedMedia project aims to create an enabling environment for media reforms in the Southern Mediterranean region. It is part of the €17 million EU programme “Media and culture for development in the Southern Mediterranean” which aims at supporting the media and culture reform processes in the region.

MedMedia focuses on media legislation, regulation, programming, strategy and leadership with a view to helping state media fulfil their public service mandate and compete with the commercial sector. It will also work to build public trust by strengthening the media’s role as an independent watchdog and a forum for democratic debate. 

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Press release 

Khabirat platform 

MedMedia project website

MedMedia facebook page