IPDC celebrates 40 years.

Today, Zukiswa Potye, Chief Executive Officer, Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) was one of the keynote speakers at the 40th Anniversary of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) event held virtually on the UNESCO YouTube channel. The theme of the event was ‘The future of media development‘.

The event Master of ceremony was Guy Berger, Secretary of IPDC. The event began at 8:30 AM (GMT). The opening message was given by UNESCO’s Director-General, Ms. Audrey Azoulay, and welcome remarks by Ambassador Anna Brandt, IPDC Chair.

Observers also watched a message from the former president of Ghana, H.E. John Kufour, and from Nobel Prize Winner: Mr. Joseph Stiglitz.

There was an interactive panel which included:

Presenter: Ms. Georja Calvin-Smith, TV news presenter, France 24
• Professor Peter Greste, UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication (Australia)
• Ms. Mijal Iastrebner, co-founder and managing director of SembraMedia (Argentina)
• Ms. Zukiswa Potye, Chief Executive Officer, Media Development and Diversity Agency, (South Africa)
• Mr. Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General, Reporters without Borders (RSF), Chair of the Forum on Information and Democracy
• Mr. Madhav Chinnappa, Director of News Ecosystem, Google

The need for funding in the media industry was discussed. IPDC has over four decades supported more than 2,000 media development projects with grants of more than 120 million USD in 140 developing countries.