FREE-VOICE

Free Voice is a media organization in the Netherlands that strives for; independent and multiform media; balanced and reliable journalistic press freedom in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Free Voice has supported Samdef since the inception of the Fund as Samdef ideals fitted in the global vision of Free Voice. It has funded a good number of Samdef projects from 1997 to date.

Website: www.freevoice.nl

MEDIA DEVELOPMENT LOAN FUND

Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF) is a non-profit investment fund that supports independent news media internationally with low-cost capital; indepth training and long term assistance. It is based in New York, USA. MDLF is a mission-driven investment fund for independent news outlets in countries with a history of media oppression. MDLF also helps journalists in challenging environments build sustainable businesses around professional, responsible and quality journalism.

Samdef has worked with MDLF on a collaborated manner on a number of media projects and also MDLF has in the past provided funding to Samdef.

Website:  www.mdlf.org

SOUTHERN AFRICA INSTITUTE FOR MEDIA ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT (SAIMED)

SAIMED is a non-profit organization based in Gaborone Botswana and servicing the SADC region. It is owned by MISA Trust Fund Board. It was originally a division of Samdef on the training wing. In 2002, SAIMED was established to offer business management training and capacity building services to emerging media enterprises in the region. This complements Samdef’s work in that if the promoters access this kind of training, they would have gained valuable skills to enable them to run their businesses.

Samdef has a working relationship with SAIMED through a tripartite arrangement which was signed together with MISA.

 
Website www.saimed.ac.bw

EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICAN TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT BANK (PTA Bank)

PTA Bank is a financial institution servicing the East African market and based in Kenya. The Bank services a wide range of developmental initiatives and media is one of the areas. PTA Bank and Samdef have worked together on several projects especially where guarantees are required. The two organizations have collaborated on two projects one in Tanzania and another in Zambia.

Website: www.ptabank.co.ke

MEDIA INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) is a non-governmental organisation with members in 11 of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries. Officially launched in September 1992, MISA focuses primarily on the need to promote free, independent and pluralistic media as envisaged in the 1991 Windhoek Declaration.

MISA seeks ways in which to promote the free flow of information and co-operation between media workers, as a principal means of nurturing democracy and human rights in Africa. The role of MISA is primarily one of a coordinator, facilitator and communicator, and for this reason MISA aims to work together with all like-minded organisations and individuals to achieve a genuinely free and pluralistic media in southern Africa.

The MISA Regional Secretariat is based in Windhoek Namibia and its main programs are: advocacy, news exchange, national chapters, management and capacity building.

Samdef has a working relationship with MISA through a tripartite arrangement which was signed together with SAIMED.

Website : www.misa.org

SWEDISH INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CO-OPERATION

Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency in consideration of government of Sweden granted Samdef a concessionary loan to assist in the financing of commercially viable independent media enterprises in the SADC region.

Website: www.sida.se

BOA BANK TANZANIA

BOA Bank Tanzania Limited is a Private Commercial Bank operating in Tanzania serving corporate and retail customers. The group has other similar networks in ten African countries in the East, Central and Western regions. The bank has worked together with Samdef on providing finance to one of the leading printing company in Tanzania, Printech.

Website: www.boatanzania.com

MILLENNIUM BIM

Millennium BIM is the largest commercial bank in Mozambique with its head quarters based in Maputo. Samdef has collaborated with the bank on one of the Mozambique based media empires through a corporate guarantee. 

Website: www.millenniumbim.co.mz

HIGHWAY AFRICA

Highway Africa is a partnership between Rhodes University (School of Journalism and Media Studies) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with the support of several partners, development agencies and sponsors. For eleven years the Highway Africa conference has been at the centre of Africa's debates on journalism and new media. The conference has over the years become the largest annual gathering of African journalists in the world (701 in 2007).

Samdef partnered with Highway Africa together with Rhodes University in 2008 to do a research on the impact of ICTs on media enterprises and how convergence can be achieved. A number of Samdef clients were involved in the research and they stand to benefit from the initiative.

Website: www.highwayafrica.com

OPEN SOCIETY INITIATIVE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA (OSISA)

OSISA works to build and strengthen the values, practices and institutions of an open society throughout Southern Africa. As a foundation, OSISA provides African leadership in the definition and development, within the specificities of Southern African realities, of the concept and ideals of an open society. In this connection, Southern Africa is deliberately conceived of by OSISA as a unitary geo-political formation with a common history and, potentially, a common destiny – hence “Southern Africa”.
OSISA uses a combination of the following approaches in its work: public advocacy on and promotion of open society Ideals; facilitation, partnership building and networking; grantmaking; and capacity building and organisational development.

OSISA has been a major funder of Samdef since the inception of the Fund. OSISA contributed significantly to both capacity building within the Fund and also for the loan revolving fund.

Website: www.osisa.org