SIDA Continues Support for Birzeit University Media Development Center

The Swedish International Development Agency will continue to fund the Birzeit University Media Development Center, according to an agreement signed on January 21, 2014.

Birzeit University President Khalil Hindi and the Consul General of the Kingdom of Sweden Axel Wernhoff signed the agreement, launching a joint project entitled: "Towards a promising future and democratic environment for the Palestinian media: national media strategy and capacity building."

President Hindi told those in attendance how much he valued this cooperation, saying: "The Birzeit University Media Development Center would not have achieved this success and excellence without SIDA’s support.”

He said that the center has been able to play “a vital role in journalist capacity building and substantially contributed to the freedom of expression by intensifying efforts to improve the legal framework and codes of honor for the media profession, holding seminars and conferences, conducting research and providing consultancies.”

Consul General Wernhoff said that the Swedish government seeks to support Palestinian society, especially the Palestinian media sector, since media helps to raise awareness and achieve sustainable development. "Our partnership and fruitful cooperation goes back to 1996, since the opening of MDC,” Wernhoff said of the center, “and we will maintain this cooperation in the future, hoping to achieve sustainable development of the media.”

The signing ceremony was attended by project partners of the Palestinian government, represented by the Palestinian Government Media Center, the Ministry of Information, the Palestine News and Info Agency (WAFA), the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate and a number of media professors teaching at Palestinian universities.