This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS PARIS 002786 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO SCUL UNESCO
SUBJECT:  USUNESCO-- IPDC Donors Group Meeting 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  A fund raising kick-off meeting of donor states for 
the International Program for the Development of Communication 
(IPDC) program was held at UNESCO on April 24 to announce pledges 
already made by member states and to encourage new pledges for the 
IPDC "Special Account" fund.  The goal is to raise 1.5 million US 
dollars to finance projects for the next fiscal year.  Several 
countries made firm commitments, with others promising support, but 
clearly waiting to see who anteed up and for how much.  Ambassador 
Oliver told the group that the IPDC program "goes to the heart of 
what UNESCO should be doing," and praised the IPDC secretariat for 
its professionalism.   The meeting chairman asked that member states 
"firm up" their pledges noting that conditional pledges, though 
positive, are a problem, as only received funds can be appropriated 
to approved projects.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  IPDC Intergovernmental Council chairman, Torben Krogh, 
(Denmark), said that there have been many reforms of the IPDC 
program, based on member states comments and following an 
independent evaluation by the University of Oslo.  With the 
implementation of these reforms, he said that it will be necessary 
to revise certain statutes of the IPDC at the next UNESCO General 
Conference.  He noted that one of the recommendations that will not 
be followed is to eliminate or reduce the size of the IPDC's 
intergovernmental council.  In an effort to create greater savings, 
the IPDC council will meet once every two years, and only the least 
developed countries would be able to receive support to attend. 
Krogh stressed that many changes already have been implemented to 
improve both project planning and the quality of control over the 
projects.  He noted that, in any case, the IPDC can never be more 
than what donors wish it to be. 
 
¶2.  Krogh said that the IPDC's role is to act as a catalyst for 
change using small amounts of money to launch media development 
projects.  As far as evaluation of projects is concerned, Krogh said 
that it is not possible to individually review each one, but that 
improvements have been made in reviewing and evaluating randomly 
selected projects.  Overall, Chairman Krogh said that many countries 
have pledged monies to the IPDC.  They include "traditional" donors 
(Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Norway, Portugal); and 
ten "new" donors:  Australia, Andorra, Czech Republic, Iceland, 
Jamaica, Japan, Philippines, UK, US. 
 
¶3.  Mogens Schmidt, Director of UNESCO's Division of Freedom of 
Expression, Democracy and Peace, said that the IPDC program is 
important as it is the sole media development program within UNESCO, 
which has the only clear mandate for this activity within the UN 
System.  He added that the program aims to improve capacity building 
on both individual and institutional levels. 
 
¶4.  Wijayanand Jayaweera, the IPDC program Director, noted the three 
top priorities for the selection of proposed projects: 
 
Freedom of the press and media plurality; 59 projects in 2004-2006 
 
Development of community media; 46 projects in 2004-2006 
 
Training of media professionals, 80 projects in 2004-2006 
 
The project beneficiaries for the 2004-2006 period were:  96 media 
and training institutions; 63 NGO's, 8 state institutions. 
 
 
ANTE UP 
 
¶5.  Of the donors for the 2004 - 2006 period, Mr. Jayaweera said 
that there were five major donors (100K-300K US dollars); 4 medium 
level donors (50-100K US dollars); and 10 donors who gave less than 
50K US dollars.  For the upcoming period, he asked that member 
states pledge an "assured annual commitment for the next three 
years".   The monies pledged for this year will, in fact, be spent 
next year. 
 
¶6.  Ambassador Oliver said that the US feels strongly that the IPDC 
program "goes to the heart of what UNESCO should be doing," and 
added that we intend to support the program to the extent we can 
both financially and otherwise.  She added positive comments about 
the program's administration, saying that it was "run exactly as how 
we wish other UNESCO programs should be run." 
 
¶7.  Comment:  We are planning to meet informally with key members of 
the Intergovernmental Council to get a better sense of which 
direction they would like to see the IPDC take in the coming cycle. 
The GRULAC's (Latin America and Caribbean group) recent decision to 
elect Cuba to the IPDC Bureau is disturbing, and will likely force 
us and others to use the FIT (Funds in Trust) system to finance 
projects rather than support the Special Account system, which could 
be guided by the Bureau without the kind of input desired by the 
United States in terms of our participation in the program.  What is 
unclear is how the Danish chairman and others in the Bureau will 
manage Cuba and whether or not other countries, out of concern for 
Cuba's role, will direct their funding to the FIT system, which 
allows for member states' control.  End Comment. 
 
OLIVER