Humanitarian crises

Fondation Hirondelle has more than 30 years of media experience in humanitarian crisis situations such as those currently ongoing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Mali and Ukraine; and in the past in places including South Sudan, Liberia and Kosovo. We evaluate the media landscape and the information needs of the local population in order to rapidly provide appropriate and efficient support according to the evolving conditions of the crisis. Based on these evaluations, we provide support to general interest media in the country, or, alternatively, we create new media outlets. Our projects in humanitarian situations are based on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach.

Fondation Hirondelle can implement multimedia solutions from a local to global scale by supporting or creating radio stations, production studios linked to our networks of radio and TV partner stations, and dedicated websites; and by managing social media related to these.

Fondation Hirondelle interventions in humanitarian crisis situations take a twofold approach:

1. Media as a response to the need for public service information:
   
   We practice local journalism, producing and broadcasting public service messages in local languages to affected populations on topics such as food, health, displacement of populations, security, humanitarian justice and human rights.
   

2. Media as a response to the need for dialogue and expression:
   
   Interactive media programs that promote dialogue and give local populations a voice allow people to put their distress and needs into words, thereby helping to respond to psychological pain and reduce suffering. They also promote a bottom-up flow of information by giving affected people input into how humanitarian aid is provided, thereby strengthening their participation.