IPS is organizing together with ASCA and two Italian NGOs, Cospe and Un Ponte Per, the conference “Information for fair and sustainable development: a new way of cooperation between news agencies and civil society”, on May 18, 2013, during the X international conference-exhibition on sustainability best practices, to be held at Fortezza da Basso, in Florence, Italy.

Initiatives and ideas of civil society promoting different Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, twitter, facebook pages etc, are constantly increasing, but mainstream media does not always interpret correctly or properly assesses the political weight, as in the case of the Arab Spring, where certain voices were over dimensioned and others silenced, putting limits to the conflict’s comprehension.

The aim of the conference is to discuss each ones experiences but also those positive partnerships between mainstream media and civil society to identify common objectives for an more efficient communication collaboration.

Among participants are Gianfranco Astori, ASCA director and the journalist Monica Di Sisto, Mario Lubetkin, IPS director general, Maria Donata Rinaldi Cospe Mediterranean and Balcan area responsible and Martina Pignatti Morano, Un Ponte Per president. During the conference, a special connection with Radio 3R from Tunis is scheduled.

Mario Lubetkin and Stefania Milan contributed with the chapter ‘Messages that make an impact: Rethinking civil society communication strategies’. Lubetkin and Milan put a lens on how civil society is dealing with the increasing diffusion of social media and mobile technology and the use of digital platforms for self-expression in the face of an unprecedented global crisis. But the question is if civil society is able to communicate on its own terms?

You can access the IPS contribution here Messages that make an impact: Rethinking civil society communication strategies.

The IPS news story about the launch of the report is here: Clampdown on CSOs Worldwide

And the full report here The State of Civil Society 2013.

IPS in partnership with Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF), with the support of IFAD, are pleased to inform journalists of its new ‘Rural Poverty Reporting’ training workshop, to be held from June 4 – 6, in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The workshop aims to highlight covering climate change as a development story – by creating a venue both for discussing climate change as a development reality for rural communities, and for discussing it in a newsroom environment in order to tell better, more effective stories around it linked to everyday lives.

This course is eligible for journalists from Asia. Applicants for Foundation and IPS training courses must currently be working as journalists or regular contributors to media organisations. They must be able to demonstrate a commitment to a career in journalism in their country, must have at least two years’ professional experience and have a good level in spoken and written English.

For further details and application form use this link Rural Poverty Reporting training workshop.

Read reporting from the IPS global network about food and agriculture here.

Visit the PLURAL + website for more details about the competition and how to enter.

Get inspired by reading IPS stories from around the world about how Civilisations Find Alliances and Migration.

Trond Idås, Nina Johnsrud, Nina Søgaard, Jan Ove Årsæther and Ole Erik Almlid discussing the threat report. Credit: Aurora Hannisdal / SKUP

IPS editor in chief, Sanjay Suri, and Halle Joern Hanssen, IPS board member, were invited to participate in the annual Free Media Conference, organized by the Norwegian Foundation for a Free and Investigative Press (SKUP), held in Tonsberg in Norway, 15 – 17 March.

Norway’s deputy minister of foreign affairs Torgeir Larsen addressed the meeting, which was attended by journalists from Jordan, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Iran.

The conference focused on freedom of expression in the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries. Suri was invited to intervene in discussions and talk about IPS’s reporting experience in the region.

Read IPS coverage from MENA at the Arabs Rise for Rights mini site

A full programme of the conference is available here “Free Media Conference”.