The International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) is looking for an outstanding individual with in-depth understanding of media markets in Latin America and a vision for the future of journalism to lead our work to sustain and rebuild public interest media in Latin America and to contribute to building the newly established Fund as a member of its leadership team.  

 

The Challenge  

The conditions for public interest media are fundamentally challenging, with a huge fall in news revenue and the worrying rise of governments cracking down on robust reporting. This chronic decline has now been overlaid by a new, acute crisis: in many communities the pandemic will be a “media extinction event.” The evolution of digital advertising, in particular, has destroyed funding models for journalism. This is playing out all over the world but is particularly felt in lower-income countries where media infrastructure is most fragile and engaged audiences are not necessarily leading to revenue as advertisers pay so little per click.  There is ample evidence that, as media ecosystems weaken, corruption, conflict, violent extremism, and man-made disasters like famines and epidemics are more likely. Now more than ever, public interest media is a key pillar of democracy, good governance, and sustainable development. A feasibility study conducted by BBC Media Action showed an International Fund for Public Interest Media would be an effective vehicle for bolstering public interest media, especially in low- and middle-income regions in the next decade or two, until new business models can be developed. That fund has now been established and has received extensive political support and seed funding including at the December 2021 Summit for Democracy held by President Biden.  

 

The International Fund for Public Interest Media 

IFPIM, currently fiscally sponsored by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, provides a fresh, ambitious, coordinated, and well-resourced strategic international response to this crisis. IFPIM has received significant seed funding from the U.S. government, foundations and other governments and several other larger donors are expected to finalise their funding commitments before the end of 2022. We are targeting a first round of funding of around $80 million for our proof-of-concept phase (the first two years of operations) of the Fund, and aim to significantly increase our annual grant making budget for subsequent years. IFPIM will also over this time become a fully independent entity.  

IFPIM aims to radically increase the amount of funding available to support ethical, non-partisan, fact-based journalism, and enable the media to work for democracy. This fund will support media through this time of existential threat and aims to develop lasting solutions to the current media market failure. The Fund will complement existing efforts in the sector and will catalyse new money as a globally coordinated but fully independent vehicle that can activate quickly to provide critical funding and support to hundreds – if not thousands – of public interest media organizations worldwide. 

The Fund has been designed to minimize interference in the internal affairs of the countries it supports. Its governance arrangements and international nature ensure funds are allocated efficiently and in ways that command maximum legitimacy in the eyes of media institutions and other democratic stakeholders in beneficiary countries.  

The Fund is co-chaired by Maria Ressa, journalist, CEO of Rappler and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Mark Thompson, former CEO of New York Times and Director General of the BBC.  

 

Regional centres 

IFPIM has been designed with a decentralized regional structure, with leadership on grant making activities sitting squarely within these regional centers.  A number of regional offices for the Fund, covering sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean will be established. The location of these offices is yet to be determined and will depend on a number of factors including the relevant country governmental commitments to media freedom, appropriate regulatory and legislative environments, attracting excellent human resource and other enabling factors. 

National funding strategies will be designed and administered from this regional base.  The purpose of any national media funding strategy would be to provide resources to enable media institutions to serve a public interest independent of political and economic influence. Their strategic focus would be designed to complement and, where appropriate, financially contribute to existing capacity building strategies by national and international media support actors, but their central purpose would be to increase the financial or human resources available to independent public interest media. These strategies will explicitly focus on a long-term time horizon and regional offices will need to build their knowledge, legitimacy and in-country relationships, and tailor their strategies carefully to the complex and distinct realities of the countries in which they are working.  They will also need to include a proactive and reactive strategy, focused on finding solutions to a set of market challenges that are currently largely insoluble. 

IFPIM has been designed to minimize interference in the internal affairs of the countries it supports. Its governance arrangements and international nature ensure funds are allocated efficiently and in ways that command maximum legitimacy in the eyes of media institutions and other democratic stakeholders in the countries within which it operates.  

 

THE ROLE

The Regional Director for Latin America is a critical role and will sit at the heart of the leadership team for IFPIM. Reporting directly to the CEO, it will  

• Develop, drive and oversee the implementation of IFPIM’s strategy for the region, including the strategy for individual countries within the region.  All strategies need to be context-specific, rooted in a clear political economy analysis of the countries concerned (including a deep understanding of local institutions, behaviours, customs and governance practices) and a familiarity with respective country market dynamics. 
• Develop an approach to ecosystems-change across the medium to long term through analyzing the enabling conditions, examining shortcomings, engaging a broad set of partners including those with currently limited engagement on media, and prioritising solutions. 

• Build a pipeline of partners/grantees, leading outreach, making and managing grants including overseeing monitoring and evaluation, in close collaboration with the regional and national teams under the Regional Director’s leadership.  
• Collaborate closely with Fund colleagues, particularly on monitoring and evaluation & lesson learning on what works with respect to funding and supporting public interest media.  
• Develop partnerships between CSOs, media development organisations, media and government (where appropriate) to improve strategies focused on improving public access to information in the region. These processes could provide a model for developing a clear strategic framework that would inform the IFPIM’s priorities for spending within any one country. 
• Ensure coordination, collaboration and partnership with other media funders and media development actors active in the region  
• Build active and vocal support for and legitimacy of the Fund among key stakeholders from those countries it is designed to benefit and from the broader media and media support and international development and diplomatic communities.  

• Externally represent IFPIM in the region and potentially globally, where required, as an ambassador to the fund.  
• Monitor risks and take relevant actions to maintain our ‘license to operate’ in the regional centre and across countries  
• Manage a small team, including country leads, based in the region. 

 

Candidate profile 

Essential profile: 

• Minimum 10+ years of relevant experience 
• A deep understanding of journalism, media, media markets and business models, and development context in the region and a vision for the future of journalism and media in the region  
• Commitment to public interest journalism  
• Strong networks and in-depth knowledge of concepts and approaches relevant to supporting and sustaining public interest media in the region 

• Character and background to command credibility, legitimacy and respect across media, media development and donor sectors in the region  
• Experience managing a team of professionals  
• Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues in other regional centers and headquarters and mentoring others in areas where you are particularly skilled.  
• Ability to develop, implement, and articulate a clear strategic vision and business plan to steer the direction of a unique and new initiative and ensure both short term viability and long-term impact.  Strategic outlook and ability to understand strategic dilemmas and being prepared to adopt different approaches in different contexts.   
• An entrepreneurial mindset, with willingness to contribute to the creation of a new institution and to operate in contexts with possible high levels of uncertainty  
• Ability to develop and manage partnerships with a variety of stakeholders in the region including media organizations, media development actors, as well as also technology companies, civil society organizations and governments 
• Excellent communications and storytelling skills 

Desirable experience: 

• Experience in financing or providing grants to media organizations or civil society organizations  
• Experience of working with bilateral and/or multilateral donors  
• Experience designing, implementing or overseeing monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks and tools  
• Experience managing teams across multiple geographies  

Education: 

• University degree (Masters’ Degree or Doctoral Degree would be an advantage) 

Working language:  

• The working language of IFPIM will be English and the language of the region will be Spanish. Additional languages including Portuguese and French would be an advantage. 

 

REMUNERATION  

Commensurate to experience. 

 

CONTACT INFORMATION  

Interested candidates should send their CV and a cover letter to careers@ifpim.org.