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Nigeria Media Innovation Program

The Nigeria Media Innovation Program (NAMIP) is a multi-year media initiative that seeks to accelerate digital media innovation and sustainability among independent media outlets in Nigeria.

Why NAMIP?

In Nigeria, as in much of the developing world, independent media are struggling with unsustainable business models and grant-dependency, while audiences lack diversity of reliable news and information sources. Without the capacity and financial means to experiment and innovate with business models and new products, many media are unable to develop new revenue streams and build audiences that are vital for their future. Covid-19 accelerated the crisis and compounded the challenges facing media.

Funded by MacArthur Foundation, NAMIP seeks to address these challenges by helping media to increase revenues, test new business models and instil financial discipline. It will also help participating media to build a robust community of partnership and collaboration.

NAMIP is designed to be more than a fund: resourcing is only one element of a broader set of interventions required to advance media sustainability. Through a combination of grants, coaching and tailored technical assistance, NAMIP seeks to increase the capacity of independent media, from early-stage outlets to established organisations, providing them with the tools they need to develop and continuously revise their models on the path to sustainability.

Interventions will include workshops and trainings, support from experts/consultants, community sharing and learning, and other bespoke assistance. NAMIP will provide the tools media need to experiment, so they can grow revenues and reach new audiences.

The program design incorporates learnings from MDIF’s successful South Africa Media Innovation Program (SAMIP) and Myanmar Media Program (MMP), as well as its work supporting the viability of independent media in Ethiopia under the PRIMED initiative.

Over a 3-year period, NAMIP will support up to 25 independent media, ranging from early-stage, small scale outlets to larger, more established players, serving both urban and rural audiences of mainstream and underserved populations.

The NAMIP Approach

The Nigeria Media Innovation Program is designed to support media organizations through targeted strategic growth and optimization in the following five focus areas:

  • Product Development: This focuses on ensuring the craft and editorial aspects of the organization’s information products are adequately developed and are of pristine quality.
  • Audience Development: This focuses on growing the audiences of each and every product deployed by the organization in a strategic, data-driven, and holistic fashion.
  • Digital Development: This focuses on building the organization’s access and deployment of digital technologies, strategy, and tools to support all aspects of its work and products.
  • Revenue Development: This focuses on the development of financial strategy, planning, documentation, and the overall value proposition of the media organization as it pushes for long-term sustainability.
  • Organizational Management: This brings it all together by supporting the organization’s capacity to attract the right human resource, and create the best policies, vision, and accountability frameworks.