BBC Media Action, formerly known as the BBC World Service Trust, is the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's international development

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

, funded independently by external grants and voluntary contributions. The purpose of the organisation is to use media and communication to reduce poverty, improve health and support people in understanding their rights. It works in partnership with the BBC World Service and other local media and development partners in over 35 developing and transitional countries around the world.

History

The charity was founded in 1999 and grew out of earlier BBC initiatives, including a charity called 'Marshall Plan of the Mind'. This was set up to encourage "high standards of journalism" in the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

in the 1990s. In December 2011 the name was changed to BBC Media Action. In 2011 there was controversy in America over the American government's discussion of funding the BBC World Service Trust to combat

censorship in China Censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is mandated by the country's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is one of the strictest censorship regimes in the world. The government censors content for mainly political re ...

and censorship in Iran using anti-jamming technology. In 2025 there was controversy in America over the American government's funding the BBC Media Action, which was portrayed as funding the BBC.

Funding

The charity is funded by external grants and voluntary contributions and works with many media, non-governmental, academic and donor organisations around the world. In November 2011, the UK government's

Department for International Development The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

(DFID) announced a five-year grant of £90 million to the charity. In the 2015/2016 financial year the DFID grant was £14.7 million, compared to total income of £45.3 million and an expenditure of £44 million, employing an average of 832 full-time equivalent staff. The DFID grant ends on 31 March 2017. Its main source of income is from institutions. In 2024, it listed the

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

, the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...

and the

Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (, ) is a government agency of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sida is responsible for organization of the bulk of Sweden's official development assistance to developing coun ...

as its main donors.

Recognition

In 2010 the charity won a Tech Award for developing a mobile phone service for teaching English to people in Bangladesh. The same project, BBC Janala, also received a GSMA Award for education technology at the Mobile World Congress in February 2011 and a World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) award in November 2011 in recognition of their innovative approach and positive impact on education. In 2013, the charity's mHealth product in Bihar, India - Mobile Academy and Mobile Kunji - won an award in the Woman & Children category and a Vodafone Mobile for Good Award.

References

External links

* * {{Use British English, date=March 2025 Communications and media organisations based in the United Kingdom BBC World Service Organizations established in 1999 1999 establishments in the United Kingdom

History

Funding

Recognition

See also

References

External links