William Bird, Media Monitoring Africa*

There are many great aspects to the GMMP. 

First, it involves media monitoring, which as a dedicated media monitoring organisation is something that always excites us. 

Third, it is repeated every five years which enables us to track progress. 

And fourth,  it is the biggest civil society media monitoring exercise of its kind in the world.

Perhaps the greatest aspect however, of the GMMP is its nature as a  voluntary exercise.  Each time, teams all over the world sit down on the same day to monitor the
media.  We hope to have over a hundred countries this time round which is more than half the world.

To be a part of an exercise like that is special because it highlights how people all over the world are passionate about the media, about gender equality and critically, they are passionate about being agents of change. 

The special thing about the GMMP is that the participants are ordinary civil society taking a stand against gender inequality in the media. 

The GMMP is about something far greater than the media in any one country.  It is democracy in action, civil society making their voices heard, and best of all it reminds us of our humanity as it is done not for profit but for positive change.

To be a part of that is truly remarkable!

*Media Monitoring Africa is the data analyst for the GMMP