MDC accomplishments of 2011 met great praise from partners

The MDC Tuesday presented its main results from 2011 for partners and donors. Among the attendees were representatives from Sida, UNESCO, Heinrich Bِll Foundation, the British Council, the British and French Consulate and Birzeit University.

Expressing her satisfaction with the projects of 2011, MDC Director, Nibal Thawebteh, emphasized that it naturally could not be possible without the help of partners as well as the MDC staff.

Vice President of Community Outreach at Birzeit University, Munir Qazzaz attended the event and took the opportunity to praise the MDC for its work.

”We need professional Palestinian journalists who can cover the case of Palestine by producing good and factual stories,” said Qazzaz and emphasized MDC’s succesful efforts in Gaza:

”The MDC has been succesful in unifying with Gaza making it clear that Palestine is not only the West Bank. That is just another reason why the MDC is important to Birzeit University.”

Agreing with this notion, representative of Sida, Peter Lundberg also pointed to MDC’s significant role in fighting for freedom of speech, and added that he was very pleased to see the MDC’s extraordinary efforts in ensuring funding from not only international but also local partners.

”It is important for Sida to see national ownership and that people in Palestine see how important the MDC is for free media," said Lundberg refering to the construction of new facilities for the Center sponsored by Palestinian business man, Mohammad Al-Masrogi.

In addition to presenting results from 2011, the MDC’s long-term ambitions of developing a MA-prgram for Palestinian journalists were introduced which met praise and interest among the attendees.

”I know, through our work together over the years, that you actually do what you say you want to do,” said Saad Halawani from the British Council.