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The Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD), established in 1977 under the auspices of UNESCO, is a unique regional inter-governmental organisation servicing countries of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) in the field of electronic media development. It is hosted by the Government of Malaysia and the secretariat is located in Kuala Lumpur.

The AIBD is mandated to achieve a vibrant and cohesive electronic media environment in the Asia-Pacific region through policy and resource development.

The Institute seeks to fulfill this mandate by mobilizing the intellectual and technological resources available within the national broadcasting organizations of its member countries as well as regional and international bodies through a well-established infrastructure and networking mechanism which includes government agencies, non-governmental organizations, institutions of higher learning, private sector and individual professionals.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) are founding organisations of the Institute and they are non-voting members of the General Conference.

History
The UNESCO "Meeting of Broadcasting Training Experts" (Kuala Lumpur, 1968) proposed the establishment of a broadcasting training service to respond to the Asian-Pacific manpower requirements and to contribute to the orientation and development of broadcasting activities within the region.

This proposal was based on previous estimates stressing the needs for broadcasting training. The most important were the recommendations of the "Asian Broadcasting Conference" of 1958? later endorsed by the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU); the conclusions of the 1966 "Meeting on Radio and TV in the Service of Development", also sponsored by UNESCO; and particularly the "Survey of Broadcasting Training Needs" undertaken by UNESCO in 1967. This survey covered 15 Asian countries and showed that, of an estimated 35>000 broadcasters, 20,000 were in need of training or re-training over a five-year period and ten per cent of them were potential candidates for training at regional level.

Mainly as a result of this survey and the preparatory work accomplished by the UNESCO regional adviser appointed in 1970 with UNDP financing, a limited regional training programme was started in Kuala Lumpur in 1972, co-ordinated by UNESCO, with the assistance of UNDP and the co-operation of the Government of Malaysia through the Institute Penyiaran Tun Abdul Razak (IPTAR), a well equipped and modern national broadcasting training service.

This initial regional programme provided the starting point for the activities of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD). Following the approval of a Project Document, the Institute came into being as UNDP regional project RAS/75/OIO/F/OI/13 on 1 July 1975 with an expected duration of six years. The intergovernmental Agreement of August 1977» accepted by eleven participating countries by the end of 1978 officially established AIBD as an autonomous permanent regional institution. Article 16 of the Agreement states that this legal instrument enters into force upon ratification or acceptance by five signatory governments including the Government of Malaysia (AIBD host country).

The Agreement ratified the location of AIBD's headquarters at Kuala Lumpur, anticipating that the Government of Malaysia would provide the Institute with accommodation, physical and technical facilities as well as supporting staff.

Objectives: The "development notion" component
The UNDP Project Document initially stated that the long-range objective of AIBD is to contribute to the development and orientation of broadcasting systems and broadcasting practitioners towards national development goals within the Asia-Pacific region.

In their Agreement of 1977 "the participating governments also acknowledged the fact that radio and television broadcasting is a most effective channel for mass communication and has an important contribution to make in the process of social and economic development "transmitting information, increasing and enriching educative opportunities and motivating social change".

The development notion included in AIBD's name is then of basic importance in stressing its ultimate aim as a development-oriented training centre-. The objectives set forth in Article 3 of the Agreement are equally consistent with this fundamental purpose of broadcasting for development, which can be achieved only through better levels of communication to facilitate and make more effective the undertaking of relevant educational programmes-"

To this end, the objectives of the Institute are:

(a) To assist the countries to improve the professional quality and the capability of their broadcasting systems, through systematic training and research programmes consistent with their national development goals;

(b) To orient the work of broadcasting organizations and practitioners in member countries towards educational and development goals;

(c) To evolve methods, techniques and material resources which will allow them to operate more effectively to these ends; and

(d) To create a network of collaborating institutions in the field of broadcasting development, training and research.

Activities
AIBD organizes around 35 in-country, sub regional and regional workshop every year. One of its signature event is Asia Media Summit.

Membership
AIBD has two grades of membership:


 * Full Membership – Full membership of the AIBD is confined to sovereign states and they are invited to designate the broadcasting authority of the country to be the beneficiary. Only full members attending the AIBD General Conference shall have the right to vote. National centers and national institutes of broadcasting and organizations dealing in the main with electronic media, whether publicly or privately owned, may apply for affiliate membership of the Institute, subject to the approval of the AIBD General Conference. Affiliate members shall not have voting rights at the AIBD General Conference.
 * The 26 full members of AIBD are the governments of the following countries:Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, China, Cambodia, Fiji, France, India, Indonesia, Iran, Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.
 * Affiliate Membership – designated by the approval of full members

Strategic alliances
AIBD members have access to a number of strategic alliances, including:


 * UNDP
 * UNESCO
 * UNESCAP
 * UNICEF
 * UNAIDS
 * ASBU - ARAB STATES BROADCASTING UNION
 * EUROPEAN BROADCASTING UNION (EBU)
 * HBF  - HOSO BUNKA FOUNDATION