MovePH, Rappler’s civic engagement arm, features partners who are part of the Lighthouse platform. As a Lighthouse partner, FMA’s content and calls to action may be accessed by a wider audience who benefit from Rappler’s wider reach.  Check out their Lighthouse page here.

The Foundation for Media Alternatives or FMA, a Philippine non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1987 that seeks to democratize information and communication systems (ICT) for citizens and communities, is one of MovePH’s partner organizations joining Lighthouse. 

As a Lighthouse community partner, FMA looks forward to sharing more about their initiatives, advocacies, and content on the platform. 

“We want to inspire others, especially the youth, to take action on digital rights issues. We hope that through this partnership, we are able to help build informed citizens and empowered communities in order to realize our human rights in the digital age, towards equitable and sustainable human development.” FMA’s project coordinator Bernice Soriano said. 

On the Lighthouse platform, FMA will be sharing articles, comics, videos, podcast episodes on research about issues related to gender and ICT, privacy and data protection, and internet rights, including freedom of expression online. 

They will also be posting promotions and articles about online discussions and events tackling digital rights issues.

FMA is known for its work that looks into the intersection of human rights and ICT. They initiated the draft and launch of the Philippine Declaration of Internet Rights and Principles and mapped online gender-based violence in the Philippines (Take Back the Tech). In 2015, they served as local host for RightsCon when it was held in the Philippines and also conducted the Digital Rights Camp for youth in 2019. 

They take pride in the content they create – from reports, briefing papers, statements, position papers, websites, videos and other visual content – which are grounded in research and on-the-ground experience, most of which are available on their website www.fma.ph. 

FMA also worked on songs and music videos on critical thinking and fighting disinformation (Kamalayan at Saysay ng Salita) and their Ano’ng Konek Podcast that tackles digital rights. 

In a lot of ways, Rappler and FMA’s partnership was built around the similar goal of fighting disinformation and upholding press freedom. (READ: Sharing stories of our fight for our digital rights)

In 2021, FMA worked with MovePH, Rappler’s civic engagement arm for its Media Civics Lab seminar-workshop series to equip emerging youth leaders with crucial responsible digital citizenship skills and to become information and literacy champions in different parts of the country. 

As a partner, Rappler has also published some of the content that FMA has created, such as the comics on disinformation in collaboration with Tarantadong Kalbo, Marian Hukom, Kapitan Tambay, Kikomachine and Overheard Comics. FMA also supported and participated in Rappler’s #CourageON community show episode on Pushing back disinformation. 

“…We believe in the same principles of press freedom, freedom of expression, and improving our information ecosystem. We believe that we need to work together to fight disinformation and to also spread awareness on digital rights,” Soriano said. 

FMA is also part of #FactsFirstPH and the Democracy and Disinformation network, where Rappler is also a member. 

Check out their Lighthouse page by visiting fma.rappler.com.  – Rappler.com

Lighthouse Communities of Action integrates Rappler’s third pillar – the communities we have worked with since Rappler was launched in 2012 – into the platform. It also features collaboration across several efforts through Movements. Know more about this initiative here.

Here are some of our partners’ pages on Lighthouse:

• ABKD Network
• Amateur Media Association of Philippine Scouts
• Ashoka Philippines
• Baguio Chronicle
• Break the Fake Movement
• DAKILA
• Legal Network for Truthful Elections
• Now You Know PH

If your organization is interested to partner with us, send an email to move.ph@rappler.com.