A media coalition in Ghana has adopted a policy framework to establish a development organ to serve as a basis for an advocacy action, aimed at developing a planning model for a sustainable solution to rural economic growth.The initiative dubbed: “Media Corporate Response Initiative” (M-CRI) would serve as the development vehicle for the media to host home-grown mass-scale development models for implementation at the local level.The project is under the auspices of DANIDA-EU sponsored Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund and led by the Business & Financial Times newspaper. It is being facilitated by the Azongo Development Planning Consult, a development planning consulting firm, to harness the agenda-setting-role potential of the media in combating poverty and making the media the centre of development in Ghana.Media participants at a workshop in Accra observed that development is a shared responsibility between the central and local government, NGOs and the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of development.According to them, the importance of the media in development must extend beyond reporting to establishing a development wing as an interest group to complement government, NGOs and other stakeholders’ role in development interventions.The participants indicated that it is about time the coalition partners go beyond adhoc one-off media coalitions for common events to establishing an official development unit with the requisite structures to implement sustainable home-grown development interventions in the country.Project consultant, Nyaaba-Aweeba Azongo, noted the media is better positioned than most of the current existing development actors to harness their agenda-setting role to address the country’s development challenges.According to him, “the implementation of the initiatives would generate development consciousness among the populace which is a fundamental value infrastructure for development.”Mr. Azongo says his outfit will assemble the best of Ghanaian planners to ensure that nothing but Home-Based Mass-Scale globally competitive development designs are offered to determine the basis for implementation under the Media-Corporate Response Initiative.The advocacy initiative will run for one year under the BUSAC sponsorship.Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv FM/Ghana