Media development effectiveness grew out of the overall concept of aid effectiveness and the need for donors to show that money is being well spent and used for measurable outcomes. This led to practices such as conditionality and technical assistance, where foreign donors used their development assistance to push for outcomes that were often goals of the foreign donors but not of the country in question. A growing group of experts has pointed out that outside support is more effective when the process is owned and led, not by outsiders, but by the local people concerned.

Many media development practitioners have greatly increased the effectiveness of their work and are constantly learning from their experiences and from each other. Capturing these lessons, facilitating South-South learning and documenting new approaches is critical to improving effectiveness. Also important to effectiveness is developing and improving sector diagnostic tools and indicators that can help monitoring and evaluation (M&E).