"1. There has been remarkable growth in both private and non-for-profit radio in Nepal since 1997: 216 licenses had been issued as of July 2007 with 78 FM stations broadcasting; of 93 licenses issued to non-profit groups, 31 were operational as of May 2007.
2. To its detriment, the FM radio sector h
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as and continues to be largely unplanned and unmanaged. There is technical congestion in the capital region and high redundancy of licensed services, even in some rural areas; there are major policy gaps and limited means to ensure accountability of broadcasters. The current system of regulation does little to promote a diversity of services or to ensure that broadcasters meet public needs or address national development priorities.
3. The application and practice of community radio principles is remarkably inconsistent. Many stations are community radios in name only. Community radio in Nepal is poorly defined and there is no policy framework to guide the development of the sector. Of particular concern are issues of limited ownership, ‘capture’ by the elite, poor representation of community groups, particularly on gender, caste and ethnic lines. There is a risk that community orientation and the focus on public interest programming will be weakened.
4. In spite of gaps, Nepal’s community radio sector possesses a certain maturity and sophistication. There are a large number of stations, increasingly coordinated. There are excellent practices in programming and community participation, many of which are being replicated. There are resource centres and support organizations with high capacity, both private and non-profit. There is an active national association of community stations." (Key findings, page 4-5)
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"Como conclusión del estudio se presentan las siguientes reflexiones y recomendaciones:
1. Definitivamente las radios comunitarias han cumplido un papel fundamental en el desarrollo de la sociedad ecuatoriana a nivel de educativo, organización popular, participación ciudadana, etc. Sin embargo es
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te rol no es reconocido por la sociedad. Además la identidad de las llamadas radios comunitarias está en un constante proceso de definición. Por ello consideramos básico la generación de espacios en donde los diferentes actores involucrados en el proceso de comunicación comunitario definir el nuevo papel de las radios comunitarias en el Ecuador.
2. Las radios que se autocalifican como comunitarias o populares y que son miembros de la CORAPE, representan un porcentaje muy pequeño dentro del universo de estaciones autorizadas para operar en el territorio ecuatoriano. Por esta razón es importante propiciar el fortalecimiento de esta organización a fin de expandir esta red de estaciones que comparten principios de desarrollo basados en la participación y el trabajo comunitario.
3. A pesar de los esfuerzos realizados en distintos ámbitos, no se ha conseguido un reconocimiento de las radios comunitarias dentro del ordenamiento jurídico vigente. Emisoras de servicio comunal, estaciones de baja potencia o estaciones públicas, son términos mal utilizados al momento de referirse a la radiodifusión comunitaria. Además de la falta de reconocimiento, y a pesar de que las limitaciones que existían (prohibición de pasar publicidad y limitación de potencia) fueron eliminadas, no existe el escenario propicio para el otorgamiento de frecuencias de manera transparente.
4. En la práctica el acceso a frecuencias para radios comunitarias, no solo que no tiene facilidades especiales, sino que por el contrario cuenta con mayores trabas por la designación discrecional que hacen las autoridades al momento de otorgar frecuencias. Por ello es necesario impulsar un proceso de reforma en la regulación en el sector de la radiodifusión y televisión, el cual de manera explícita considere a las radios comunitarias como un actor clave dentro del sector.
5. Finalmente un reto importante digno de ser tomado en cuenta, es la forma de potenciar el papel de la radio comunitario a través del uso creativo de las llamadas “nuevas tecnologías de información y comunicaciones” en especial Internet. Por esta razón sugerimos identificar formas concretas en que las radios comunitarias hagan uso de la posibilidad de trabajo colaborativo, mayor cobertura, interacción e interactividad, que provee la red de redes." (Página 14)
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"Some recommendations can be made to Radio Progress and its community. The station seems to provide the Upper West people with what they needed – a voice to make themselves heard and to communicate with each other. Since the research showed that most limitations are due to the restraints in financ
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ial stability some stronger effort to receive funding would be advisable. Without undermining the non-profit character, Radio Progress could put more emphasise on some fundraising activities. More financial flexibility could solve most of the limitations the station is facing. Furthermore, the station board should pay more attention to a stable coordination of the station. The formerly absent and recently not existing coordination might bear negative impact on the staff motivation. Moreover, this rather unorganised coordination possibly restricts a consequent performance and a stringent development of the programming as well as potential improvement strategies. Some advice can be addressed to the listening communities. The research showed how vital the listeners handle information and educative input they receive through the station and as such also from other villages. By internal clustering of information and output through internal reflection they could even intensify the mutual learning effect the programming offers. Communities could form a committee to which people can address their grievances, demands and ideas on a frequent basis and which could present these collected information to the station. Such an organised information collection and transfer could overcome a crucial obstacle to participate for many people - the restriction to call or visit the station on their own." (Recommendations, page 98)
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"This evaluation has five main objectives: to evaluate the implementation results of the project, to extract the lessons learnt, to propose a way forward for the Khoun Radio, to assess the feasibility of a national scale-up strategy, and finally to consider which role UNDP could play in these proces
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ses. In summary it can be said that the project has managed to have a number of the crucial components of the project implemented. In spite of strong and committed initiative, support and management from the UNDP side, the uniting and facilitating organisational framework is not yet fully in place. It is, however, considered possible to remedy this lack through an intensive, participatory planning process in Khoun among the board members and the community broadcasters – facilitated by the project staff. The report presents, analyses and extracts recommendations in connection with all of the project’s four activities: establishment of a radio station; training of district and provincial information officers; training of (volunteer) programme producers and the board; elaboration of a baseline study and collaboration with other communityoriented radio activities in Laos." (Executive summary, page 6)
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"This study is about Community Radio Madanpokhara (CRM) in Palpa district in Western Nepal. Initiated and managed by the local residents, CRM has been on the air on frequency modulation (FM) band serving 800,000 potential listeners in the region since 2000. Triangulating in-depth interviews, observa
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tions and an audience survey as methods, this research explores the nature and extent of the local residents’ participation in the communication process. The station, operating with a wide participation from its community members, has not only been successful in providing them with an access to much needed information and entertainment but has also, in fact, proved to be an important avenue for the local population to express their opinions and views as well as exchange feelings. An audience survey, conducted in January 2004, revealed that 80.8 percentage of the local respondents listen to their community radio station for information and entertainment. Community radio in the region not only took away listeners from the state owned radio station, it also added new listeners. Thus, operation of a community radio station is not about sharing power, but it is also about creating new power. CRM has increased access to information for a larger section of rural population previously not served or underserved by the state media or the capital based-elite media. If knowledge is power and democracy is more about decentralization of power, then community radio stations in Nepal are truly championing this cause by creating many centers of power in the nation by empowering those left behind in the process and by securing their active involvement. They are encouraging the dispossessed and the marginalized in breaking the ages-old culture of silence, and CRM is leading the way in this endeavor." (Abstract)
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"This is a series of five introductory booklets on how civil society, government, donor agencies, media and the United Nations can strengthen the community radio sector in India." (commbox)