"Community radio is considered as an intervention strategy of choice for deepening participation and community ownership. Donors have funded a proliferation of community radio projects in the Global South, prompted by stories attesting to the power of radio as a tool for social change. The evidence
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suggests that beyond empowering communities, community radio can catalyse behaviour change and impact positively on wider development outcomes. In practice, the record has been mixed, with sustainability a critical challenge. A recent evaluation found that radio stations created through top-down initiatives tend not to survive when external funding dries up. Where such stations do survive, their purpose often becomes different from what was originally intended. Only in a handful of cases have previously aid-dependent radio stations become sustainable. Informed by insights from practitioners, and evaluation reports and scholarly literature, this article draws some emerging lessons." (Abstract)
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"The project [...] was implemented in Kenya by the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) from September 2008 to January 2011 [...] The project’s overarching goal is to promote women’s human rights by raising awareness in six communities in Kenya and strengthening social action using commun
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ity radio listening groups consisting of women, young people and media practitioners to enable them to identify human rights violations and gender inequality, voice their concerns and insist on stronger protection for human rights and hold the government accountable." (Introduction)
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The major conclusion of this study is that there is enormous potential for media development in South Sudan because of the enthusiasm for and interest in news and information, even in the most remote villages. Local radio is a platform for political and cultural expression and a site for citizen par
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ticipation, empowerment, and social and political change. Radio is also relatively inexpensive to operate, to program and, for audiences, to receive. The Internews stations have been effective in providing an open forum for dialogue and debate at the local level, with access for members of government, civil society organizations and the public. The report follows on earlier research into the stations’ impact, 'Light in the Darkness'.
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"The Department of Communications (“DoC”) Community Radio Support Programme (“CRSP”) was initiated in 1998 and includes a range of categories of support: Infrastructure rollout to provide technical equipment to stations; Signal distribution and upgrade; Programme production support on specif
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ic areas capacity building and training; and Satellite network infrastructure support. The CRSP project has played an important role in assisting in the growth and sustainability of the community radio sector since its inception. It has helped stations to get on air by installing studios in stations and increased their sustainability through subsidising signal distribution costs, giving support for programming and providing training (both workshops organised by the DoC and through support for the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (“Nemisa”). The CRSP was launched before the establishment of other public entities focused on supporting the sector such as the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (“USAASA”), and the Media Development and Diversity Agency (“MDDA”), and therefore filled an important gap in assisting communities to exercise their rights to own their own media." (Executive summary, page 7)
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"This report offers an overview of results of an assessment that sought to investigate the audience impact of Internews’ network of five FM radio stations in southern Sudan and two transitional areas that were established to provide their communities with critical information about the peace agree
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ment, the referendum and the resettlement of returning refugees. The five stations are the first community radio stations to be established in these remote parts of Sudan. The results show communities identify strongly with their local station and listen in preference to any other available radio service. This is because they believe the information they will receive is credible, accurate and relevant to their specific community, in their local language. A high percentage of listeners also attribute their knowledge about political processes including the CPA, referendum, popular consultation and elections directly to their local FM station." (Abstract)
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"El programa ‘Radios Ciudadanas’ es liderado por la Dirección de Comunicaciones del Ministerio de Cultura y su objetivo es impulsar la democracia, la participación ciudadana y la diversidad cultural, por medio de la creación y consolidación de franjas de análisis y opinión, en las radios c
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omunitarias y de interés público del país. Esta publicación muestra como desde el escenario de la radio es posible construir ciudadanía y democracia en los espacios locales. Para ello, dialoga con los realizadores radiales de los municipios, líderes, representantes de las organizaciones sociales, voceros de la institucionalidad, oyentes y la ciudadanía de las poblaciones donde opera Radios Ciudadanas. Los lectores encontraran en “Voces y sonoridades de un proceso ciudadano”, un recorrido que inicia con la descripción del programa Radios Ciudadanas, luego reseña los contextos políticos, culturales y comunicativos que marcaron su origen y evolución. Posteriormente, configura una línea del tiempo con las tensiones, logros y dificultades identificadas en el proceso tanto en voz de los protagonistas como en la documentación hallada." (Página web Ministerio de Cultura, 24/11/2010)
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"A description of the radio landscape in Liberia, and recommendations for the IREX Civil Society and Media Leadership Program." (commbox)
"Ayant comme source principale des entretiens effectués au cours de l’automne 2009, ce mémoire s’attelle à explorer la réalité des radios communautaires de Dakar, la capitale du Sénégal. Plus particulièrement, il s’agit d’interroger les relations qu’elles entretiennent avec leurs
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partenaires d’appuis » afin de dévoiler les codes et pratiques du milieu. En interrogeant les rapports de pouvoir, de collaboration et d’affirmation, ce mémoire se penchera sur les problématiques de « glocalisation » et d’ « extraversion ». Ces phénomènes propres à un local entrepris par un international seront appréhendés afin de mettre en avant les attitudes de négociations et d’appropriation des radios communautaires face au milieu du développement. Les travaux de Jean-François Bayart et Achille Mbembe appuieront notre propos pour une compréhension du milieu valorisant les acteurs et leurs modes d’action. Les réflexions méthodologiques et théoriques s’efforceront de retranscrire la complexité du milieu représenté." (Résumé)
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"In 2002 the UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communication ( represented by Sudan Radio & TV Corporation –SRTC) launched a pilot project of Community Radio Listening Groups (CRLGs), designed to reach population in hard to reach areas in the country with messages and de
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velopment information. Gradually the project expanded to cover more sites in northern states of Sudan. This Evaluation was commissioned to assess the extent to which the project delivered promised benefits and involved local participation; and to test the social impacts on the local communities where the project operated." (Page 4)
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"Nepal's community radio sector has flourished since it liberalized the airwaves for the first time in 1997. Drawing on an established tradition in other areas of the developing world, Nepal embraced community radio for its potential to overcome propagandistic and exclusive national media systems, t
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o bring news and information to remote areas, and to educate people about human rights, equality, health, family planning and sustainable agricultural practices. This thesis has two major objectives: first, to explore how marginalized social groups use radio as a tool of empowerment. It focuses upon the case of Radio Jagaran, a community-based radio station in Butwal, Nepal that uses participatory media to advocate for social justice on behalf of those who are otherwise excluded and discriminated against. Second, it problematizes the ways in which the funding requirements established by the international NGO donor community appear to be re-focusing the programming agendas of grassroots media organizations such as Radio Jagaran. It attempts to highlight the potential implications of donor-led community media projects by drawing attention to the ways 'truths' and 'realities' of poverty, human rights violations and related issues are constructed by CR stations through negotiating what they perceive to be INGO priorities and objectives." (Abstract)
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"IPDC’s support for community radio in Nepal has been a strategic, defining factor in the growth of the community media sector. The Programme has regularly supported small, distinct projects that have catalyzed the growth of the sector at different times by promoting replicable models, establishin
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g precedents and benchmarks, and building the capacity of key organizational players. Between 1993 and 1997, IPDC played a key role in the establishment of the country’s first independent broadcaster, Radio Sagarmatha. In 1999, the Programme was instrumental in setting up Nepal’s first rural radio licensee, Community Radio Madanpokhara. In 2002, IPDC provided critical support to Radio Lumbini, the region’s fi rst cooperative broadcaster, and Radio Swargadwari, a station in the heart of the country’s armed conflict. In 2006, IPDC supported the Nepal Association of Community Radio Broadcasters in a broad, sector-wide initiative. Community radio has gone from one license in 1997 to nearly 90 at the end of 2007." (Page 3)
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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)
"El programa CAESI ha sido el primer intento de trabajar un programa en conjunto entre ALER y AMARC, dos redes con mucha historia y momentos de rivalidad. Fue la primera vez en la historia que se hizo un proyecto de estas características. Se hizo en una región muy problemática, históricamente po
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stergada, invadida, fragmentada y empobrecida, con un desarrollo de medios comunitarios más rudimentario que en otras regiones del continente. Hubiera sido demasiado utópico esperar que un programa como éste resultara exitoso en todas sus dimensiones. Debe verse este primer período mucho más como un ensayo que como proyecto acabado con todas las garantías de efectividad. Por primera vez comunicadoras y comunicadores de radio centroamericanos han gestado juntos algo propio, por pequeño e inacabado que esto sea. Se ha creado por primera vez en la región un espacio propio, un tipo de consejo centroamericano de radios populares y comunitarias que en su misma práctica -y con muchos errores- está ensayando maneras participativas de tomar decisiones, de ejercer el poder, incorporando las miradas del género y de la interculturalidad. Es una experiencia inédita en el mundo de las radios comunitarias centroamericanas y excepcional dentro del mismo movimiento social de la región. Es una oportunidad que no debe soltarse con ligereza." (Lecciones aprendidas, páginas 34-35)
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"Creative Associates International (Creative) launched the Haiti Media Assistance and Civic Education Program in October 2001. Known by its Creole acronym, RAMAK, which means “Rassemblan Medya pou Aksyon Kominite” or Media Gathering for Community Action, the goals of the project were to increase
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awareness of citizens’ rights and responsibilities and strengthen journalists’ reporting abilities. The project pursued these objectives in collaboration with 40 community radio stations and 22 local and regional associations of journalists around Haiti." (Introduction)
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"The overall aim of the assessment was to gauge the impact of projects supported under the Critical Situations Fund (CSF) in Haiti. The following questions provided a framework for the assessors: How does the project promote popular communication, and contribute to the strengthening of civil society
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through the encouragement of democratic processes and practices in the community and by addressing the issues that give rise to conflicts in the community? Have the original aims and objectives of the projects been met? What difficulties and problems were encountered in the process of implementing the project? With the benefit of hindsight, what aspects of the project would be changed and what would remain? Projects Assessed: CRAD network of Community Radio Stations, Radio Sel (Gonaives), Radio Flambeau (Gross Morne), Radio Inite (St Michel de l'Attalaye), Radio Lakay, Corail Henri (part of the SAKS Radio Network), Haitian Information Bureau (Port-au-Prince), Libète, Newspaper (Port-au-Prince)." (Page 19)
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"The Tripartite mission review of community media centres in Banga, Ibajay and Laurel, and discussions with representatives of Batanes and Olutanga have shown that the project has basically fulfilled its development and immediate objectives. An experimental methodology has been established based on
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the varied experiences of setting up the first five stations. Wherever possible, trainers and researchers are recruited from the regions where the sites are located, backed up by experienced consultants recruited in Manila. While guidelines for the setting up of community media centres have been drafted, these notes are still being updated and improved, as n ew experiences bring in improved methods or show new challenging situations. Collaboration with the national cooperators has been cohesive and productive. The Project Management Team has also focussed on developing a network of local cooperators to spread the idea of community radio, and to root research and training work on a firm anchorage of local specialists and institutions. This has not only produced a broad team of cooperators but has also netted significant savings in the use of project resources, while ensuring an implementation team w h o better understand the local ideosyncrasies. Every effort has been taken in this project to demystify radio and newspaper work, using simple equipment and production methods. Special use has been made of the karaoke (a singalong cassette console with loudspeaker) for producing the flagship programme of all stations, Baranggayan sa Hintpapawid. While maintaining simplicity, the project should not lose sight of professionalism in radio production, in choice of equipment, production techniques and regular transmission. Maintaining a high technical quality will be especially important for F M broadcasting which provides clean signals and can exaggerate even small technical faults. Professionalism will also be necessary for maintaining the respect of other commercial stations in the broadcast areas. Ways are also being studied to link up with established commercial stations for news and programme exchange." (Executive summary)
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