[cr-india] Radio for development...

[Frederick Noronha (FN)]

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Radio has long been used as a tool for development, from The Archers in Britain after the Second World War, to soap operas for Russia and Afghanistan, to AIDS campaigns in Africa. 
This section will provide information on projects currently going on around the world, with contacts for those who want to get involved. 
http://www.radioinlondon.com/making/development.htm

Radio for Development 
Because of its unrivalled acess and its low production costs, radio is the technology that best meets the information and communication needs of farmers, world-wide. 

Here in Canada, where so many of us are "plugged in" to so many communications technologies, it is easy to overlook the vital connection that radio makes for farm families in the developing world.

We have superb telephone services. Most of us grew up with radio in our homes, and many now have more than one television. About one in three homes in Canada has a computer, and can access the internet. And even without communication technologies, most of us in this literate nation have access to information through a wide range of books, journals and magazines, available by mail or at our public library. If we want to learn about something or share information, we have the means.

Compare that to the situation of hundreds of millions of farm families in developing countries. They need practical information about low-cost farm methods so that they can increase their food supplies and improve their lives. How do they get it?

Most of these farmers won't have internet access in their lifetime. About four-fifths of the world's people don't even have regular access to a telephone! In very low income countries like Niger, Somalia and Afghanistan, there is only one telephone for every 500 people; in Zaire, Cambodia and Chad, there is one phone for every thousand people. And although an increasing number of communities have access to a television, there is a shortage of content that is locally determined, relevant, appropriate - and accessible in local languages. Printed materials are often unsuitable as a learning tool for the Network's audience. Even when available in local languages, they do not help the farmers who are illiterate - in some countries, that is more than 70 percent of the population.

That's why, at Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, our primary medium of choice is radio.

Radio can reach communities at the very end of the development road - people who live in areas with no phones and no electricity. Radio reaches people who can't read or write. Even in very poor communities, radio penetration is vast. There are more than 800 million radios in developing countries. An average of one in ten people has a radio.



Radio scripts can be adapted by Network members to suit local conditions. Production is cheap, especially compared to other mass media. Broadcasters can actively involve listeners in their programs. That way, listeners - the farmers we aim to help - can determine the content.

Radio encourages farm communities to help themselves. Network partners and their farm audiences share their experiences using our scripts, and provide new information that we can share with others. 

Some day, new technologies and improved education might give farmers everywhere access to the information we have in our homes today. For now, radio is our medium of choice in our mission to share knowledge for a better world.
http://www.farmradio.org/en/rad_dev/radio_en.php

 Radio for development in South Asia
Andy Phipps

03 February 2004
  
Gujjar woman holding a radio  

Almost one and a half billion people live in South Asia - and the majority live under the poverty level. Radio plays an important role. It can reach communities who live in areas with no phones and no electricity. And it reaches people who can't read or write. Even in very poor communities, radio penetration is vast. Community radio stations can play a significant role in increasing participation and opinion sharing, improving and diversifying knowledge and skills and in catering to health and cultural needs. 

Thus, community radio in developing countries can give people hope for a better future. And groups and individuals from poor communities from across South Asia are taking communication and information matters in to their own hands and exercising greater control over their access and services. Even before governments give official sanction to electronic community media, an increasing number of communities are exploring whatever avenues are open to them to get their voices and messages heard. 

See also 
 OneWorld Radio South Asia 

 OneWorld Radio members in South Asia  
With five self-styled community radio stations and more than twenty independent FM broadcasters, Nepal is leading the subcontinent in community media development. However activists and advocates in other countries are working hard to catch up, and their efforts are generally far ahead of their respective governments' policies. 

Sources 
 Community Radio in South Asia 

 Community radio in Pakistan 

 Building Community Radio in Hospet 

 Radio days in Indian villages 

 Community radio set to take off, finally 

 Myopia over radio 

 Village women turn broadcasters for Mana Radio 

 Nepal Leads South Asia In Radio Growth 

 South Asian Communities in for Local Media 

 Kothmale Community Radio - Sri Lanka 

 UNESCO Projects - Kothmale 

 BBC News Country profiles  
Suresh Kumar, a 42-year old father of six from Daltongunj has great faith in the medium: "My dream is to use community radio to resurrect the Gandhian ideal of self-sufficient villages." Chala Ho Gaon Mein, a 30-minute weekly programme produced in the local langauge by a team of 16 village reporters, is broadcast by the local All India Radio FM station. Using dramas, songs and interviews, the programme deals with issues ranging from corruption and child labour to dowry and alcoholism. 

In Karnataka, Namma Dhwani community radio reaches village listeners using a local cable network. Mangala Gowri, the group's studio manager, told of how they make audio programmes and air them using cassette players within women's groups meetings (a system they call narrowcasting), as well as to the weekly local market. Seema Nair, who supports Namma Dhwani's efforts explained: "Narrowcasting is effective, especially for the women's groups, but it is limited in terms of reaching the whole community, so we came up with the idea of cable radio." 

Community Radio in South Asia is still in a rudimentary stage. However, it is a growing concern in that part of the world. With growing support from international communities and South Asian governments, the impact of such a resource promises to be significant and extensive. 

India
Private radio is a relative newcomer to India's broadcasting scene. Since they were sanctioned in 2000, music-based FM stations have proliferated in India's cities. But only public All India Radio (AIR) was permitted to broadcast news on the radio. However, in late 2002 the government gave the go-ahead to educational institutions to set up their own low-power FM stations. 


Panchayat Vani 
In villages across nine Indian states listeners are getting hooked on to radio shows featuring women sarpanches and journalists fighting social and economic inequities through panchayati raj institutions. In the process, listeners are spurred on to participate in local institutions of self-governance themselves. An innovative community-based radio programme titled 'Panchayat Vani' (People's Voice), recently broadcast on All India Radio (AIR) Darbhanga, has been spreading awareness about the functioning of panchayati raj institutions in Muzaffarpur, Madhubani and Khagaria districts of Bihar. 

Mana Radio 
Mana Radio is a community radio station run by members of the women's Self Help Groups (SHG) in Orvakal village, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. The SHG members actively involved in running the station are all from rural poor families, mostly Dalits and minorities. Many of these women are minimally educated and have had no media production exposure whatsoever. They, however, are now capable of producing varied radio content. The women hope that the radio will help them better deal with the issues facing them and in spreading awareness. 


Pakistan
President Musharraf's military rule has been marked by increased freedom for the print media and a liberalisation of broadcasting policies. The expansion of private radio and television stations brought to an end more than five decades of the state's virtual monopoly of broadcasting. More than 20 companies have been given the go-ahead to set up radio stations. 

...Irfan Hayat Khan explained that Pakistan's Taraqee Foundation has already applied for a community radio licence. "There is no community radio in Pakistan yet; this would be the first." 

In villages across nine Indian states listeners are getting hooked on to radio shows featuring women sarpanches and journalists fighting social and economic inequities through panchayati raj institutions. In the process, listeners are spurred on to participate in local institutions of self-governance themselves. An innovative community-based radio programme titled 'Panchayat Vani' (People's Voice), recently broadcast on All India Radio (AIR) Darbhanga, has been spreading awareness about the functioning of panchayati raj institutions in Muzaffarpur, Madhubani and Khagaria districts of Bihar. 
http://radio.oneworld.net/article/view/73810/1/

 
RFD is an award-winning media consultancy that specializes in the design and implementation of public education campaigns worldwide. Since its inception in 1995, RFD has worked in partnership with organizations in over 30 countries, supported by major national and international donors, including DFID, UNICEF, the European Union, Comic Relief, and OXFAM. 
http://www.rfd.org.uk/

Creative Radio for Development
by Gordon Adam


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For four days in May ( 1996 ), radio broadcasters from twenty countries gathered in Birmingham, England, to examine how radio can be used more extensively in humanitarian crises throughout the world. Entitled "Creative Radio for Development." the conference was concerned not with radio's reporting role, but with its ability to convey life giving basic educational skills such as child health, farming, coping with environmental and human disasters.
http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/RADIO_HELP.html

Student Radio
London is home to a large community of student radio stations who broadcast via restricted service licences, the internet and internal broadcasts.  Stations are made up of student volunteers, many of them keen to pursue careers in the broadcasting industry. 
http://www.radioinlondon.com/student/index.htm