[cr-india] Radio station adapts to gender problems in Afghanistan

[George Lessard]

-------------------------------------
Radio station adapts to gender problems in Afghanistan
---------------------------------------

Radio Milli Paigham, a community radio station in 
Logar, Afghanistan, has created a new production 
unit for its female reporters.

According to the Institute for Media, Policy and 
Civil Society IMPACS), women in Logar are 
prohibited from traveling to the area of town 
where the station is located, and male journalists
are often not allowed to interview women for 
their reports. As a result, women's voices were 
largely absent from the station's airwaves.

The station established the new unit, in 
collaboration with IMPACS, in an attempt to break 
down the barriers facing female broadcasters in 
the conservative city. Using a successful model 
that IMPACS used previously in Kabul, the groups 
equipped a small studio in
a private home, away from the main studio, with 
computers and tape recorders. Women can use the 
equipment to produce their own reports and 
programs for broadcast on the station.

The two groups also held a training session in 
early 2004 for local women interested in working 
at the station. Four women selected from this 
initial session formed the Logar Women's Radio 
Production Unit. In just two months, the team has 
produced 17 programs for the station.

IMPACS also organized a second training session 
for women reporters on interviewing and writing, 
advanced radio techniques, and computer editing. 
Participants produced four radio pieces to be 
broadcast on Radio Milli Paigham.

Response to the new project from Logar residents 
has been positive, IMPACS said. Radio Milli 
Paigham has received letters from listeners 
asking for more programs produced by women on 
health, education and voter registration.

IMPACS said this pilot project could be adapted 
for use in other communities worldwide where 
women's lives tend to be more restricted.

"With this model, women are able to raise their 
voices in their own communities and women 
listeners have another reason to turn on their 
radios and learn about what's going on around
them," the group said in their April newsletter.

IMPACS: http://www.impacs.org/.

---------------------------------------
--

---

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Via / By / Excerpted / From / Tip from / Thanks to:

****************************************************************
THIS WEEK IN THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISTS' NETWORK
The bulletin highlights the latest media training and assistance
news from Central and Eastern Europe, the Newly Independent
States, the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin
America, Asia and the Pacific. The bulletin is also available in
Spanish and Portuguese. For complete texts, and many more
training activities, visit the International Journalists' Network
(IJNet) at http://www.ijnet.org. The items and topics from Asia
and the Pacific appear only in this bulletin and not on the IJNet
site. IJNet is published by the International Center for Journalists
(ICFJ).

Issue #256
****************************************************************

May 10, 2004

© info
http://members.tripod.com/~media002/disclaimer.htm
Due to the nature of email & the WWW, check ALL sources.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
GEORGE LESSARD
Information & Media Specialist
Home E-mail media at web.net
MSN: MediaMentor (video cam & audio capable)
ICQ: 8501081
www.Skype.com P2PNetPhone: themediamentor
Home Pages / C.V. http://media002.tripod.com/
Online Activities: http://www.web.ca/~media/index.html
Member http://www.carcc.ca/  & http://www.caj.ca
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
(Gandhi)