On 4/28/06, Graham Knight wrote: > I am saddened to discover that with all the information published, there > seems to be nothing about radio for the poor in developing countries. > > Am I wrong?
There hasn't been much written about this on the List lately; but there is a good deal of information in the GKD Archives: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/> There is an initiative sponsored by the BBC that might be of interest to you, as a model of collaborative effort: During 2005, the BBC World Service Trust coordinated input from the African and international media development community to the Commission for Africa. The Commission report "Our Common Interest" highlighted the critical role of the media in creating government transparency, internal accountability and greater responsiveness, as well as recommending that this be addressed through the establishment of an "African media development facility" to boost support for the sector. Capacity through collaboration The key consensus reached was that work to strengthen the capacity of the media in Africa needs to be more long term and strategic, and better tailored to local needs. There is also a clear appetite for a collaborative approach between African practitioners and some of the world's leading media organisations to achieve these objectives. The African Media Development Initiative (AMDI) has been set up to establish how best to achieve these goals. AMDI was launched by the BBC World Service Trust in January 2006 as an inclusive and open process which aims, by the second half of 2006, to mobilise a range of African and international stakeholders to significantly boost support for the development of the state, public and private sector media. There is a link to their Report "Our Common Interest" at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/trust/specials/1552_trust_amdi/index.sht ml> Last October, Meddie Mayanja contributed the following: > Dear Colleagues: > > It is nice to see how much information sharing and support is being > undertaken on the List. Please keep it up! > > I was in Mozambique recently and visited 2 Community Multi-media Centres > (CMCs) at Xinavane and Chokwe - these are telecentres with a community > radio component. They are supported by UNESCO and have equipment very > similar to those of CMCs elsewhere in Africa. I should share with you > some of the pictures from there. > > The CMCs in Mozambique face real challenges of program/content > development, management skills, connectivity to the Internet and how to > retain volunteers that form over 98% of the staff team that is > responsible for programing. I know that you all have had similar issues > before or are facing them now. it would be nice to share how you have > managed them or any thoughts for possible management. > > The community radio doesn't only have challenges anyway. It was > interesting to learn how they have been creatively generating funds and > managing to operate with limited revenue to pay staff and supplies. For > instance, one CMC prints out greeting cards (simple word paper) that are > given to shops in the community to sell out at a specific small fee. > Customers would write their greetings and messages to loved ones and > they would get read on the community radio station. The shop gets free > advertisements on radio when they return a specific number of coupons, > and the cash collected from sales. In another case, the community radio > station made an arrangement with a salon shop for a free haircut for > radio volunteers (presentors/content people) in return for free radio > advertisements for the salon. This was very creative in motivating > volunteers. It would be good to learn how this effort has been progressing. Ginger McCarthy Resources for Community-building, Civil Dialogue and Conflict Resolution Community Radio Resources: <http://members.aol.com/Altdisres/Radio.html> ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
