FREEPLAY SAYS NEW MODELS BEING WELL RECEIVED IN THE FIELD... Pioneering 'wind-up' radios are being made in new models that are better equipped to take on the requirements of rugged Third World conditions, the Freeplay Foundation has said.
Freeplay Foundation stresses that its involvement is in "initiatives to make access to education and information a reality for all", and has an specific relationship with the Freeplay Energy group. Freeplay Energy, established in 1995, is a business-to-business technology organisation that secures production for its self-powered products and markets them worldwide. The Freeplay Foundation, set up in 1998, is a UK-registered not-for-profit organisation, with its own board of directors that includes Terry Waite, Baroness Lynda Chalker, Hylton Appelbaum and Ambassador Andrew Bearpark. Its mandate is "to apply self-powered technology to advance the quality of life in developing nations". Not an implementing organisation, the Freeplay Foundation works with governments, international aid agencies and donor organisations as well as broadcasters and content providers to facilitate radio education and information initiatives. The Freeplay Energy Group is itself a young company, only six years old. Over the past six years the company has developed five different radio models. These have brought in differing suitability-levels from the field. FPR1 was the first model radio and was used in developmental projects in the beginning, but no longer. It is not sold, says Ms Pearson, because with the winding mechanism on the side, "people in rural areas could wind it in an anti-clockwise direction which breaks the winding mechanism". Said Ms Pearson: "As in all technology, improvements are made and this radio has been replaced with much more robust models. The winding mechanism has been placed on the back of later models and cannot be wound in the incorrect direction." She added that Freeplay's Technology Division monitors field feedback and every effort is made to improve the technology and products to achieve optimum performance under all conditions. Other Freeplay models, like the Global Shortwave model, says Ms Pearson, has proven to be a "very high performance radio, more robust and which has achieved excellent reports from the field". She added that over 7100 units of this model radio were sent into Mozambique at the beginning of last year as an integral part of a DFID funded emergency communications initiative. "A formal evaluation of this radio as a tool for emergency communications has recently been completed by a team of final year students from the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service from New York University. The executive summary of this research is available on the Foundation's website on www.freeplayfoundation.org," Pearson added. In addition, she pointed to another product, the Freeplay Plus, similar in size and weight to the GSW, which is an AM/FM/SW1/SW2 radio with a rechargeable battery and an emergency light incorporated on the side, a radio with a torch. "This radio is excellent for group listening and when fully charged (either by winding, solar or the adaptor) will play for up to 14 hours, providing both light and sound without the need for electricity or conventional batteries," added Pearson. She said the Freeplay Plus has been chosen by the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD). It is to be used for the first phase of a project, funded by USAID, using satellite and FM radio technology to communicate vital weather information to agricultural and nomadic communities in six African countries. "This initiative combines a solar-powered satellite receiver and Freeplay radios. Information is downloaded from the Internet via a satellite connection. It is then translated and broadcast via a community FM radio station. Villagers, nomads and farmers living in remote and poorly served areas receive broadcasts on Freeplay radios," said Pearson. Freeplay Foundation says a radio communiciations initiative needs for 'vital components' to succeed -- appropriate content, radios allowing sustainable access to all groups, coordinated distribution of the radios, and measurement of effectiveness against objectives. "The findings of the Mozambique evaluation reinforced this standpoint," said Pearson, the Executive Director of Freeplay Foundation. Contact details: Kristine Pearson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** 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.globalknowledge.org>
