I s s u e 24- A
P R I L,
2 0 0 1
EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES TO GO ON AIR
A LONG WALK TO MILANGE
COACH TO METANGULA
DONDO & METANGULA RADIO
HOUSES
MEDIA HELPING TO FIGHT AIDS
COMMUNITY RADIO NEWSLETTER
NATIONAL JOURNALISM
EDUCATION
 Empowering
Communities to go on Air
While the present phase of the UNESCO/UNDP Media Development Project
is slowly drawing towards the end, the major project component in
support of Community Radio is sizzling with activity and excitement.
Supporting communities to possess the needed capacity and insight to
turn their dreams of having an own communication medium into reality
is not done overnight. Through a well researched and closely
monitored pilot phase, a number of important lessons have been
learned by all involved parties, leaving us assured that the new,
powerful commu-nity voice will stay in the hands of the local
community-controlled structures created.
Training is - also - in this gestation process at the core. Formal,
high quality training courses has been provided in the central
disciplines: Management, Programming, Audience Research and
Technical Operation & Maintenance. Informal, broad-based community
training has furthermore been provided to these communities through
a consultant Process Coach, carrying and promoting the community
mobilization to secure effective community structures and ownership,
as well as radio production training. Strong local community
ownership feeling and groups of between 20 and 40 well trained
volunteers have been the result of the work of the coaches. Finally
study trips to other community radio stations and to the studios of
the provincial delegations of the national public radio, have
provided the community volunteer groups with valuable insight
through exposure to different realities.
Besides from training, the persons involved in the community radio
management committees and the paid staff have taken part in a number
of management workshops as the one reported in our February
newsletter, combined with a series of monitoring-cum-capacitation
missions that have been carried out by project staff and
consultants.
The UNESCO/UNDP Media Development Project is planning a number of
activities to ensure that no experience is lost, but rather
channeled into the continuing discussion of how to most effectively
empower communities to establish, run and sustain their own voice,
and as such through access, participation and increased capacity to
further develop the growing democracy of Mozambique.
A book and a video documentary on the above described experience
will see the light in June-July and a national conference will take
place June 6-7, 2001. This conference will assess the community
radio experience of the country, as it has emerged through the ICS
supported community radio stations, the Catholic community-oriented
stations and the independent association-based stations.
A
LONG WALK TO MILANGE
To finalize the Community Capacity Assessments of the five locations
identified to take part in the UNESCO supported Wave II, the Chief
Technical Adviser and the National Co-ordinator of the Media Project
traveled to Milange mid March to speed up preparations for the
setting up of social and organiza-tional structures for the
establishment of a Commu-nity Radio in that district of the Zambezia
Province.
The mission culminated with the signing of a Memorandum of
Understanding, whereby four locally represented NGOs - the
Mozambican CMM and ORAM together with IBIS and Nova Fronteira -
agreed to form an Installation Group of the future Community Radio
Association. A consultant will for three weeks help to
operacionalise the many activities foreseen in the memo of
understanding.
April 11 the initial General Assembly of the Milange Community Radio
Association will take place, marking an important step in the wish
to establish a Milange-controlled community radio station.
The other communities receiving UNESCO support to training,
equipment and running costs are: Dondo, Metangula, Matola and
Bagamoyo within Wave II and within Wave I: Homoine, Chimoio and
Cuamba.
COACH
TO METANGULA
The community of Metangula has now also received the important
strengthening of the community mobilization and radio training
activities, through a Metangula-based UNESCO Process Coach.
As such nine UNESCO coaches are now working in Homoine, Chimoio,
Cuamba, Metangula, Milange, Quelimane, Dondo, Matola and Bagamoyo.
DONDO
& METANGULA RADIO HOUSES
Contracts are presently being signed with companies selected to
renovate the future Community Radio Stations in Dondo and Metangula.
The communities have already started turning the outdoor area into
conducive community spots, for community activities to be brought on
air live.
MEDIA
HELPING TO FIGHT AIDS
The Media Project inaugurated early March a package of
HIV/AIDS-related activities comprising a number of AIDS training
activities, a regular briefing-kit on the epidemic, and related
events.
In March a seminar was held in Maputo involving organizations,
experts, journalists and editors specialized or working on HIV/AIDS
related programmes. The seminar was instrumental to pin-point the
role of the media in general and to inspire the production of a
one-day training package on HIV/AIDS, designed to be included into
any planned training activity for journalists, editors and community
media activists alike. The package will be made available to all
training organizers in Mozambique and other African lusophone
countries
The training package precedes a series of three 8-day training
courses on "Reporting HIV/AIDS", to take place from May to July, in
Maputo, Beira and Quelimane. A total of up to 60 editors and
journalists are expected to take part.
Parallel to this, the Media Project is also initiating the
production of bi-weekly briefing kits with facts, figures, some
stories and other information on the pandemic, aimed at inspiring
the media with relevant and effective AIDS related coverage. The
briefing kit-series will be launched in a one day high level editors
conference in Maputo in May.
COMMUNITY
RADIO NEWSLETTER
April is the month to witness the appearance of the first issue of
the monthly newsletter of the Women's Community Radio Network. As
described in the past issue of this newsletter other activities of
the women's network are production and exchange of programmes and
experience as well as training.
NATIONAL
JOURNALISM EDUCATION
The importance of access to a national, public, high quality, free
journalism education is at the core of the two day discussions to
take place at a high level UNESCO seminar to take place May 17-18 in
Maputo. For more information contact the Project.
Media
Development Project
c/o UNESCO, P.O.Box 1397 Maputo, Mozambique
Tel. + 258.1. 498752/ 490840 Fax +258.1.498717
E-mail: unesco@mediamoz.com
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