I s s u e 3 4 -
M o n t h ,
2 0 0 2
Filling the
air with adequate content
Strengthening
Institutional Capacity
Getting Homoíne on track
TAG On Independent Print Press
 Filling
the air with adequate content
While the eight UNESCO partner community radios go on air one by one,
the issue of ensuring adequate content becomes urgently relevant. The
are of what music to put on your radio, and how, and why and for how
long becomes important questions to ask. While music is not the only
parameter for measuring a radio’s ’colour’, it is among the important
ones to be aware of when establishing a new radio on air: When being a
community radio, then: what kind of music do the listeners prefere and
like? What music belongs to this community? How can we – the radio –
through our choice of music strengthen the community identity of the
station and celebrate the local tradition, history and culture?
To address some of these issues, the Media Project during the first
week of May called the technician and the coordinator of the editorial
group working with culture together in Chimoio to learn about and
practice: ”Appreciation and Recording of Local Music”. Based in an
initial analysis of the many cultures and their specificities in
Mozambique, an overview of music in a global perspective, and an African
perspective and focusing in on Mozambique and its traditions, the
participants practised how to effectively record music outside with the
use of a tape recorder, and also in the studio. After this exercise they
worked on the many different ways in which such music can be used,
including also basing sound-scapes and other sound effects on the local
instruments, sounds and song.
This is the first of a series of topical seminars and workshops to
take place during phase II of the project, in order to strengthen the
background knowledge, the understanding and the capacity of the
editorial groups in their different content areas. Other seminars
foreseen will deal with agriculture, environment, health, HIV/AIDS,
Women, and education.
Where the Media Project’s phase I worked to get activities up and
running, phase II focuses on consolidation and longterm sustainability
of these, including community radio stations and communication centres.
Strengthening
Institutional Capacity
Being based in an oral tradition, UNESCO has found that most of our
partner communities all over Mozambique have an excellent feeling for
what it takes to produce effective programming in local languages. As,
however, experience with getting organisational structures and everyday
work routines in place has in many realities met with difficulties, the
Media Project has carried out a series of short term consultancies to
strengthen partners.
This process will culminate on May 1st when the project appoints a full
time Community Radio Adviser for institutional development of the
community radio stations. Mr.Faruco Sadique brings with him 20 years of
experience in journalism, long experience with assessing training needs,
planning training interventions and carry them out. On top of this Mr.
Sadique has a 3-year degree in journalistic and media management
on-the-job-training techniques from Germany.
Mr. Sadique will be based in Maputo, but will spend 2-4 week periods
with the project’s eight community radio partners, who will all be on
air within this year.
Getting
Homoíne on track
During the months of March and April the
Homoíne Community Radio station has received such a capacitation, from
the Media Project’s administrator, recruiting and training a new
administrator for the station; from the coach of the Lago Community
Radio in Metangula, providing overall organisational capacitation; and
from the technician of the Chimoio Community Radio, training a group of
technicians as well as all volunteer programmers in the station.
With the good results of this experience, we have tested one of the
assumptions of the Community Radio Coordination Group, which has been to
create a system of exchange of support between the stations, building
upon a database of which stations have what kind of capacity available.
The challenge now is to turn this good experience into a workable
format, where we actually establish effective ways of cooperation and
exchange.
The Coordination Group works to establish coordination and
sustainability for all of the 31 community radio stations presently on
air in Mozambique, including the state run stations (by the Social
Communication Institute), the Catholic Community Oriented Broadcasters
and the independent, association-based community stations.
TAG
On Independent Print Press
The Media Project organized a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) meeting on
support to the Independent Print Press on March 25 and April 22, to
discuss how to effectively implement its activities in that area during
the project’s phase II.
The participants discussed the experience so far with he impact of the
first two experimental Communication Centres established in Beira and
Tete, and what this means for the future development of additional
centres. A consultant report pointed to the sore spots, and the advisory
group recommended the project to carry out additional capacitation of
the centres in Tete and Beira, after which the longterm potential should
be discussed.
In terms of establishment of new centres, Lichinga and Nampula were
proposed as suitable sites.
These recommendations will now be presented to the project’s
tripartite structure for discussion and possible approval.
The meeting furthermore discussed the implementation of a management
component for the independent print press. The participants pointed to a
number of important aspects to consider, and it was agreed that the
project carry out an assessment of the sector before reconvening the
group for further decisions.
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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