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| Auteur / Author : | femLINKPACIFIC: Sharon Bhagwan Rolls assisted by Devida Narayan | ONLINE |
| Titre / Title : | Empowering Communities, Informing Policy: The Potential of Community Radio | |
| Collection / Series : | ||
| Editeur / Publisher : | femLINKPACIFIC / UNESCO | EN |
| Année / Year : | 2008 | Nbr. Pages : 20 pages / Taille / Size | ||
| URL : | http://www.femlinkpacific.org.fj/_resources/main/pdf/Empowering-Communities-InformingPolicyThePotentialofCommunityRadio.pdf | |||
| Evaluation / Book review. | ||||
| "Women had long recognised that...in order to play a key role in society and in their development, women needed to be informed on what was going on around them and also have a means to speak on what was happening and have their voices heard - which could only be possible through having their own media. It was this notion of empowerment which gave birth in 2000 to femLINKPACIFIC: Media Initiatives for Women...\" It is this history shaping the strategies and recommendations included in this 20-page handbook on community radio as a tool for enabling women to have a voice on a range of social, economic, and political issues that will help bring about sustainable development and peace. As detailed in the Preface, femLINKPACIFIC was inspired by the work of activists whom it terms \"Peacewomen\". They developed and enabled the unanimous adoption of United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution 1325, and they sparked the recognition that women\'s media have a role to play in advocating for women\'s participation in peace-building and conflict transformation. Thus inspired, in 2004, femLINKPACIFIC established a women\'s mobile community radio station, femTALK 89.2FM. This radio-station-in-a-suitcase has been taken out to rural and semi-urban women around Fiji, providing them with an opportunity to speak on issues concerning them while also allowing them to suggest how these issues could be resolved. The suitcase radio has also been used as a training tool to empower women to speak to each other and with their communities. [...] Based on femLINKPACIFIC\'s own experience, the authors of this booklet published in 2008 outline a series of community radio principles. Key to these reflections is the notion of community radio as a process: \"It is not simply about producing radio programmes to put on air; it is about developing your community by using radio.\" The functions of community radio are as follows: * Create a diversity of voices and opinions on the air - femTALK 89.2 FM travels out to women and their communities, offering women a safe space to voice and exchange their viewpoints. * Provide a diversity of programmes and content - Programmes such as the Women\'s Civil Society Hour, the Market Report, Look at My Abilities, and an interfaith segment, provide an opportunity for representatives from Fiji\'s broad civil society network to share news and information during the weekend broadcasts - either through pre-recorded or live segments. Interviews from the network of rural correspondents provide rural features for each broadcast, while international segments are downloaded from the internet. Monthly features produced by the Regional Media Centre of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community are also featured. * Encourage open dialogue and democratic process. * Encourage participation, sharing of information, and innovation - Since 2001, femLINKPACIFIC\'s \"Not Just Sweet Talk\" campaign has become a platform to document the experiences and stories of female candidates, while also being an avenue for local communities to address development priorities. \"Pre-broadcast consultations staged with the local government authorities mean women can access local government officials, sometimes for the very first time.\" * Give voice to the voiceless - Each broadcast on femTALK 89.2FM is an opportunity to promote the potential that exists within women leaders in local communities to identify critical development priorities as well as advise development programmes. Source: The Drum Beat (Communication Initiative), Issue 541 \"Women\'s Political Engagement\", 8 May 2010 |
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