AMARC Link - December 2014

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
From the International Secretariat in Montreal, we would like to wish all members, allies and friends of AMARC a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We hope the coming year will be full of creativity and will give us the
strength to continue working together for what we believe in.

ONGOING INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGNS

WORLD RADIO DAY 2015

February 13 2015 is World Radio Day, a day to

celebrate radio as a medium; to improve
international cooperation between broadcasters;
and to encourage major networks and community
radio alike to promote access to information, and
free, independent and pluralistic media. The theme

HELP AFRICAN JOURNALISTS FIGHT THE

SPREAD OF EBOLA

for this fourth edition is Youth and Radio. It

represents an important opportunity to evaluate the
contribution of young people in the radio sector with
the goal of increasing their participation along three
levels:
Youth-targeted
programming,
Programmes including young people at the
production level, Programming devised and
produced by young people. The World Association
of Community Broadcasters (AMARC) invites you to
send any information regarding the events you are
organizing for World Radio Day 2015 before January
9, 2015.

journalists to focus on their reporting, not their

costs, and deliver credible information to
populations in crisis.

Participate in the discussion! Join AMARCs

International Secretariat on social media!
The World Federation of Science Journalists
(WFSJ) in association with Hirondelle USA and
the World Association of Community Radio
Broadcasters (AMARC) created a fundraising
campaign to help local radio stations and their staff
in Ebola-affected regions. You can help contribute to
the cause on Indiegogo. EVERY DOLLAR donated to
this campaign will go to buying vital equipment for
local radio stations. YOUR HELP will enable

International
Latin America

p. 1
p. 2

Europe

p. 3

Asia Pacific
MENA and
Africa
IYFF 2014

p. 4
p. 5
p. 6

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
PRESIDENT OF AMARC SELECTED AMONG THE "100
INFORMATION HEROES" OF
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS

collective work done by AMARC for the right of

information
and
freedom
of
expression.
Read the full interview she gave to Miriam Meda and
Sandra Herrera online.

For World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without

Borders published a list of "100 heroes" who,
through their courageous work, help to promote the
freedom of the press. This initiative aimed to show
that the fight to defend and promote the freedom of
information passes through an intense support to
the victims of aggression, but also by figures that can
serve as a reference. Mara Pa Matta, President of
the World Association of Community Radio
Broadcasters had the honor of being included in the
list. She defends freedom of expression for
community radio stations in Latin America and the
Caribbean.

16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM TO END GENDER-BASED

VIOLENCE CAMPAIGN: LISTEN TO THE
PROGRAMMES SHARED!

Community radio serves as an agent of change to

end gender-based violence. Producers and
community radios of AMARCs network have shared
programmes for this year #16days campaign. Listen
here.

Mrs Matta describes the gratitude and emotion she

felt receiving this honor which is recognition of the

LATIN AMERICA NEWS BRIEF

RULING AGAINST MEDIA CONCENTRATION "NO
COMMUNICATION, NO RIGHTS" PERU - AMARC ALC
Media concentration violates the right to
information and communication of each Peruvian
citizen in a country known for being multicultural,
diverse and multilingual. This is why media,
individuals and organizations, including AMARC ALC,

called for fairness and justice to resolve the high

concentration of media in Peru during the public
debate triggered by this issue and they reiterated
that rights to information, free speech and
communication are essential to advocate, protect
and demand the implementation of other rights.

AMARC CHILE MET THE SECRETARY OF

TELECOMMUNICATIONS TO DEMAND
IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMUNITY RADIO LAW
CHILE - AMARC Chile
The Executive Board of AMARC Chile, composed of
Ral Rodrguez, Juan Ortega and Rodrigo Gonzlez,

met with Undersecretary of Telecommunications

Pedro Huichalaf, on Thursday April 19. The meeting
allow the minister to be introduced to the new
executive board of AMARC Chile and to discuss the
progress of the amendment of Article 36b.

AMARC BRAZIL PRESENT AT PUBLIC CONSULTATION

ON THE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY RADIOS Pulsar
Brasil

In August, the Federation of Citizens' Rights held

public hearing to discuss the challenges and
perspectives of community radio. The hearing was in
the first part to the presence of a representative of
the Brazilian Association of Radio and Television
(ABERT), representatives of community radio entities
(Abrao, AMARC Brazil and CRNM), along with the
human rights NGO Article 19.

"WE MUST DEMOCRATISE COMMUNICATION"

NICARAGUA - Voces
The right to communicate is as important as other
human rights such as food, or housing, stated the
Salvadoran journalist scar Prez, on October 1st at

the National Forum on Democracy, Convergence

Technology and Human Rights in Nicaragua that was
organised by the World Association of Community
Radio Broadcasters - AMARC and Radio University,
which celebrated its 30th anniversary.

EUROPE

FM BROADCASTING WILL RUN AT LEAST UNTIL

2025 IN SAXONIA-ANHALT GERMANY Radio Corax

The Media Committee in the German Federal State

Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt has decided to change
the media law in order to retain FM broadcasting at
least until 2025. "Today's decision safeguards that
the FM radio in the end of this year will not end up
as electronic scrap and that radio will continue to be
a popular media", says the vice chairman of the CDU
parliamentary group Markus Kurze. "If most
households use analogue radio then this way of
broadcasting must be retained", he says. Mark
Westhusen, managing director of Radio Corax (one

of two community radios in Saxony-Anhalt), says, "In

principle we appreciate the decision of the
parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, but missed the point
when they again set a deadline for the disconnection
of FM. We are accessible for the digital transmission.
But as long as digital transmission is not successful
and accepted as FM, the program of community
radio has to be transmitted both ways. Furthermore
we are convinced that FM has to be preserved for
community radio. The prospectively available
frequencies should then be given to community
radio."

THE SYNDICAT NATIONAL DES RADIOS LIBRES

(SNRL) CELEBRATES ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY FRANCE

Le Syndicat National des Radios Libres (SNRL) has

celebrated its 10th Anniversary in Paris on
November 19-21. The Conference discussed the

challenges of media pluralism, freedom of

expression, cultural diversity, social proximity and
communication in French society. Moreover, it
channeled the battles about digital convergence and
access to the air waves. The SNRL represents 630
associative radio stations, 2100 employees and tens
of thousands of volunteers working to take their
place in the current French audiovisual landscape.
MEMORY UNDER CONSTRUCTION: THE EUROPEAN
COMMUNITY RADIO ARE GIVING VOICE TO
FORGOTTEN MEMORY

Until July 2015, 11 radios from 8 different countries

are working in a Grundtvig project entitled Memory
under construction: giving voice to forgotten
memory. Community radios often play a key role in
historical memory and it is with this in mind that
participants in this project are asked to produced 66
radio programs and publish a manual of best
practices. Participating radios are: Radio Oloron,
RIG, Radio Fabrik, Radio Flora, Radio Corax, Radio
Grafitti, Antxeta Irratia (PausuMedia), Radio Student,
Athlone Radio, Phoenix FM y Radio Krnan
Helsingborg.

ASIA PACIFIC
UNESCO CHAIR FOR COMMUNITY MEDIA
LAUNCHES CRUX CR NEWS
The UNESCO Chair on Community Media at
University of Hyderabad (India) has launched CRux
(Community Radio User Experience), an online global
forum for CR practitioners, enthusiasts, trainers,
researchers and importantly, the certified peer
reviewers for the Community Radio, the Continuous
Improvement Toolkit (CR-CIT). This community of
practice platform is based on the CR-CIT developed
by the Chair and is primarily for use by CR stations
using the CR-CIT for self-assessment. However, it is
also open to all CR practitioners, enthusiasts,

researchers and trainers who may wish to share

their experiences related to any of the core
principles that form the basis of community radios
universally. This user-experience oriented forum
follows the principle of co-learning and seeks to
generate discussions around the nine parameters of
the CR-CIT, a toolkit that has elicited keen interest
among CR practitioners in South Asia, Europe, and
Africa.

SEMINAR ON THE "STATUS AND ROLE OF

COMMUNITY RADIO IN THE SAARC REGION"
NEPAL AMARC AP

seminar
was
attended
by
government
representatives, community radio associations,
broadcasters, advocates, academicians, civil society
representatives and donor representatives from
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The AMARC AP-SIC consultation is a unique platform
to interface the community radio sector with policy
makers and government officials of the SAARC
member states.

In August, AMARC Asia-Pacific, in collaboration with

the SAARC Information Centre (SIC) organized a
seminar on the Status and Role of Community Radio
in the SAARC Region in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The

MENA and AFRICA

SIX SYRIAN RADIO STATIONS UNITE THEIR EFFORT
TO IMPROVE INDEPENDENT LOCAL MEDIA
On November 18, the Association of Independent
Syrian Radio Stations (ABRAJ) was launched. Its goal
is to create and support new local radio stations
dedicated to promote easy access to information in
Syria and provide a balanced content that takes the
peoples needs into consideration. The organization
is also developing solidarity mechanisms towards
radio stations and journalists in emergency
situations. The following radio stations created

ABRAJ: Alwan Radio, Arta FM, Hara FM, Nasaem

Syria, Radio ANA and Sout Raya Radio. They are the
first participating in the project. The organization is
non-profit and is not affiliated with any political
party. It does not support any armed or religious
group and it also aims to empower the Syrian
independent radio stations through training courses
in order to raise the standards of both journalism
and management practices, as well as providing
infrastructure and broadcast technology.

HAICA GRANTS EIGHT NEW LICENCES FOR TUNISIA

COMMUNITY RADIO

AFRICAN SINGERS UNITE TO RECORD THE SONG

AFRICA STOP EBOLA

The eight community stations are Radio Campus

(Grand Tunis, in French), Mdia Libre FM (Grand
Tunis), Djerid FM (Tozeur), Radio Nefzawa FM
(Kebili), Houna al Gasserine (Kasserine), K FM
(Kasserine), Radio Regueb (Regueb) and Dream FM
(Kairouan). Counting radios that already had a
community license and the granting of these
licenses, Tunisia now has a network of 10
community radios with an FM license and numerous
projects developing online. It is the only North
African country with a radio landscape open to civil
society.

Want to share news or a document with AMARCs

network? Write to the Secretariat!

A collective of African musicians has come together

to record a song to help raise awareness about Ebola
in Africa. The song, entitled Africa Stop Ebola,
features the singers Tiken Jah Fakoly, Amadou &
Mariam, Salif Keita, Oumou Sangare, Kandia
Kouyate, Mory Kante, Sia Tolno, Barbara Kanam and
rappers Didier Awade, Marcus and Mokobe. The
song is distributed to radio stations across Africa
with the support of AMARC. If you wish to have a
copy of the song, please write to the Secretariat.

2014 - INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF FAMILY FARMING

"COMMUNICATION, COMMUNITY MEDIA AND ICTS

FOR FAMILY FARMING"
In order to promote the debate and create
awareness about family farming, the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
family farming and rural development in Latin
America, Asia Pacific and Africa. Final reports are
IYFF AWARENESS CAMPAIGN: FAMILY FARMING
AND COMMUNITY MEDIA

In the framework of the International Year of Family

Farming (IYFF), FAO and AMARC joined forces to

INTERNATIONAL RADIO CAMPAIGN ON NUTRITION,

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

(FAO), in collaboration with the World Association of

Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), has
organized, between August 25 and September 15, a
series of virtual consultations on "Communication
for development, community media and ICTs for
available online on Onda Rural, ComDev Asia and
YenKasa Africa.
launch a year-long awareness campaign on the key
role played by family farming and community media
in supporting rural development and hunger
eradication. Productions on a variety of issues such
as policies which promote family farming, the
challenges faced by family farmers and the
important role which women play in the sector have
been completed in Latin America and are currently
under way in the Near East and North Africa and
Asia-Pacific regions. We invite you to listen to the
audio here and share them widely in your network.

As part of the Second International Conference on

Nutrition (ICN2) held on November 19-21 in Rome,
AMARC collaborated with FAO to facilitate the
production of 41 audio pieces on nutrition, food and
agriculture to increase public education on the
subject. A wide and very interesting selection was
received. Programs can be accessed here.