AMARC AFRICA ACTIVITIES

AMARC Africa Seminar : Community Radios in African Human Development. Improving Content,
Networks Contribution and Women Empowerment.19-22 July 2010, Johannesburg, South Africa
he seminar is organised by the
AMARC Africa Office in collaboration
with the National Community Radio
Forum of South Africa (NCRF). It will facilitate the analysis of methodologies, technologies and best practices in covering
sustainable human development themes
by community radios in current projects on
HIV-AIDS, Water and Sanitation and women empowerment through community

radios. It will also seek to reiforce AMARC

Africa national networks to play a greater
role in developing and implemeting activities. The participants will seek to increase
the participation and effectiveness of community radios in African development and
set the priorities in the implementation of
the AMARC Africa Strategic Plan 20102014. The seminar will also permit the
annual meeting of the AMARC Africa

Regional Board. Close to 40 participants

from community radios, networks and stakeholders are expected from more than 15
countries including Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Mali,
Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South
Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Ref :
http://africa.amarc.org/index.php?p=
africa_first_capacity_Building_Conference

2-End of the 1st phase of the CIIDA project on HIV AIDS and Health
he project Promoting Development and Good Governance
through Community Radio in Africa, seeks to develop the capacities of community radios through knowledge exchanges between and within the networks, and mentoring/ tutoring with experts
to adress development challenges with good quality and content
relevant radio programs health related issues, HIV AIDS mainly and
malaria, Water and Sanitation, Governance, Human Rights and
Conflict Resolutions. The projects which is funded by the Canadian
International Development Agency (C.I.D.A) covers 6 anglophone
and francophone countries, 3 in West Africa, Burkina Faso, Ghana
and Sene-gal, 1 in Central Africa, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC)and 1 in Southern Africa, the Republic of South Africa.
6 Community radios are concerned in each country.
During its first year which ended in April, after an initial training of its
managers, each produced and broadcasted 2 hours of programs,
featuring civil society representatives and local experts, generally on
a topic relating to HIV AIDS. Programs were latter sent over the
Internet to be posted on the AMARC Africa Web Site. Representatives of the radios involved received training on HIV AIDS cov-

AMARC Women International Network (W.I.N) celebrates Womens

International Day by celebrating womens leadership in natural disasters
he World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters Womens
International Network (AMARC-WIN) celebrated Womens international day with a Worldwide Webcast from March 8th to March 31st
dedicated to Empower and celebrates women as agents of recovery.
Listen to the archives of the AMARC-WIN international broadcast on
http://march8.amarc.org
The Webcast presented themes dedicated to women and gender. This
year the theme focused in the role of women in leading their countries
and communities towards recovery and long-term development after a
natural disaster. Furthermore the AMARC-WIN proposed to mark the
International Women Day by honoring Myriam Merlet, Magali Marcelin
and Anne Marie Coriolan, founders of three of Haitis most important
advocacy organizations working on behalf of women and girls who
perished during the Haiti earthquake on January 12th, 2010.
Community radio producers from Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa,
Europe, North America and Latin America and the Caribbean participated in this broadcast campaign. To listen the multilingual programs
visit our website:
http://march8.amarc.org.
The programs are available for download. We encourage community
radios to rebroadcast the programs in their communities.

erage before the launch of the project and journalists have been
tutored over the telephone and the Internet in editing techniques and
in the use of the software to transfer and upload the radio programs.
Evaluation of the first phase is underway.
Its conclusions and recommendations will presented to project participants and will be taken into consideration for Phase 2 which will
concern Water and Sanitation and will start during the second
semester of this year.
Source : AMARC

AMARC AFRICA ACTIVITIES

4 AMARC Africa Seminar in July :Community Radios in African Human Development
st phase of the CIIDA project on HIV
4 End of the 1
AIDS and Health
4 AMARC Africa celebrates the International Women Day 2010
4 Launch of the project African Women Voices
AMARC PAST EVENTS
nd Regional Conference
4 AMARC Asia 2
RADIOS EVENTS & ADVOCACY
4 Zimbabwe: ZACRAS advocates
4 Liberia: journalists intimidated
4 The African Union: the African Media Observatory
4 Uganda: A community radio journalist slain
4 Radio Salus in Rwanda
UPCOMING EVENTS
DOCUMENTS AND LINKS

AMARC PAST EVENTS

ommunity radio broadcasters from 20 countries of the Asia Pacific region have demanded to place peoples communications rights
at the centre of development. The Bangalore
declaration issued at the conclusion of the regional
assembly of community radio broadcasters held in
Bangalore, India from 20-23 February 2010 has
also called for supporting initiatives that aid access
to digital and other technological opportunities to
enable community broadcasting in an ever-widening scale, while calling for creating spaces on the
airwaves for diverse and marginalized voices, irrespective of caste, creed, race, colour, gender,
sexuality, faith, and differently-abled or other differences.
Over 300 Community broadcasters, activists, NGO
representatives, academics, as well as governmental and multilateral institutions participated in
the regional conference organised by the World
Association of Community Radio Broadcasters
AMARC in collaboration with VOICE, India. While
analysing the situation and challenges to community radio, the conference reaffirmed the need for
the oppressed and marginalized communities to
take control over their own means of communication. Conference participants attended several
knowledge sharing and capacity building workshops while engaging in networking with likeminded individuals and institutions from across
the region.
The 2nd AMARC Asia Pacific Conference has
committed to build alliances with grassroots and

Community Radio Broadcasters of Asia Pacific

call for placing peoples communications
rights at the centre of development

The new AMARC Asia Board elected for 4 years : Ashish Sen from India
was confirmed President of AMARC Asia Pacific, Bianca Miglioretto from
Philippines will be again Coordinator for WIN - Womens International
Network, and Shane Elson, from Australia as Treasurer, Maica Lagman,
Philippines as deputy president, Raghu Mainali,
Nepal as vice-president for South Asia, and Imam Prakoso,
Indonesia as vice-president for South East Asia.

African Women Voiceslaunched

in March 2010
he main objective of the Project is to empower African
women through capacity development and the allocation
of required resources to be in position both to take charge of the management of community radios and of the independent production and broadcasting of programs to local
and international audiences in the francophone communities.
The project which is funded by the International Organisation
Internationale de la Francophonie (O.I.F) concerns the following 6 countries : Benin, Burkina Faso, Cte dIvoire,
Senegal, le Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) .
Its specific objectifs are the following:
1) Capacity development on content development on issues
relating to gender, radiobroadcasting techniques, ICT usages
for radio and community radio management.
2) Production of original radio contents on gender and topics
relevant to women .
3) Participation in international broadcasting campaigns on
women and on issues concerning women.
4) Constitution of digital archives of francophone radio programs on and by women for future broadcasts and /or Web
posting.
5) Development and dissemination of training tools and various resources in French for women.
6) Facilitation of the networking and the ex-changes of knowledge between African women radiobroadcasters and their
contribution in international networks .
The project will set up and make use of an ICT platform to
reach these objectives and ensure its long term sustainability.

AMARC AFRICA NEWSLETTER

NO 3

human rights movements for strengthening communities and

the community radio movement and has put forward the rights
of women, migrants, indigenous peoples and the poor. It has
called for further recognition of Community Radio in the region
as a tool for disaster preparedness, poverty reduction, inclusion,
human rights, and climate change adaptation and mitigation.
A number of resolutions ranging from human rights violations in
the Philippines, to removing the ban on news in the recently
adopted India Community radio legislation and simplifying
license application procedures to calling on the Government of
Bangladesh to forward the process of granting licenses for community broadcasting, were endorsed by the conference participants.
A regional assembly of community radio broadcasters held on
the 23rd of February 2010 elected the Asia Pacific Regional
Board. The newly elected board of directors comprises of
Ashish Sen, India as President, Maica Lagman, Philippines as
deputy president, Shane Elson, Australia as Treasurer, Bianca
Miglioretto, Philippines as Women International Network representative, Raghu Mainali, Nepal as vice-president for South
Asia, and Imam Prakoso, Indonesia as vice-president for South
East Asia. The assembly also ratified the strategic working plan
of AMARC Asia Pacific for 2010-2013.
Representatives Afghanistan, Australia, The Peoples Republic
of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Fiji, The Republic of India, Indonesia,
Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos PDR, Malaysia, Nepal,
Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Philippines, Senegal,
Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, and
observers from Africa, Europe and Latin and North America participated in the conference. The previous AMARC Asia Pacific
regional conference was held in Jakarta, Indonesia in November
2005. n
Source: AMARC
http://asiapacific.amarc.org/index.php?p=2_Conference_Asia_Pacific_2010

January-March 2010

Page 2

RADIO EVENTS & ADVOCACY

LIBERIA:
ZIMBABAWE: The Zimbabwe Community Radio
Assaults on
Association (ZACRAS) Secretariat Established
journalists and legal
ACRAS has annouced in March 2010 the establishment of its secretariat in Bulawayo,
threats curb
Zimbabwe to spearheard specific advocacy and lobby activities aimed at establishing community radios stations through out the country.
press freedom
In 2001 the government enacted the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) after privately

owned Capital Radio successfully challenged ZBCs monopoly in the Supreme Court.
BSA brought about the establishment of the regulatory board the Broadcasting Authority
of Zimbabwe (BAZ) which has not licensed a single private station ever since.
The act acknowledges community broadcasting as a service that can be provided in
Zimbabwe but states that licences shall be granted only to individuals who are citizens
and resident in the country. It further says that no licence shall be granted to a broadcasting service that is wholly or partly funded by foreign donations or contributions.
The Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS ) is a grouping in
which countrywide community radio initiatives-not yet licensed to go on air- have joined
hands to lobby the government for the loosening of the tight broadcasting laws and generally to advance the cause of community radio countrywide through conceptual and
technical training. n
Source:
<http://www.amarc.org/documents/articles/Zimbabwe_Masuku_Accra_OM7_2008_2.pdfe>
ZACRAS contact: Henry Masuku ZACRAS National Coordinator
5th Floor Pioneer HouseCorner Fife Ave and Eighth St Bulawayo
cell- +263 11 636 682

The African Union: the African

Media Observatory
he African Union Commission (AUC) and the European Commission (EC)
announced on March 31, 2010 that they no longer intend to create a Pan
African Media Observatory (PAMO) due to opposition from the media community, and African and international organisations - including a number of IFEX
members, reports Media Rights Agenda (MRA).
The meeting was held by the AUC and EC to consult various stakeholders and
experts about the PAMO, which was jointly proposed by the two commissions
in 2009 to mediate disputes within the media and enforce professional standards and codes of conduct for the media. But the project ignored the reality
of brutal state repression of the press as it was designed to give African leaders control over the media environment, reports MRA.
Participants at the meeting argued that plans for the proposed observatory
ignored the role African leaders play in violating press freedom and offered no
strategy to combat assaults on the press. The AUC and EC had not considered
several existing mechanisms for media development and promotion of free
expression.
Participants also recommended that the AU should focus its efforts on
strengthening the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of
Expression and Access to Information in Africa, including media freedom and
media development. Meeting members also called on African leaders to
respect the 1991 Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and
Pluralistic African Press.
Participants called on the AU to encourage member states to avoid governmental interference in the work of the media. Each government should also
develop a national media policy, including training and media literacy programmes to enhance standards of journalism and promote greater understanding of the role of the media in a democracy. n

olice brutality and legal action are

the two greatest sources of
attacks on journalists in Liberia,
says the Center for Media Studies and
Peace Building (CEMESP) in its 2009
report. Journalists and media workers
also face death threats, detention and
censorship.
The report, Intimidation: The renewal
of censorship in Liberia, documents
numerous press freedom violations.
The Ministry of Information has suspended the publication of newspapers. Last October, government officials hijacked a community radio station, dismissed the stations board of
directors and suspended the stations
manager.
The report includes a statement from the
Press Union of Liberia condemning government intimidation and harassment of
printing houses whenever there is a
publication the government considers
unfavourable. The arrest of the owner of
a printing house last December was
aimed at pushing printers to begin
screening and editing newspaper contents before printing, thereby leading to
absolute censorship and an impediment
to press freedom. n

Source : IFEX
http://www.ifex.org/liberia/2010/03/10/le
gal_assault/

Publisher: AMARC Africa

Editor:
Alymana BATHILY
(Coordonnateur AMARC Afrique
alymanab@yahoo.fr)
Contributors:
Alymana BATHILY
Franklin HUIZES
Grace GITHAIGA
Marcelo SOLERVICENS

Source :
< http://www.ifex.org/africa/2010/03/31/observatory_rejected>
AMARC AFRICA NEWSLETTER

NO 3

January-March 2010

Page 3

Radio Salus Got me Reflecting

was recently in Rwanda attending a

working session on Radio, Con-vergence and Development in Africa, and
in one of the free sessions went to visit
Radio Salus. The name Salus is derived from the National University of
Rwandas motto and means salvation.
Radio Salus has a 2KVA transmitter and
serves Rwanda, parts of Burundi, and
Uganda. This raises the question of
whether it fits into the definition of a real
community station considering its reach
and the different audiences that span
these three countries. This further raises
the question of whether the novelty with
which community radios have previously
been embraced is wearing off and
should the sector do something to
include radios serving communities
spread across regions? Community
radios key tenets are access and participation by communities being served.
How easy is it for community radios to
embrace these notions?
Participation in the context of a community radio should be realized through the
use of community members as planners,
producers and performers in a way that
their participation becomes the means of
expression of the community rather than
for the community says Wanyeki Muthoni
of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
Radio Salus is a university radio, and
may fit the definition of a community of
interest but I cannot say whether it fits or
not into the tendencies of community
radio. However any vision of a community radio should be informed by a definition that elevates the power of communities to define and influence their own
development through communication.
After all community radio stations draw
their inspirations from the community and
should therefore resonate with the needs
and aspirations of the said community.
Salus Station broadcasts predominantly
in Kinyarwanda, but also in Swahili,
French and English. Its content is basically educational says Prudent
Nsengiyumva, incharge of News. The
goal is programming as opposed to
other stations i.e. the quality of programming is different from other stations and
has diversity of voices since it does not
represent any particular voice. And this
defines Radio Salus
Just like many community radio stations,
Radio Salus got its initial funding from
UNESCO and the European Union for
equipment and for the initial training. It
now survives on adverts, sponsorship of
programs and grants from local NGOs. It
is housed by the University, and run by a
total of 7 staff and students of journalism.
Out of the seven, there is only one lady
Aimee Sabrine, who happens to be the
Stations Technician, a pleasant depar-

ture from what is usually

the norm in a lot of stations where ladies are
presenters.
This raises the issue of
the number of women
working in community
radio stations and why
the numbers still remain
low. Aimee Sabrine says
that women rarely come
to work at the station, a
situation also reflected at
the Rwanda Universitys
school of Journalism,
where majority of women
students prefer to go into
such fields as Public
Relations as opposed to working for the
print or electronic media. However
Radio Salus has dedicated every Friday
morning block from 7 am to 1 pm to
women programming. The block specifically highlights womens issues, their
music, their concerns etc. says Sabrine.
In terms of what the audience wants or
who the exact audience is, the station is
yet to conduct an audience survey.
However on any given day, the station
receives between 500 to 800 calls and
text messages from listeners, says Aldo
Havugimana, the Station Manager.
Those from rural areas also write letters
to the station.
Salus has a five year licence that comes
to an end in 2010. It is not clear whether
the licence will be renewed as the law is
not clear on the process.
As I left Radio Salus, I had many questions as regards to how the sector in general continues to operate and the concerns and challenges that continue to
confront community radio stations. For
example it has been touted that community stations give voice to the voiceless.
But are they necessarily democratic? For
example who decides the participatory
method and how are the voices for democratic processes selected? Are these
community stations ensuring that all voices are being heard in the community?
Technological advances have been seen
as a driving force for development. How
are community radios embracing technology? Are they actively and innovatively applying new ICTs where there is likelihood that this will impact the communities being served? Is there any thinking
by AMARC and country networks around
developing an infrastructure policy to
avoid dumping of old and even obsolete
computers to the stations?
What are the programme standards considering that these are produced by volunteers or staff that have basic training or
even no training at all? How about technical equipment? Is it just basic consid-

AMARC AFRICA NEWSLETTER

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ering that community stations have to

rely on donations? And how does this
impact on the quality of programming?
Training for community radio remains
critical and AMARC and country networks should put focus into this. Training
could encompass such areas as the
process of setting up a community radio,
the management of community radio, the
production of specialized programmes,
and technical skills and equipment,
including how application of ICTs for
community radio can be appropriately
incorporated into the overall training
package for community radio staff/volunteers.
It should be considered to train
Community Radio presenters to develop
their presentation style, delivery and confidence in their local languages to avoid
aping presenters from the commercial
stations.
Basic participatory research techniques
are also necessary so that stations are
able to conduct continued research on
community needs, uses and problems,
and the dynamics of community radio
stations. This would call for a periodic
training needs assessment, and design
necessary interventions. There is need
for research to also pay attention to the
assumptions of community radio initiators or motivators and see if their original
vision still holds.
Community engagement and long term
sustainability remain important questions. We must continue to reflect and to
act on factors that may threaten the sustainability of community radio stations,
and prevent them from fully complying
with its social responsibility. However,
the realities and experiences that community radios are undergoing should
help reshape the debate about the
nature of community radio stations in
Africa. n
Grace Githaiga is a former AMARC
Africa President

January-March 2010

Page 4

FOR THE COMING EVENTS

AMARC World Conference AMARC 10 in La Plata,

Argentina in 2010

http://amarc10.amarc.org/index.php?p=home&l=EN
http://amarc10.amarc.org/index.php?p=home&l=FR

he International Board of Directors of AMARC is pleased to announce that the tenth World Assembly of
Community Radio Broadcasters will be held from 8 to
13 November 2010 in Ciudad de la Plata, province of
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Community Radios have come together in AMARC
Argentina to host the first Global conference of community broadcasters to be held in South America, where community radios were born 60 years ago.
Furthermore, Argentina and the Latin America &
Caribbean region is going through dynamic social
changes and has a rich in experiences to share with the
world movement of community radios.
More than 400 community broadcasters and stakeholders

from over 110 countries and all regions of the global community radio movement will gather at the AMARC 10
Global Conference from 8-13 November to, among other
issues, improve good practice in community media;
explore strategies to facilitate the establishment of
enabling legal environments for community media development, to define knowledge sharing and capacity building models for action-research and mentoring; to reinforce content development leading to social change; to facilitate the inclusion of women and; to encourage the empowerment of communities through appropriation of community radio for social justice and sustainable, democratic
and participatory human development. n

DOCUMENTS AND USEFUL LINKS

n African Union:
www.africa-union.org
n United Nations: www.un.org/fr/
n United Nations Development Program: www.undp.org
n World Bank: www.worldbank.org
n FAO: Food Security Summit
http://www.fao.org/wsfs/sommetmondial/fr/?no_cache=1
n UNICEF: www.unicef.org
n UNESCO: www.unesco.org/
n Enda Tiers Monde:
www.enda.sn/org.htm
n Africa Adapt /Guide on Climate
Change:
http://www.africa-adapt.net/AA/

n Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org

n IFEX : www.ifex.org
n The Panos Institute for West Africa:
ipao.org
n The The Media Foundation for
West Africa: www.mediafound.org
n Economic Comission of West African States (ECOWAS):
www.ecowas.int
n West African Monetary and Economic Union: www.uemoa.int
n Southern Africa Development
Commisson: www.sadc.int
n Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (COMESA):
www.comesa.int

AMARC AFRICA NEWSLETTER

NO 3

n European Union:
http://europa.eu/index_fr.htm
n International Federation of Journalists: http://www.ifj.org/fr
n West African Journalists Association: http://www.ujaowaja.org/
Media Institute for Southern Africa:
http://www.misa.org/
n Canadian Agency for International
Development (CIDA):
www.acdi-cida.gc.ca
n Agence Internationale de la Francophonie :
www.francophonie.org
n International Press Serive-IPS:
www.ips.org

January-March 2010

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