Title: Amplify the voices of vulnerable and marginalized groups through Community Radio in Bangladesh
Source: Blog of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
Date (published): 28/11/2011
Date (accessed): 15/12/2011
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Rural people of Bangladesh entered into an era of community broadcasting to amplify the voices of vulnerable and marginalized groups through 14 community radio stations around the country. Community Radio provides the local community access to information and through exchange of information, leads them towards empowerment. Empowerment is the process to link them to their rights, good governance and development process.

Community Radio stations are going to full transmission in Bangladesh.14 stations are pioneering to be on-air, aiming to ensure empowerment and right to information for the rural community. Community Radio Padma 89.20, Rajshahi district and Community Radio Nalta 89.20 of Satkhira district has started full transmission.
…
It can be mentioned that these Radio Stations will broadcast programs, mostly in local dialect within the people living around 17 kilometers of a Station. The Programs will cover social, economic, cultural and environmental issues.
...
Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) is promoting the advocacy with the government in relations to community radio with other organizations since its emergence in 2000 to open-up the Community Radio in Bangladesh to address critical social issues at community level, such as poverty, social exclusion, empowerment of marginalized rural groups and catalyze democratic process in decision making and ongoing development efforts.

As a result, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh acknowledged the importance of community radio and announced the Community Radio Installation, Broadcast & Operation Policy. Bangladesh is the 2nd country in South Asia in formulating policy for Community Radio."

Title: Technology retains talent : Internet and radio develop farms and businesses in rural Zambia
Author: Gertjan van Stam
Source: ICT Update, Issue no. 62, October 2011
Publisher: Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) ACP–EU
Date (published): 12/10/2011
Date (accessed): 15/11/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"With little access to formal extension services, a rural Zambian community set up an internet connection to develop local agriculture, education and energy facilities. The community is now using local radio to encourage other villages to do the same.

There have been very few studies into the effects access to broadband internet can have on agriculture in rural Africa. The reason for that is simple: broadband internet is still very rare in rural Africa. But in Zambia, a rural community, called Macha, does have broadband. There, internet and agriculture – and much more – combine as part of an integrated project to inspire the local community to reach its collective potential.
…
In the past, the community relied on oral reports from travellers for its news and information about the outside world because Macha had no newspapers and no outside radio broadcasts reach this remote location. They rarely had visits from extension officers, so the travellers were mostly family members, or traders arriving from urban centres to buy the excess crops. Cell phone coverage only arrived at the end of 2006. But, by then, Macha was already connected to the internet.

In 2003, in a cooperative effort, community members came together to build a wireless network that would connect Macha to the internet via a satellite connection. They started with a VSAT link that offered download speeds of up to 128 kbps. The service soon became so popular that the bandwidth could not cope with the volume of internet traffic. The problem eased in 2011 when Macha upgraded the connection to a microwave link via a newly available cell phone network, which offers speeds of 2 Mbps, making it truly broadband.

The internet link is further distributed throughout the community via a wireless local area network (WLAN). There are more than 100 wireless access points, offering connectivity to both offices and homes. Surveys and measurements show that Macha has an active internet community of around 200 individuals, 67% of whom are on line for more than three hours a day. Half the users access the internet from home, and 71% use it frequently to surf the web for educational purposes.

As well as having a channel to communicate with friends and family outside of the community, access to the technology produced a discernible difference in agricultural practices within the first year. One community member found information on the web about sunflower farming, and decided to give it a go. A few years later, sunflower farming has blossomed in the village and it is now the community’s second most important cash crop."

Title: On the Air, from Mobile to Radio
Source: Internews Network
Date (published): 06/09/2011
Date (accessed): 18/10/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"Pilot project lets listeners record and pay for on-air radio messages via mobile phone, creating a new revenue source for community radio in Kenya.

Recently dubbed by TIME Magazine as the “Silicon Savanna,” Kenya is home to innovative mobile phone technologies that have transformed the lives of millions of people. Ahead of much of the rest of the world, Kenyans have adopted mobile money as an everyday way to handle financial transactions. More than half the population use mobile phones for everything from transferring money to family members to paying bills – even cab fare.

Now, community radio stations are integrating mobile money into their business models. Through a four-month pilot launched in August by Internews, in partnership with the mobile banking system MobiKash and a network of community radio stations, the stations will earn revenue while putting community voices on the air, through an innovative “M-Dedications” system."

Title: The Suitcase Radio has arrived in Tonga!
Source: Scoop News
Date (published): 16/09/2011
Date (accessed): 21/09/2011
Type of information: press release
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"A team of seven young women in Nuku’alofa will be paving the way for more youth involvement in Pacific media content development, production and broadcast as a new “suitcase” community radio station is installed in Tonga’s capital this weekend. The young women, who are the first recruits of the Generation Next Tonga team of producers and broadcasters, to tell their stories as well as produce and broadcast radio programmes sourced through a range of civil society groups including the Tonga CSO Forum, Friendly Islands Human Rights and Democracy Movement, Langafanua, the Red Cross and the Talitha Project which is assisting in the coordination of the Generation Next Tonga team.:
“Your involvement of young women in the community radio initiative is just wonderful,” said Head of Tonga’s Women's Affairs Division Polotu Paunga Fakafanua, referring to the Generation Next component of the community media project based at Ma’afafine moe Famili in partnership with FemLINKPACIFIC and supported by the Canada Fund and AUSAID.

This is the second community radio station to be established within the Regional Women’s Media and Policy Network coordinated by FemLINKPACIFIC and the “Generation Next” project has been a successful model of involving young women to pick up a tape recorder, produce programmes from local communities and take to the airwaves:

“They are learning for the next generation of gender equality advocates,” she said, “because it will translate with the people they will work with, in the home, as well as through the radio, highlighting gender equality to the rural areas,” affirming the role of community radio to not only disseminate information to rural communities but to also provide critical anecdotal evidence to inform public policy formulation and decision making:
“The collection of data and information to support policy advice and reports, as well as interventions from the rural areas,” referring to the programmes which will be produced."

Title: Amid Kenya’s Food Crisis, Radio Educates Farmers
Author: Dinfin Mulupi
Source: AudienceScapes
Date (published): 18/07/2011
Date (accessed): 07/09/2011
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"At a time when Kenya is struggling to feed its population following severe droughts, radio programs are educating listeners on better farming techniques in a bid to improve food security.

Kenya is on the brink of possibly one of its worst droughts in 60 years, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Aid groups have issued their largest-ever appeal for food aid for parts of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.
The food shortage resulting from this year’s drought is not uncommon in Kenya, although this year it is particularly severe. For decades, Kenya has suffered frequent acute food shortages. Paradoxically, it is believed that close to 80 percent of the population engages in farming. While Kenya’s food shortages are caused by a complex set of circumstances – drought, high global food prices, political instability -- the poor farming techniques practiced by Kenya’s majority small holder farmers have been singled out as a major factor.
To remedy this problem, some radio stations in Kenya are broadcasting programs to educate farmers about successful agricultural techniques. The goal is to promote food security for the region by helping small holder farmers increase their yield."

Title: Information and Communication Technologies for Cultural Transmission among Indigenous Peoples
Authors: Charlotte A Harris, Roger W Harris
Pages: 19 pp.
ISSN: 1681-4835
Source: Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries (2011) 45, 2, 1-19
Publisher: www.ejisdc.org
Date (published): 20/12/2010
Date (accessed): 22/04/2011
Type of information: research paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML/pdf)
Abstract:
"The global digital divide threatens to exclude millions of people from the potential benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), especially computers and the Internet. Many of these people live in rural, isolated and remote places of developing countries and are unlikely to be able to afford the cost of owning their own computers. However, NGOs, international aid agencies and governments are becoming increasingly aware of the potential that ICTs offer for rural development and poverty reduction and are creating more opportunities for providing wider access to them. This paper looks at how ICTs have contributed to the social development of a rural indigenous ethnic community. It focuses on the benefits of ICTs in recording and passing on their unique culture and traditions, something that is of considerable importance to the community. The research builds an understanding of the nature of cultural transmission within an indigenous community in East Malaysia and demonstrates how ICTs can bridge the digital divide by accentuating the importance of family, friends and other social interactions within a community in strengthening the processes of cultural transmission. Based on the findings, suggestions are offered for reinforcing social processes of cultural transmission with ICTs, in the form of a virtual museum and a community radio station."

Title: Mobile Tech in Community Radio - Still Ad Hoc and One-Off: A State-of-Mobile Report
Author: Melissa Ulbricht
Publisher:MobilActive.org
Date (published):07/06/2010
Date (accessed):23/11/2010
Type of information:report
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
„In 2008, Bruce Girard concluded in a MobileActive.org guest post that the addition of text messaging technology into the community radio toolkit was still in its infancy. SMS use at radio stations was informal, he wrote, and the few cases of more complex use of SMS messages accompanied political crisis or natural disaster and were largely donor financed.

Two years later, we delve once again into the state of SMS and mobile technology at community radio stations, by way of an informal survey. While advances have been made and creative projects have emerged, integration remains an ad-hoc and individual enterprise.

This report summarizes existing projects and success stories, highlighting the most popular uses of mobile technology. It concludes with a discussion of the challenges that community radio stations face in adopting SMS and mobile technology.”
via http://www.comminit.com/ and https://twitter.com/#!/ictdev

Title: 89.1 FM: The Place for Development: Power shifts and participatory spaces in ICTD
Authors: Revi Sterling, Sophia Huyer
ISSN: 1712-4441
Source: The Journal of Community Informatics, Volume 5, Issue 3 (2010)
Date (published): 05/05/2010
Date (accessed): 23/07/2010
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Kamba women in listening range of community radio station Radio Mang’elete have been able to hear themselves on the radio now for four years, providing market information, notification of social events, discussion forums and entertainment in the forms of radio vignettes and plays. These women are not broadcasters in the traditional sense – they provide their insights from their homes, social spaces and areas of work, using a technology system called Advancement through Interactive Radio, or AIR. While AIR was introduced into the target communities four years ago, it continues to enjoy success, as women suggest programming and offer content that enables them to speak out publically. Qualitative and quantitative data from ongoing analysis suggests that participants have experienced increased agency and positive self perception as well as recognition of their input from the larger community. Preliminary indicators demonstrate women are not only choosing to participate in this opportunity for public self-articulation, but are realizing how such articulation can contribute to their empowerment as both individuals and women – roles that have traditionally relegated women to “doubly” marginalized roles.

Title: India: Community Radio Stations Multiply, but Will They Thrive?
Author: Sushmita Malaviya
Source: AudienceScapes
Publisher: InterMedia
Date (published): 05/05/2010
Date (accessed): 06/05/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
From modest beginnings nearly a decade ago in the academic community, India now boasts 70-plus community radio stations (CRs) run by universities as well as NGOs and agricultural agencies. But visits to seven CRs, as part of a study sponsored by the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), showed that they face common challenges to sustainability and growth: time-consuming licensing processes, weak transmission power, the need for more human resource training, and the perennial search for a viable CR business model.