African Perspectives for Community Radio
Community Radio can be seen like a very social movement in Africa , radios from community for the community. They are the voice of those who doesn't have voice. The importance of these experiences has also to be underlined as they offer a great service in medical campaigns, like prevention and information about AIDS, or in rural information, like the weather and the sowing time. Their aime is to construct a democratic society based on democratic partecipation. This common idea must be realized under different legislation in the various country.
These analysys are available in the report Community Radio Social Impact Assessement - Removing Barriers, Increasing Effectiveness, AMARC Global Evaluation 2007 .
African Perspectives
In the African regional debates, there was strong consensus on the need to “optimise the limitless potential of Community Radio in expanding the geography of the democratic space.”
Some of the key specific elements raised was that Community Radio is for the people/by the community; It is differently run and managed, and differently regulated by different legislation in the various countries; CR should be expanded and allowed to grow – governments must create an enabling environment for this important tool to strive; CR is about empowering communities by redistribution of power because “Participation is the engine of democracy and community radio is a tool for participation”
Some of the specific challenges related to CR in the African context were also raised. They are related, first of all, to the difficulty of maintaining the independence of CR political role from governments, political parties or religious denominations. There is also de issue of gaining respect for the role of CR for promoting good governance and accountability. Specific challenges of CR are similar to other regions and they relate to ensure local ownership of Cr, content development, issues of financial sustainability and challenges to ensure gender equity within CR.
In the African context CR has proven its positive influence in poverty reduction and in facilitating sustainable development as well as good governance and accountability. CR needs to be driven by the needs of the community it serves
As said bt Fr. Patrick Tor Alumuku’s book Community Radio for Development which says somewhere that, “freedom of expression is significant because human life depends on communication, and to be fully human, people must communicate.” We all work towards the development of community radio in our various countries and all through the world.
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