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A Healthful Recipe For Development: A Space Called Community Radio
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Abstract
PCF5: Cross-Cutting Theme // Where can illiterate women in resource poor settings with low access to learning
opportunities learn about health care? How can universities and other institutions of
higher learning, who have the means and the knowledge reach out to communities?
Community Radio (CR), is one such low cost simple technology that can provide a
bridge linking the two. C R has received a new impetus in India with the recent
liberalization of the broadcasting licensing policy, whereby recognized educational
institutions and selected NGOs are granted licenses to operate low power transmitters.
Despite the rapidly growing interest in CR and not withstanding the need for this
people’s media, the ground reality today is a bit of a conundrum. The license holders,
mainly educational institutions despite the financial resources and technical skills at their
command, rarely carry the mandate or the experience to work with communities, and,
the communities who need a local voice lack the capacity to operate/sustain a radio
station. // It is this gap that CEMCA seeks to bridge, through a project called Science for Women:
Health and Nutrition, (SFW) supported by the Government Department of Science and
Technology. SFW is a radio series, articulated through 13 community stations over a
period of one year , where we engage the students and the listening communities, in a
participatory process where the universities understand the community needs and the
women learn simple production skills to create relevant content for radio. At each of the
13 locations, 1000 community women are profiled in a baseline survey with community
participation, to map their media habits and information needs. Further, a smaller group
is engaged in a joint capacity building exercise with the university. Other outreach
activities like health camps and interactions with doctors further synergize this
knowledge sharing process. The focus is on health and nutrition, where the listeners are
active participants, at highest end creating their own content and the lowest, active
listeners. // Our paper documents the shared gain and learning by both partners and helps build a
model to successfully appropriate the medium for mutual gain. // Paper ID 195
Subject
Country
India
Region
Asia
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Date
2008
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Commonwealth of Learning (COL)