| "Radio
cannot be replaced as the main
media tool for development,"
said Florangel Rosario Braid
in her opening address at a
National Convention on Community
Radio held in the Philippines
between January 17 and 23. Ms
Braid is reputed journalist,
communication scholar and the
Chair of the Communication Committee
of the UNESCO National Commission
for the Philippines.
"Where
the Tambuli and other community
radios are functioning, they
have been instrumental in supporting
local development programmes
in remote areas. They are the
voice of the people," Ms
Braid continued, crediting the
support of UNESCO's International
Programme for the Development
of Communication. "You
have shown that community radio
is sustainable. To create impact
we must make linkages."
Some thirty-five
community radio broadcasters
and advocates came together
for six days of discussions
and practical workshops on the
convention's theme of "Emerging
Roles of Community Radio in
Bridging Informational, Educational
and Technological Divides".
There are now over forty-five
community radios in the Philippines
working for local development,
community empowerment and issues
like environmental protection.
Since the early 1990s the Tambuli
Foundation has facilitated the
establishment of twenty-one
stations. Tambuli was awarded
UNESCO's Prize for Rural Communication
in 1996.
Since 2000,
Notre Dame Foundation has been
working in Mindanao region in
the south of the country assisting
thirteen communities to date
to start their own radios with
a special focus on gender and
peace. Another fourteen community
stations have been started in
different areas of the country
with the support of UNICEF with
a strong focus on promoting
the rights of children.
The National Convention was
organized by the Tambuli Foundation
in association with the University
of the Philippines and Pampanga
Agricultural College and UNESCO.
"This
is the first meeting bringing
together radios from all the
three networks," explained
Louie Tabing, Tambuli's director
and one of Asia's leading community
radio specialists. "The
idea is to get people together,
forge collaboration among all
the radios and address the need
to advance to new opportunities,
particularly in educational
field and how community radio
can take advantage of new technologies."
The convention
will lead to the creation of
new models to run educational
content on community radios
and to the establishment of
community multimedia centres
in the Philippines. Community
multimedia centres combine traditional
media like community radio with
new information and communication
technologies such as computers,
internet and mobile telephony.
Through UNESCO's
global programme on community
multimedia centres, CMCs have
been established in Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri
Lanka as well as in Africa and
the Caribbean.
(By Ian Pringle)
Links
:
· UNESCO Office in New
Delhi <http://unescodelhi.nic.in>
· UNESC and Community
Multimedia Centres <http://www.unesco.org/webworld/cmc>>
· UNESCO National Commission
for the Philippineshttp://park.org/Philippines/unesco/unesco.html
· UNESCO's International
Programme for the Development
of Communication http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ipdc
· UNESCO's
Prize for Rural Communication
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13521&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Contact : Ian Pringle, UNESCO
Office in New Delhi, i.pringle@unesco.org
|
