3.1. Africa: Building bridges through community radio and ICT

Marcelo Solervicens, Secretary General, AMARC

Knowledge flash
Strategic ICT tool used	Interactive community radio
Innovative approach	Community radios link scientific knowledge at global level to local communities
Geographic location	Global; Latin America; focus on Africa, Burkina Faso
Key words	disaster prevention; food security; desertification; human rights-based approach; behaviour change; interactive communication systems

Community radio empower women (Isis Manila). Source: AMARC

The scientific reality of climate change has finally been recognised, and the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)¹⁶ has set the background for what has become one of the key development challenges of the 21st century. The effects of climate change will roll back development successes unless mitigation and adaptation strategies are grounded in collaborative approaches at the global and local levels. In this regard, community radio can play an important role as a communication-for-development tool linking international science and strategies and local knowledge – thanks to ICTs – and facilitating specific interventions where they are most needed.

Community radio practitioners and community media have been using ICTs, mainly the internet and mobile phones, to confront the effects of climate change in local communities around the world. Among other areas, technology has helped in natural disaster prevention and management, challenges facing food security, health, water and sanitation and the challenge of desertification.

Community radio projects for climate change mitigation and adaptation are closely linked to the objective of community radio participatory programming, giving voice to local organisations and institutions. The objective is to give value to local knowledge and to facilitate knowledge exchange at the international level with experts and institutions.

The following offers some examples of how AMARC network projects combine ICTs and community radio broadcasting:

Disaster prevention and management

The project “Disaster management and poverty reduction through community radio”, supported by the Ford Foundation, has been developed by AMARC in the Asia-Pacific region in collaboration with the COMBINE (Community-based Information Network) Resource Institution and Association of Community Broadcasters (JRKI) in Indonesia and the AMARC Japan working group.¹⁷

The main objectives of the project are to improve relief delivery mechanisms in the face of the humanitarian impact of tsunamis by providing training to community radio practitioners and stakeholders, and increasing awareness throughout the region regarding the role of community radio in natural disaster prevention and management. The project seeks to assess the current practices of community radios during disaster and post-disaster situations and determine how to increase the preparedness and effectiveness of community radio interventions.

Food security and poverty reduction

Changes in water quantity and quality due to climate change are expected to affect the availability of and access to food. In Latin America, AMARC’s “Onda Rural”¹⁸ initiative uses ICTs and community radio for rural development, in partnership with ALER, a Latin American association of educational radio, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The project’s forum on climate change challenges is aimed at increasing the knowledge exchange between community radio practitioners and stakeholders dealing with climate change effects, and to facilitate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

In terms of information dissemination, AMARC members have used ICTs to share strategies developed by local communities to address the effects of climate change on food security. The programmes produced by community radios in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe are broadcast to local communities and are also made available online for further use by community radio broadcasters and stakeholders.¹⁹

Desertification in Africa

Examples of local community strategies to confront the effects of climate change are common. One such example is the establishment of Radio LCD, a community radio dealing with the issue of desertification, by SOS Sahel International. The community radio was launched in December 2008 in Djibo, 210 kilometres north of Ouagadogou, Burkina Faso.²⁰

With the objective of confronting the increasing deterioration of the environment, Radio LCD, an AMARC member, aims to increase awareness of sustainable development. The radio covers a region inhabited by more than two million people, encompassing four provinces: Le Soum, Le Loroum , Le Seno and Le Bam. In a short space of time, the community radio has become a service to the community in the true sense of an accessible community radio; a necessary media tool that increases the awareness of the local effects of climate change; and a radio that supports the struggles against deteriorating natural conditions. It has also nurtured partnerships between development stakeholders. In these ways Radio LCD has contributed to behavioural changes and knowledge exchange on best practices.

Community radio and climate change mitigation and adaptation

The time has come for the global community radio movement to reflect on how to better contribute in addressing the global challenge of mitigation and adaptation to climate change. There is a need to increase the use of new ICTs to make the link between local knowledge and experiences in fighting the effects of climate change and international debates and science. There is also a need to propose a combination of global and local approaches to mitigate the effects and help the adaptation to climate change.

The challenge for AMARC and its worldwide network of members is to reinforce the social impact of community radio on climate change mitigation and adaptation. This should be done by improving the quality of content and increasing the participation of local and international actors in programming. The pivotal role of community radio in a communication-for-development process based on communication rights as a key human right needs to be emphasised. The rights of local communities and other endangered groups to know and to be heard at the local and international level regarding strategies to confront new challenges to development posed by climate change is central to any future climate change interventions.

¹⁶ www.ipcc.ch

¹⁷ http://asiapacific.amarc.org/index.php?p=25th_anniversary_training_Asia_pacific

¹⁸ http://onda-rural.net

¹⁹ http://asiapacific.amarc/index.php?p=World_Food_Day_2008&l=EN&nosafe=0

²⁰ www.sosshael.org

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