CEERD's Voice and Media Technical Assistance Programs seek to - promote enabling environments for community broadcasting (favorable policy and legal frameworks), where appropriate;
- provide grassroots support in station operations (capacity building); and
- facilitate community broadcasting training and institutional strengthening in terms of management and operations.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES UNDER IMPLEMENTATION Ghana. Broadcasting – particularly by radio – remains the most potent vehicle for the majority of Ghana’s poor to get information and express their views. According to some sources, about half of Ghana’s adults are illiterate, with adult illiteracy significantly higher in rural areas, reaching 85% in the north. In this context, community radio can provide a sustainable and interactive medium for poor and illiterate populations to be heard, be informed, shape knowledgeable opinions, learn the give-and-take of informed dialogue, and become more decisive agents in their own development. By helping poor constituencies to develop their own local news programs and to present discussions on matters affecting their community, community radio broadcasting not only helps poor people to share information in a language they understand, but also fosters debate on issues, facilitates access to government decision meetings and events, and helps community members to organize themselves to identify and benefit from opportunities. The fundamental legal framework for broadcasting, as for the mass media in general underwent radical transformation with the promulgation of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution. The current legal framework is premised on the guarantee of the right to freedom of speech and expression, which includes freedom of the press and other media and the right to information. In addition, and significantly, the Constitution devotes an entire chapter (Chapter 12) to the independence of the media, the guarantee of the freedom of expression and the establishment of a National Media Commission to promote and ensure this freedom and regulate the mass media. As a result of this constitutional dispensation, the broadcasting landscape has within the last decade undergone radical transformation. As of 2007 (Ghana’s Golden Jubilee Year), at least 115 FM stations have come on-air. Of these, only 11 may be classified as public radio (Ghana Broadcasting Company) and only 8 are community radio stations. The majority – 84 - are commercial radio stations. The balance is made up by 12 campus-based radio stations. Foreign-owned stations are not counted in the total. There are also 3 free-on-air commercial television stations, in addition to Ghana Television. This development has introduced a degree of pluralism onto Ghana’s mass media landscape and opened up access to new and diverse voices, which have promoted democracy and participation in governance and development, though not as much as the broadcasting sector could provide.
However, concrete legislation has lagged behind these new developments on the media landscape. Existing legislation is not consistent with the provisions in the Constitution on media freedom and independence. The only existing pieces of legislation which relate to broadcasting are the National Media Commission Act 1993 (Act 449), the National Communications Authority Act 1996 (Act 524) and subsidiary legislation enacted under these laws. The obsolete Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Decree 1968 (NLCD 226) (which regulates the operations of the State Owned broadcast media) is also still in force. However, at this moment, the country does not have clear, transparent and uniformly applied legal criteria for the regulation of the broadcast sector. Recognizing that there is a real and urgent need for the enactment of a comprehensive broadcast law to regulate broadcast media generally, a series of consultations were organized nationwide by the Ghana Advocacy Steering Committee for a National Broadcast Law (“the Committee”) with community members in 10 rural Districts and 2 urban metropolises, as well as with different groups of broadcasters and media regulatory authorities gives a clear idea of how people experience broadcasting in Ghana and what they want it to be. Two national stakeholder workshops have been held, involving representatives from all the groups previously consulted, in order to streamline various recommendations and iron out differences. The first stakeholder workshop made extensive use of the findings of the World Bank team on the Ghana Broadcast Study conducted between October and November 2005, which built on the consultative process led by the Committee and drew on international experience and standards to propose a comprehensive, up-to-date, and practicable legal and regulatory framework. The study also enhanced the prospects for implementation of new broadcasting legislation by undertaking institutional analysis of the functioning and capacity of the National Communications Authority and the National Media Commission. The study offered recommendations how the two institutions might play complementary roles and be resourced accordingly. It further recommended amendments to existing legislation to enable proposed legal and regulatory changes to proceed. In 2006, the Committee was expanded, including more high-level experts, more government participation, and establishment of sub-committees to carry out specific assignments. Also, in the last two years, a comprehensive study was undertaken to analyze the enabling environment for citizens’ engagement in Ghana: “Building the Demand-side of Good Governance: Enhancing Conditions for Social Accountability in Ghana.” The study, supported by SDV, benefited from extensive consultations in Ghana; these culminated in a national workshop in January 2007, at which 55 stakeholder organizations from civil society, government and development partners validated the study and agreed on priority actions. The study identified the need for capacity and institutional development, supported by policy changes, to • enable citizens to access accurate and relevant information;
• ensure that the voices of citizens are heard; and
• engage citizens in a process of negotiation for change.
In conjunction with counterparts in the Ghana Country Office, WBI’s CEERD Program has since been working closely with the Advocacy Steering Committee for a New Broadcast Law, and helped to open the doors of the Ministries of Communications and Information to them and advocated for their recommendations, provided them with technical assistance and good practices from elsewhere, and gave them logistics support so that they could dedicate focused time to drafting policy and legislative proposals, and to getting consensus in consultative forums. WBI took a supportive role, guided by the nuanced tactical understanding of the Ghanaian advocates and expert-practitioners who were already engaged. At the same time, WBI supported the elevation of issues to Ministerial level when we saw protracted Government inaction. Working closely with the Ghana Country Team, the Advocacy Steering Committee for a Ghana Broadcast Law, and the Ghana Community Radio Network, WBI has contributed: - the technical input for the Cabinet to develop and adopt Community Radio Policy within its National Telecommunications Policy of 2005;
- a Ghana Broadcasting Study in 2006 and surrounding policy dialogue, which has drawn on the global good practices in the pre-publication draft of the Bank’s new book, Broadcasting Voice and Accountability: A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law and Regulation;
- recommendations to improve the licensing regime for community radio;
- support for the National Media Commission to reach consensus on its potential new role as
- broadcasting regulator, and on its institutional development priorities; and
- support for the Ghanaian drafting team to prepare the core of the draft Broadcasting Bill;
The draft Broadcasting Bill is currently in a Cabinet subcommittee. This bill is the product of years of collaborative work by the Advocacy Steering Committee for a Ghana Broadcasting Law to get consensus with all stakeholder groups in the broadcasting sector and iterative consultations with the Ministries of Information and Communication, the National Communications Authority and the National Media Commission (NMC). Members of the commercial broadcasting sector have also requested dialogue on the operational implications of the draft bill. The intent is to get the bill to the floor of Parliament in time for a vote during this session (which ends in July 2008). The Cabinet subcommittee has requested the Minister of Information, the Honorable Oboshie Sai Cofie, work with a neutral consultant who is an expert in broadcasting legislation, contracted by the CEERD Program, to review the bill and respond to the concerns raised by commercial broadcasters concerning provisions and the operational implications of the draft bill, and confirm that the bill is aligned with global good practices in broadcasting legislation before the draft bill can be subject to finalization, after which it may be sent to Parliament before the July 2008 session ends. Kenya. Participatory development and implementation of pilot community radio station in the Wajir District of Kenya, under the Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALRMP), as a basis for expanded Bank lending support. Twinning continues between Community Radio (CR) stakeholders in Wajir and a mature CR station in Ghana (Radio Ada, which is also known as “Radio Peace, Ghana”). The Kenya pilot has been focused on the establishment and functioning of the Wajir Community Radio (WCR), which is part of the implementation of the Bank-funded Arid Lands Resource Management Project (ALRMP). The two capacity building and planning missions carried out in 2005 set the basis for the development of a technical assistance program and work program for the Wajir community radio stakeholders. During FY06, the stakeholders organized themselves into planning groups and proceeded with participatory planning to establish a community radio station. They obtained a license from the national government to establish the station, identified and obtained use of land and a structure, identified the specifications of equipment needed, mapped out the priorities for the initial content of their broadcasting, and indicatively planned the type of staffing and volunteers needed. In FY07, they collaborated closely with the project management staff for the ALRMP and reached agreement that the project would finance the costs of equipment and materials, and civil works – on a cost-sharing basis with the Wajir communities consistent with the ALRMP, and finance the ongoing capacity development and initial operating costs of the station once it is operating. In August, 2006, ALRMP sent a team of the stakeholders to Ghana to understand community radio operations first-hand; there they developed a detailed work plan for September 2006 – December 2008, for equipment procurement, construction, staffing and scheduling of volunteers, training, program development, and test broadcasting, to start the station’s operation. Despite the terrible drought in Wajir, the people are still energetically creating the radio station. The country team's and Project Management Unit's reasons for wanting the project to support community radio development are that the critical bottlenecks to effective natural resource management in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands are social and administrative, rather than the absence of particular technologies in forestry or range management. Establishing community radio at Wajir is expected to play a critical role in addressing these challenges and promoting the empowerment of communities to achieve sustainable improvements in their standard of living. Liberia. The community radio sector in Liberia now numbers approximately fifty. It is expected that future support might strengthen community radio’s role as the voice of the communities they serve and as a means for ongoing feedback to government., and will also improve their sustainability. Nigeria. Nigeria is the only country in West Africa without community radio; the bulk of the population is isolated from media access in local languages, and the airwaves currently excludes non-governmental and non-commercial broadcasting, focusing on issues of public interest. There is a well organized and highly informed coalition of over 200 organizations which strongly support community radio development in Nigeria. Under the leadership of Akin Akingbulu, Executive Director of the Instititute for Media and Society, a coalition Steering Committee has analyzed the history and key impediments in the enabling environment, is knowledgeable about progress in other countries in the sub-region, and has developed an action plan. This action plan was widely endorsed at a Validation Seminar for all interested organizations. There has been a strong confirmation from both the coalition Steering Committee and Government officials on the importance of enabling the sound development of the community radio sector in Nigeria, and in opening space for the domestic constituencies who have been working on this issue for years, to participate actively in the process to bring about the needed reforms and capacity enhancements. There are lessons in the subregion that could be highly instructive for key decision-makers in government not only to hear about, but also to witness first-hand, especially if they travel together with coalition members who can help fill in the gaps in their information and understanding. There is also a base of interest and enthusiasm among the several well-placed individuals in government and the prospect of mobilizing other key players in government who can be instrumental in moving this issue forward,– including in their discussions with the President and in the legislature, such as with Emmanuel Arinze, Special Assistant to the President on Information and Communication Technologies. A high-level symposium was convened in Abuja, to discuss global good practice on broadcast policy that would enable development of a community radio sector. This was the first time high level Nigerian government officials - from both the Executive and the National Assembly - and civil society stakeholders, plus the President of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, community radio expert-practitioners from the region met together to discuss the role of community radio and the need for a better policy and regulatory framework that provided access to the airwaves. FADAMA national coordination unit subsequently agreed to fund three CR pilot stations, and to contribute to policy development for CR. In August 2006, the Government established Community Radio Policy Committee, including members of CR coalition with mandate to draft a Community Radio Policy, which submitted its report to the federal government of Nigeria on December 12, 2006. In receiving it, the Minister stated that a situation where few people participate in information management while majority are forced to accept their voices and views was unacceptable. He said that government is convinced that opening up the airwaves to provide space for community radio would help address this situation and enrich governance as never before in the country. The Minister announced that government would study the report and make a public pronouncement on it within two to three weeks. This is expected imminently. In the meantime, it has been agreed that the voice and media TA program will assist the FADAMA Project in participatory development of several pilot community radio stations, and facilitate African advice and exchanges to help develop the sector.
IMPLEMENTED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACTIVITIES
Sri Lanka. To help promote the Government's goal of promoting equity within society, CEERD collaborated with country team members to strengthen key mechanisms for voice, informed choice, and influence on government and accountability by poor and marginalized constituencies during a multi-year program (2004 - 2006), which focused on strengthening the programming of community radio stations. The development of capacities in radio programming on social and public interest issues and training in accountability instruments supported the CAS' emphasis on the knowledge society, voice and accountability and community-driven approaches to development and poverty reduction. Support was implemented through the Community Development and Livelihood Improvement "Gemi Diriya" Project in its Institution Building and Human Development component and Innovation Seed Fund and also linked to an E-Lanka Project . To launch the program, as requested by country team members, CEERD funded a participatory study of Sri Lanka's community and public interest radio sector in 2004, the recommendations of which were implemented from 2004 to 2006, funded through the Gemi Diriya Project. The Gemi Diriya Project included investments in social accountability mechanisms. The project examined the capacities of existing radio stations in Sri Lanka, in terms of the development of feature programming on areas such as social and developmental issues of local concern, seeking feedback from communities, providing balanced news reporting, producing programs in both major languages and dialects, and broadcasting government forums, to inform public opinion and stimulate civic engagement and influence in government forums and on government programs and services. The capacity building program enhanced skills on how to run and sustain community radio stations through a series of community-level stakeholder skills-building workshops. This was undertaken through the training reporters of existing community radios and other community organization functionaries, as well as through peer learning (within the country and with community radios outside Sri Lanka) and technical assistance. Timor-Leste. From 2000 to 2006, the Bank-financed Community Empowerment and Local Governance Project (CEP) supported Timorese communities to reconstruct their physical, economic, and social infrastructures destroyed by the violence of 1999. This project comprised a small grants for infrastructure and economic activities, a cultural heritage and social reconciliation, and a community radio components respectively. Under the last component, CEP was able to support and scale up community broadcasting media efforts in the context of community-driven development. It supported grassroots media development by training district reporters to support the national public broadcaster, and thereafter established eight community radios in selected districts. All eight community radios are now broadcasting. As part of this effort, CEP's community radio component also helped established a Community Radio Center (CRC) in Dili, which serves as a support hub of the network of community radios. The CRC's mandate is to support these stations with training and capacity building, technical assistance (maintenance and operations), and to promote opportunities for partnership and networking with different groups-including donors-to build their capacity and support development of public interest media and civic voice. The CRC was registered as an associated NGO and received a tax identification number, which in the absence of an NGO law in the country, granted it temporary legal status to continue its work. That way, the CRC can continue to raise funds, engage in contracts and carry its mandate on its own and into the future. Community radio in Timor-Leste constitutes a very dynamic sector, it is crucial in the country's media landscape, and has a strategic role in the current process of nation building, social reconciliation and development and local governance. Grassroots radio in a conflict environment is an effective communication and information channel to mobilize communities for social action. They are owned and operated by the community, and promote participation and inclusion of all groups. Timor-Leste has a Regulatory Broadcast Authority which has recently been appointed to enforce the Broadcast Law. The Broadcast Law does not explicitly support community radios, nor does it reject them. Though this has not been a deterrent to their implementation, the question of legal sustainability is uncertain. The Constitution does allow for freedom of press and association, and it is hoped these laws are upheld at all times, particularly with grassroots radio. In 2006, the World Bank, through the CEERD Program and the East Asia and Pacific Region, developed a capacity building activity in Timor-Leste to support community radio as a vehicle for social expression, a return to normalcy, and to empower women in the country. Partnering with an external media training organization along with its local counterpart, the activity sought to train young women become more active in community radio as reporters, producers, and station managers. Four workshops covering topics such as the role of women in politics, domestic violence, and governance and the petroleum sector were part of the 12-week training session. These workshops also focused on sustainability of community radio stations, fundraising, marketing, operations, management, and more. Ten women journalists from across all community radio stations worked to produce a six-part radio program series and a three-part drama series on the aforementioned themes. They also documented outcomes of the Second National East Timorese Women’s Congress and its significance to women in media and communication. Indonesia. Community radio in Indonesia constitutes a very dynamic sector, despite being faced with many challenges. In November 2002, a new broadcast law was approved, which for the first time recognizes community radios and gives the Telecommunications Ministry responsibility for distributing frequencies. The establishment of a Broadcast Authority to implement this law is underway. Meantime, there was confusion regarding the implementation of the law and duplication of frequencies due to lack of coordination between different bodies is common. Due to this situation, hundreds of newly created community radios are still operating illegally, despite playing an increasingly important role in the development arena. Bank-financed CDD projects, such as the Kecamatan Development Project (KDP), have been using community radio to report on different aspects of the project with the aim of enhancing transparency and reducing opportunities for corruption. The objective of the Bank-financed pilot project was to assess the community radio environment, the opportunities and challenges facing community radio development in Indonesia and the potential role that the Bank can play in strengthening the use of community radio to enhance the voice and capacity of the poor to hold power-holders accountable for their actions. To do this, two media and civil society consultants (one international and one national) were contracted to map existing community radios in selected regions in Indonesia (organizational profiles, programming content - with a specific emphasis on social accountability content, institutional and regulatory constraints to engage in such programming), to analyze the policy and regulatory environment for community radios, to carry out an inventory of programs supporting grassroots radio development and to review the experience with community radio in the KDP. Malawi: The universe of community radios in Malawi is smaller than in the other countries, with only seven stations at present. However, these do not systematically share information and experience. The Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) has been making increased use of community radios to disseminate project information and monitor project results. The objective of the technical assistance activity was to strengthen communication among and between community broadcasting stations in Malawi, with the aim of strengthening networking between community radios and stimulate the creation of more radio stations. The Malawi pilot was built on the successes of a multi-country Development Marketplace grant supporting the capacity-building of community radio stations in Malawi among others. Radio Netherlands, which implemented the Development Marketplace grant, was contracted to implement the Benin and Malawi activities. Benin. The objective of this technical assistance activity was to strengthen collaboration and networking between existing community radio stations in Benin through the creation of a community radio association. The activity also aimed to strengthen the programming capacity of community radios through two training workshops in different parts of the country. This focus on capacity enhancement occurred against a backdrop of a strong enabling environment for community radio in Benin. The Audiovisual and Communications Authority (HAAC), was created in the 1990 Constitution and is independent from the government and exerts full authority on audiovisual development in Benin. Since 1997, it has authorized the establishment of 66 private radio stations, of which 40 are non-commercial (community radios). Community radios continue to play a key role in local rural development in Benin, as they cover a large part of the territory and provide access to information and voice in local language in isolated regions of the country. However, weak programming capacity of community radios and the continuous spread of commercial radios - which do not have a public interest character - pose a threat to the long-term sustainability of community radios in Benin. Community Radio Reference Group Members of the Community Radio Reference Group and other external expert consultants are being consulted in the development of the pilots and act as peer reviewers of the studies. The Reference Group is comprised of Bank staff engaged in social development, CDD, and information, education, and communications (IEC) components across the Bank. Its key advisors are: Kreszentia Duer, Program Manager of CEERD in the World Bank Institute (Global Programs)
Craig Hammer, Program Coordinator of CEERD in the World Bank Institute (Global Programs)
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