EDITORIAL

Women and Good Governance through Community Radio

Many experiences have documented how raising the awareness of women on political processes creates possibilities for their greater involvement in democracy building which, in turn, can lead to both the empowerment of women and poverty reduction. But women – who suffer more from poverty than men – are systematically discriminated by institutions and lack information on how community political processes work so, most of the time, they are poorly equipped to fully participate in insuring good governance in their communities and societies. The articles gathered from several action-research seminars conducted by AMARC reveal the challenges for women access to the media and how important their role can become in building good governance. See in Background Papers on Women and Good Governance

The women’s movement has long recognized the important role that media – community radio in particular – plays in shaping the values of society. As early as four decades ago, when the introduction of transistors made it possible for people from lower income groups to acquire radio units, women’s groups actively engaged in this medium to address women’s issues, such as sexuality, advocacy for women, and children in conflict. Over the years, women’s organizations in many countries have used community radio to advance their issues through the governance process, but others have still not learned about the power of community radio.

The action research “Women’s Empowerment and Good Governance through Community Radio” seeks to enhance the effectiveness of community radio as a key communications vehicle permitting women’s citizenship participation in the governance of their communities and societies. It also leads to inclusiveness by helping women access to CR and thus increases community ownership of CR. There is need is to increase women voices if we want to make governments and institutions accountable, more transparent, inclusive and responsive to citizens. A key aspect of women empowerment is to facilitate the participation of women in poverty reduction strategies in their communities.

The Seminar on Women and Good Governance through Community Radio to be held in Malaysia, December 12, is part of a two-year action research process seeking to address the challenges surrounding women’s participation in democracy building. By highlighting and facilitating knowledge sharing of case studies and best experiences of women practitioners we want to increase the possibilities for women participation in democratic processes through community radio. This action-research has also highlighted the challenges to gender equality within the Community Radio Movement itself and has allowed for exploring the mechanisms to increase women’s participation in Community Radio. This is a key governance challenge to the community radio global network.

Marcelo Solervicens
Secretary General, AMARC

AMARC Women International Network Perspectives

AMARC 16 Days Campaign against Gender Violence
The AMARC WIN16 day’s campaign against gender violence is active from November 25th to December 10th inclusively. In this second year global campaign edition, the theme is: “Demanding Implementation, Challenging Obstacles:  End Violence against Women”.

This multilingual broadcasting mobilizes community radios on a theme of global importance promoting the use of new communication technologies such as Internet to make women voices heard.

Throughout this campaign many thematic days are also highlighted such as: November 25th : International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; November 29th : International Women’s Human Rights Defenders Day; December 1: World AIDS Day; December 6: Commemoration day of the Montreal Massacre; December 10th : International Human rights Days.

Community radios are invited to download the audio files from AMARC-WIN website during the 16 days campaign and broadcast them for their communities. For information about the campaign visit : http://www.amarc.org/16days

Women and Connectivity in Latin America and the Caribbean
From July 4-7 women from radio and those working with new ICTs, met in Managua, Nicaragua. The meeting contributed to knowledge exchange and experiences exchange; discuss propositions and strategies that would allow advancing in the use and the ownership by women of new technologies, so they will serve as platforms for social change and tools for the exercise of information rights and freedom of expression.

The gathering was organized by the AMARC Women International network in LAC, the network “Nosotras en el Mundo” (Cordoba and Madrid) and radio Tierra (Chile). For further information : http://www.rednosotrasenelmundo.org

Portraits of Community Radio practitioners
The group of Women of Matagalpa: An organization of decided women.
By Julia Velasco Parisaca, radio producer and journalist. She is Coordinator of Eco Jóvenes Bolivia

They are 34 women that contribute to the cultural transformation in the northern region of Nicaragua, where inequity has the face of women. Their proposal is to promote, educate and communicate from the perspective of women living in poverty.
The Group of Matagalpa (CMM) is one of the women empowerment experiences in Latin America. This organization is one of the most important social actors and with more political effect in that Nicaragua region. It was born in the eighties, during the Sandinista revolution process, with the mission to influence the social transformation respecting human rights, particularly of women, girls and boys, promoting freedom, justice, respect and equity practices.

The task was not easy as a result of the economic, political and social marginality suffered by women, in a society that characterizes by itself for a “machista“ culture that sends the women to the reproductive function and victimizes them with physical, psychological and sexual violence.

This is the context for the work of the Group, to have an influence in society, through programmes on health, creative education, prevention of violence, theatre and the Radio Stereo VOZ (FM 101.7), the community radio, member of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC).

The women from the Group work with a feminine perspective, an integral perspective that recalls the rights, the essence, the bodies, the protagonist role, the contribution, the dreams and hopes, of women to be recognized, valued and respected as such.

“The empowerment comes from capacity building and the possibility of taking decisions, as well as proposing with solid arguments, well grounded”, says Argentina Olivas, Coordinator from the Communication programme that is responsible for managing Radio Stereo Voz, FM 101.7, of the Group of Women of Matagalpa.

In a moralist society, full of prohibitions, prejudgements and discrimination against women, the Group, through the radio, has contributed to put in the public agenda themes such as family violence, abortion, sexual and reproductive rights, being one of the few institutions, that dares addressing openly these themes and from a gender perspective.

The radio has given visibility to the Group, to women, girls and boys, adolescents and youth through participatory programmes including debates and analysis, as well as of information, where they have an opportunity to speak and make their opinions heard.

Radio programmes such “Now I can speak” (“Y ahora yo tengo la palabra”), are directed to women in the region, treating themes that deal with the role played by women in society, as well as their contributions to the community and to the country, promoting the participation of women in social development.

In another programme “Forbidden to listen to us”, (“Prohibido escucharnos”), produced by a team of youth and adolescents, they debate and analyse themes that are considered taboo, such as sexual and reproductive rights, adolescent pregnancy, abortion, marriage, etc.

In the Bizarre kingdom (“El reino al revés”), a programme produced by girls, boys and adolescents, they treat subjects of their interest and from the way they understand reality, themes such as mistreatment of child to the important of parental love.

Aside this radio programmes, the communication area of the Group, build the capacity of women, girls, boys, adolescents and youth in areas such as radio production, correspondent or radio formats.

Furthermore, the radio productions are an added value to the education processes and peoples’ communication being implemented by the Group of Women of Matagalpa, for they contribute to the reflection, the discussion and the analysis in working groups, during the activities of capacity building, of training that are implemented by the diverse programmes of the Group, such the Legal, Health and Education Areas.

The team of Radio Stereo Voz, become internationally recognized in November 2002, when it won the Latin American concurso of radio productions on family violence, organized by the United Nations Women Development Fund (UNIFEM) with the radio programme “better alone, than badly accompanied” (“Mejor sola que mal acompañada”).

The Group represents the hope for social change to many women in Nicaragua and Latin America, because they represent the efforts and the compromise of many women that contribute to the construction of a society more fare, respectful and democratic, with equal opportunities for women.

News from the World Social Forum

On the 9th World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters, in Amman, Jordan, in November 2006, the members of AMARC defined as a priority the World Social forum and the social movements’ activities in terms of building alliances and on developing the Civil Society Agenda for a better world.

AMARC Covered the United States Social Forum in Atlanta
Community Radio members of AMARC including the information agency, Pulsar from AMARC LAC, covered the alternatives raised during the United States Social Forum, in Atlanta, June 27th - July 1st. Under the motto Another World is possible, Another US is Necessary, the USSF provided space to build relationships, learn from each other's experiences, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, and bring renewed insight and inspiration. It helped develop leadership and develop consciousness, vision, and strategy needed to realize another world. For notes on the USSF please visit : http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=USSF2007-Atlanta&l=EN&nosafe=1

AMARC Covered the Quebec Social Forum and the Montebello Summit
Community Radios from Quebec (Canada) covered and participated in the Quebec Social Forum that was held in Montreal, August 23-26, 2007. They also covered the heads of government summit of United Staes, Mexico and Canada on the partnership for prosperity For the FSQ go to : http://fsq.amarc.org  For the Montebello Summit go to: http://montebello.amarc.org

AMARC will actively participate in the Global Day of Action
AMARC and many other civil society organizations signed the call for a global day of action on January 26, 2008. Instead of the centralized events of past editions, WSF 2008 will have thousands of activities organized by social movements, unions, groups, networks and other organisations in their own regions. This will cover a one-week period, culminating in a Global Day of Action on January 26th. The global mobilization will be directly linked to the local agendas of social actors, making the week full of debates, cultural and artistic activities, demonstrations, protests, direct actions, meetings and many other ways of showing that another world is possible.

The Belem meeting of the International Council of the WSF established some strategies for integrating local actions into a powerful global journey, giving visibility to the network of resistance, and putting forward alternative proposals to those of the Davos Economic Forum – the capitalist summit that always takes place in this Swiss resort on the same date as the WSF.

For more information visit the Information on WSF2008 : globalaction@wsf2008.net . To follow-up AMARC activities visit : http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=World_Social_Forum_2008&l=EN&nosafe=1

The 2009 WSF will be held in Belem, in Brazil
It has been decided in May, during the International Council in Berlin that the WSF would be back to Brazil in January 2009, but this time in the North part of the country.

The 2009 World Social Forum, is due to take place in Belem, the capital of Para in Brazil. The city was chosen to host the 2009 edition of the global forum in order to highlight the importance of the Amazon region for the entire world, and because its local cultural, political and economic reality is strongly linked to many WSF issues, such as bio-diversity, climate change, ethnic and cultural diversity, colonialism, militarism and the various connections between labor and production (from subsistence mineral extraction to hi-tech industry) www.forumsocialmundial.org.br

Social campaigns and Community Radio network Development

Africa-MENA Conference, Sharing Experiences for Development and Democracy Building from the Grassroots.
More than 140 participants were gathered in Rabat, Morocco, from October 22-24 in Rabat, Morocco, for the First AMARC AFRICA-MENA Conference: Sharing Experiences for development and democracy building from the grassroots. They issued the Rabat Declaration calling governments to recognise community media in their legislations.

The Conference was organized by the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) Africa, the UNESCO Office in Rabat and the ORBICOM/UNESCO Chair in Public and Community Communication.

The conference reflected on how AMARC can most effectively contribute to increase the impact of community radio in Sub-Sahara Africa as well as how to transfer its rich African experience to the MENA region in order to strengthen community media as an important factor for democracy building.

The participants exchanged on the situation of community radio in their respective countries and on the contribution of the community radio concerning key issues such as the democratization of societies, the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and the resolution of the conflict situations.

AMARC Africa held a special general assembly to define the process of reconstruction of the AMARC network in Africa and the MENA working group held a meeting to plan for the organisation of the work in the North of Africa and in the Middle East. For information visit : http://africa.amarc.org/africa-mena-conference

Civil Society Meeting in Latin America
At the Ibero-American Summit held 11-12 November in Santiago, Chile, civil society organizations demanded the governments of Latin America, Spain and Portugal to recognize communications as a human right and requested to be respected as such. It was following the III Civil Society meeting, held from 7-8 November, that Maria Pia Matta Vice President of AMARC LAC presented the declaration of civil society organizations.  Visit the coverage of the PULSAR Agency and Radio Tierra at : http://www.radiotierra.com/?q=node/650

AMARC at the Global Knowledge Conference GK3
Themed "Emerging People, Emerging Markets, Emerging Technologies," the Third Global Knowledge Conference, GK3, will explore concrete solutions and possibilities within the inter-play, interface and interweaving of issues related to the Knowledge for Development (K4D) and Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) in the context of our globally evolving societies, economies and technologies worldwide. GK3 will bring together over 2,000 visionaries, international leaders, practitioners and policy-makers. About 45 AMARC CR journalists will cover the debates and will be holding several events such as the seminar on Women and Good governance through Community Radio, training for trainers activities on the use of ICTs, the Women International Network annual meeting, the Asia Pacific Regional Board meeting.

For more information visit : http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=Global_Knowledge_Conference_GK3&l=EN

Radio 1812/2007 invites you to Tune in on International Migrants Day !
It is estimated that some 200 million people live outside of their home countries. And this is not a new phenomenon: Europe, America, and Australia were all built on the influx of millions of people in search of a better life. Since 2000, the international community has designated 18th of December as International Migrants Day, to celebrate the achievements and highlight the struggles of migrants around the world. For more information on how to take part in Radio 1812 or to share any existing audio content you may have on migration, please check the Radio 1812 website at : www.radio1812.net

The Struggle for the Recognition of Community Radio
In the AMARC 9 World Conference, lack of legal recognition for Community Radio was considered the single most important barrier to the development of Community Radio as the third Tier of Communication.

Launching of AMARC-Japan Working Group
The AMARC Japan group was launched in Kyoto, Japan on 23 June 2007. The group's main objective is to lobby and advocate for the development of CR in Japan. It has identified the lack of CR legislation as the major impediment for the attainment of its goal and therefore has strategized to lobby the government to introduce a CR friendly legislation in Japan.  At the moment, the number of participants of the group is 35 but it expects to grow fast in the coming months.

Uruguay: Senate approves Community Broadcasting Bill
In a groundbreaking move for freedom of expression in Latin America, on 14 November 2007 the Uruguayan Senate approved a Community Broadcasting Bill that formally acknowledges the existence of and regulates community radio and television stations. The draft law had previously been approved by the House of Representatives in May. See : http://amarcuruguay.org/content/view/22/42/

IFEX Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay
More than 120 free expression advocates from around the world gathered from 7-12 October in Montevideo, Uruguay, at the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) General Meeting. As a priority, 20 participants set up a Burma Action Group to support protesters and journalists in their struggle against the recent military crackdown in the country. At the conference, hosted by World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and the Institute of Press and Society (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, IPYS), participants examined the cause of the decline and the most pressing threats to free expression: impunity, media concentration, criminal press laws and Internet censorship.

In a joint declaration, the Latin American groups at the conference, which have been developing a regional initiative on the issue, urged the whole IFEX network to denounce the growth of parallel powers outside recognized institutions and the problems of impunity and self-censorship that often accompany them - a major priority in the coming years. They also called upon the governments of the region "to take action in the face of the threats and guarantee, with concrete and legal actions, the exercise of free expression for journalists, media and all citizens." For further information visit : http://amarcuruguay.org/content/view/22/42/

ITU World Radio communication Conference concludes after four weeks. International treaty sets future course for wireless
Geneva,16 November 2007

The World Radio communication Conference 2007 (WRC-07) concluded its deliberations with the adoption of an international treaty to meet the global demand for radio-frequency spectrum.

Over 2800 delegates representing 164 Member States and 104 Observers attended the four-week Conference, marked by intense negotiations on the future of wireless communications. Rapid technological developments and growth in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector have fuelled the demand for spectrum.

The international treaty, known as Radio Regulations governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits were revised and updated by WRC-07 to achieve the global connectivity goals of the 21st Century. http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2007/36.html

Internet Governance Forum in Rio - November 2007
The world's second Internet Governance Forum, took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 12-15, 2007. The Rio IGF was the second of five annual global events that attract stakeholders from all walks of life who come together to discuss issues tied to the future of information and communications technologies, including control over the internet architecture and numbering and naming system, security, intellectual property, openness, connectivity, cost and multilingualism. Visit : http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/internet_governance_forum_2007.xhtml

IV Conference of Community Media in Spain
From November 23-25, Spanish Community Media practitioners gathered in the IV Conference of Community Media in the “Albergue Municipal de Bilbao”. The organisation Tas Tas Irrati Librea was the host of the event. More than 150 representatives from more than a 100 Media of the third tier of communication, gathered to the call of the Red Estatal de Medios Comunitarios (REMC).

Together with this event, and the 22-23 November, Community Radio practitioners from AMARC Latin America and the Caribbean, from Asia Pacific, Africa and MENA and from Europe, discussed on legislation models for community radio. The meeting was related to the AMARC LAC Legislations & Communication Rights Programme, supported by Open Society Justice Initiative: “Best Practices in Regulation of Community Broadcasting.” For further information on these activities visit : http://bilbao.medioscomunitarios.net/

New Section in AMARC Website
Please visit the new section on Publications on the AMARC Website http://amarc.org
Using the wiki platform you can also add new documents or send the to the International secretariat at secretariat@si.amarc.org

Subscribe to Receive News in Spanish from Pulsar News Agency
Pulsar, the AMARC ALC news agency, continues to work for the democratization of communications facilitating direct contact between journalists and civil society sources of information, without interference from big corporations or international news agencies from the North. Pulsar also covers through special programs, activities, forums and events taking place in Latin America and the Caribbean. It also carries photographs, audio files and up to date information in Spanish and Portuguese. Register yourself in the Email list to receive daily reports, by visiting their Web site : http://www.pulsar.amarc.org

The International Secretariat

Sophie Toupin, Project consultant
Nick Fillmore, Project development Officer
Jean Philippe Theberge, ICT ICT Consultant
Dominique Legendre, Accountant and financial assitant to projects
Marcelo Solervicens, Secretary General

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