INTRODUCTION. Women’s Empowerment and Good Governance Through Community Radio

Participatory Action Research on Increasing the Effectiveness of AMARC WIN in Giving Voice to Women

Raising the awareness of women about political processes and opportunities in their communities has been shown to lead to their greater involvement in democracy building. This, in turn, can lead to both the empowerment of women and poverty reduction. But if women – who suffer more from poverty than men in developing countries – lack information on how community political processes work, they are poorly equipped to be able to participate in the development of good governance. The articles gathered here reveal many experiences of women accessing the media and how important it may become in building 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 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, while others still have not learned about the power of this medium.

The action research “Women’s Empowerment and Good Governance through Community Radio” seeks to enhance the use of community radio as a key communication vehicle that can provide women with a voice to make governments and institutions accountable, more transparent, inclusive and responsive to citizens, and to facilitate the participation of women in poverty reduction strategies in their communities. It also helps women with access to and ownership of community radio.

Women empowerment for good governance

There is an increasing consensus on the need for a more people-centred discourse when it comes to development and governance challenges. In this perspective, voicelessness and powerlessness have come to be seen as key dimensions of poverty, while democracy, equity and civil rights are seen as not only intrinsically desirable but as directly contributing to the realization of good governance.

Several studies have indicated that women have a higher incidence of poverty than men, that women’s poverty is more severe than that of men and that there is a trend toward even greater poverty among women, particularly in female-headed households. There are also many documented experiences on how raising awareness on women’s issues increases the political participation of women. The media can play an important role in this process thus leading to better governance. In this perspective, experience shows that community radio can facilitate women’s access to media and disseminate information on alternative positive roles for women, thus empowering them to effectively participate in democratic processes.

Access to voice is known to be a key indicator of the quality of governance. Without access to voice, women are unable to participate in debates or to express their opinions on public policies affecting them directly. Community media has the distinctive capacity to provide pluralistic and participatory communication that is receptive to the need for expression from the social and cultural sectors as compared to other media, particularly commercialized media. Many recognize that the onslaught of global commercialized media systems has dramatically reduced the diversity of the media and communication landscape and it has increased the barriers to women’s empowerment and their full participation as citizens. It facilitates the blatant and open domination of culturally and socially controlling groups over the most marginalized, tribal and indigenous communities.

Even though CR has proven its social impact in good governance and its ability to give voice to women, there is an urgent need for more specific systhematization and analysis, in order to reinforce women’s access to community radio. The global assessment of the social impact of CR conducted by AMARC in 2006 showed that the single most important barrier that hinders CR’s impact in giving voice to women and reinforcing government accountability is related to the lack of recognition of community radio in some countries. In some countries – such as in the Philippines – governments are delaying the establishment of independent regulatory bodies that would institutionalize the presence of community radio and clarify the rules under which they can operate. In other countries, where community radio is free to operate, it has trouble getting frequencies due to an increasing encroachment of these spaces by mainstream commercial radio.

Access to information is also a vital issue. Without access to information, the poor and marginalized, particularly women, are unaware of their rights and entitlements, are unable to challenge unfare decisions and lack the knowledge to participate as citizens and take effective action to improve their conditions. At present, in most parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, both in urban and rural areas, information – particularly information concerning women’s involvement in the political processes and good governance – is scant, randomly given, or non-existent. Access to such information and knowledge exchange can form the basis for a radical shift from helplessness and poverty to social, educational and economic knowledge, eventually leading to self-realization and growth within their communities.

Action research methodology concept and process

Action research (AR) is a systematic form of inquiry that is collective, collaborative, self-reflective, critical and is undertaken by the participants of the inquiry. Action research, sometimes called “practitioner research,” is a reflective investigation of a personal interest, problem or challenge. Communication for development and social change measurements are included in this perspective.

Ground-based

The first characteristic is that the importance given to praxis and of context permits participatory and ground-based evaluation. The process begins with the development of questions, which may be answered by the collection of data. Action implies that the practitioner will be acting as the collector of data, the analyst, and the interpreter of the results. Action research leads to a re-framing of a problem; then experiments are performed to bring about outcomes that are subjected to further analysis. Reflection-in-action recognizes that there is little or no separation of research from practice, of knowing and doing. This methodology results in learning by doing developing capabilities for monitoring, impact assessment and evaluation by the CR practitioners and stakeholders. The methodology is open to realities on the ground as it recognizes the importance of context and its influence on institutional performance.

Process approach

The second aspect is that action research is iteractive and cyclical and is similar in nature to the numerical computing technique known as successive approximation – the idea is to close in upon a final goal or outcome by repeated iterations. This characteristic allows for process intervention through knowledge sharing leading to deeper understanding. Action research starts with the understanding of a problem, what in turn leadsto an intervention plan that brings Action to introduce social change . During the action, pertinent observations are collected in various forms. (Monitoring the implementation by Observation.) The new interventional strategies are carried out, and the cyclic process repeats, continuing until a sufficient understanding of (or implementable solution for) the problem is achieved (Reflection and Revision). A representation of AR protocol by Kemmis is provided in Figure 1.

Empowerment approach

A third characteristic of action research is the degree of empowerment given to all participants and thus to the social movement of community radio practitioners itself. Involvement is of a knowing nature, with no hidden controls or pre-emption of direction by the researcher. All participants negotiate meaning from the data and contribute to the selection of intervention strategies; the need for communication between all participants is of paramount importance. Action research refers to using evaluation logic and processes to help people in programs and organizations learn to think evaluatively. This is distinct from using the substantive findings in an evaluation report. It’s equivalent to the difference between learning how to learn versus learning substantive knowledge about something. Learning how to think evaluatively is learning how to learn. Learning to think and act evaluatively can have an ongoing impact, especially when it isbuilt into ongoing organizational development. By providing a mechanism and process for clarifying values and goals, evaluation has an impact even before data is collected. Likewise, the process of designing an assessment often raises questions that have an immediate impact on program implementation. Such effects can be quite pronounced, as when the process of clarifying the program’s logic model or theory-of-action leads to changes in delivery well before any evaluative data is ever collected.

AMARC seminars on women and good governance through community radio

AMARC conducted seminars in November 2006, for the AMARC 9 World Conference, held in Amman, Jordan ; in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 2007 at the 7th World Social Forum ; at the AMARC Africa-MENA Conference, held in Morocco October 22-24, 2007 ; at the GK3 Conference, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, December 11-13, 2007 ; and at the AMARC Latin America International Conference, held in Bogota, Colombia, February 28-29, 2008. This action research process has contributed to the reinforcement of the Women’s International Network of AMARC and facilitated radio broadcast campaigns through the global CR network, among others for the “16 days against gender violence” – from November 23 to December 10, 2007 – and for the International Women’s Day on March 8.

All these sessions raised awareness on women’s participation in good governance through CR by promoting knowledge sharing on ICT4D from the grassroots on issues such as poverty reduction, water management, and education. They facilitated knowledge exchange about experiences and challenges from women practitioners starting with their ground experiences. They highlight how women have been able to contribute toward the achievement of the millennium development goals (MDGs); they substantiate women’s participation and inclusion as key factors in the development of truly democratic information societies. The seminars on action-research processes permitted the exchange of project experiences, testimonies of experiences that highlighted the communication process facilitated by community radio and information and communication technologies to promote women’s political participation and good governance through CR.

The knowledge sharing seminars addressed the following key questions:

• How are new technologies facilitating women’s participation in setting public agenda and how does CR become useful in promoting women’s participation in good governance?

• How does CR enhance inclusion and participation of women as citizens in their communities and make their voices heard?

• How do community media make a difference in highlighting women’s contribution to the achievement of the millennium development goals? How can stakeholders increase the scale of impact?

• What policies make community media and local ICT applications more effective in developing women’s social and political participation?

The action research seminars allowed for knowledge sharing among women who are often excluded in political decision making, highlighted practical and concrete results of the innovative use of ICT to promote good governance, and provided an opportunity for networking and collaboration among ICT4D stakeholders on the issues of women’s political participation and good governance.

Women’s voices through community radio

This document is part of a two-year participatory action research process seeking to address the challenges to women’s participation in democracy building. It brings together case studies and experiences written by women practitioners participating in democratic processes through community radio. Some articles also raise questions regarding the specific challenges to gender equality within community radio and explore how to increase women’s participation in CR as a key governance challenge to the community radio global network.

It is intended to facilitate knowledge exchange to empower women to exercise their right to be heard, and to build the capacity of women to use the media, particularly community media, to make governments and institutions accountable, more transparent, inclusive and responsive to citizens.

To date, little has been done in most developing countries to help women gain greater power and influence in normally male-dominated political processes in local communities. This document from the Women’s International Network of AMARC provides women with examples of how they can get involved in governance issues – particularly to help them gain a greater degree of independence and equality.

The action research process is a contribution to the need for a recognition and work for a stronger say for women in good governance, namely through their participation in CR. This will ensure, among other aspects: (1) sensitizing women and encouraging their participation in community radio; (2) reinforcing women’s participation in the various aspects of the operations of stations; (3) improving gender content in programming; and (4) reinforcing women’s networking and knowledge sharing of concrete experiences to help create social change from the communities.

Women’s empowerment and good governance through community radio

AMARC has facilitated a significant amount of action research concerning the social impact that women’s empowerment can have on good governance through community radio in the last two years.

This document includes articles on Women and good governance , as well as practitioners’ experiences gathered through several knowledge sharing and action research seminars held through the CR network worldwide, in continuity with the action research project on “The Social Impact of Community Radio: Removing Barriers, Increasing Effectiveness” held all through 2006. As indicated, AMARC held a series of knowledge sharing and action research seminars. These reflections have resulted in a body of knowledge consisting of written and audio information in several areas, particularly regarding women’s empowerment and good governance. This document, disseminated by email and in hard copy to CR stakeholders, contains some relevant contributions and is intended to further knowledge sharing and discussions to increase women’s empowerment and participation in democratic processes. It also seeks to contribute to the impact of CR on influencing governance issues related to gender equality and women’s rights. We also expect to embed action-research techniques for social impact assessment in the Women’s International Network as well as within CR.