New UNE C CMC O Community Multimedia Centres around the World · 2008. 7. 22. · CMC Community...

© UNESCO 2005Published by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

ISBN: 81-89218-10-7

Disclaimer The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do notimply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal statusof any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiersor boundaries.

The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this bookand for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do notcommit the Organization.

Community MultimediaCentres around the World

A Global Directory

Editors

Stella Hughes Ian Pringle

November 2005

ForewordUNESCO’s Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) Initiative developed out of the0rganization’s long-standing work with community media, especially radio, and theincreasingly important and promising role played by new information andcommunication technologies in development efforts.

By co-locating traditional media and new technology facilities and promotinginnovative local programme initiatives, the CMC approach combines the uniquecharacteristics of community-based media with the enormous power and reach of newinformation and communication tools and networks.

Inspired by innovations that emerged from the Kothmale Community Radio andInternet project, Sri Lanka, in 1999 and 2000, UNESCO has since established somefifty CMCs in a wide range of contexts in some twenty countries on three continents.

In addition to new facilities and increased local capacity in communities around theworld, pilot CMCs have involved a wide variety of partnerships, across all levels, andhave led to an expanding number of creative and dynamic new initiatives and solutionsin key areas, from content creation to financial and social sustainability. Significantly,the first phase of the CMC programme has also led to national ‘scale-up’ projects nowunderway in Mali, Mozambique and Senegal.

This volume – Community Multimedia Centres around the World: A Global Directory –not only shares the context and experiences of UNESCO-supported CMCs, but is alsointended to facilitate direct, practical cooperation between international and nationalagencies with CMCs at the ground level by providing a directory of local CMC servicesand contact information. Through its publication and subsequent online versions,UNESCO looks forward to expanding our collaboration and cooperation in this field.

Abdul WWaheed KKhanAssistant Director GeneralCommunication and Information Sector

PrefaceUNESCO has produced this directory of Community Multimedia Centres in orderto give development partners an indication of where CMCs are operating; whattheir main focus of activities is; what media they use and what type of communitiesthey serve. Many more CMCs are planned and this directory will in the futurebecome electronic, in order to make regular updates and additions available onUNESCO’s website.

What is the purpose of a publication in hard copy, when it will so quickly need to berevised? UNESCO hopes to deliver a message to all development partners through thisdirectory: CMCs are “last mile” development service providers and can help you toimplement your projects and activities at the community level. Consider this book asthe yellow pages for a number of grassroots communication and informationplatforms, which – through their combination of community broadcasting and accessto new technologies in walk-in telecentres – can deliver services relating to health,education, livelihoods and other priority fields of development.

As you will see as you read through these entries, the CMCs have impressiveachievements to their credit, in spite of facing considerable constraints andchallenges. They need to further develop their capacities and to consolidate theiroperations. Indeed, it is in the nature of grassroots ICT4D initiatives, that capacity-building and consolidation remain an on-going process, as key staff move on and thecontext evolves.

However, these CMCs should not be seen as projects requiring further project support.They are operational structures, already delivering development services. They needsupport to improve and expand their public service role. The more developmentpartners work with and through CMCs to implement development activities, the greaterthe opportunities to reinforce the centres, to improve and broaden their services and indoing so, to contribute to their long-term sustainability.

Many thanks to all the CMCs and their staff and volunteers who assisted in the process of preparingthe directory. Additional thanks to the individuals – those named below and those whose names mayhave inadvertently been omitted – who helped to compile the information, stories and imagescontained in the directory entries.

Caribbean/Latin America: Choy Arnaldo, Zuria Arzua, Alton Grizzle, Virgil Harding, Linda Hinds,Cynthia Nelson and Hugh O'Reilly

Africa: Peter Balaba, Birama Diallo, Hezekiel Dlamini, Polly Gaster, Birgitte Jallov, Nina Bull Jorgensen,Anthony Lwanga, Mucelo Moises, Jimmy Okello, Wilna Quarmyne

South Asia: Ramnath Bhat, Mukunda Bogati, Ben Grubb, Gamini Kalubovila, DayanandaLiyanagama, Duraisamy Muthiah, the RICT team, Deepti Saksena, Deepal Sooriaarachchi, SonamTobgyal, Karma Tshering and Ajith Wasantha

This directory would not have been possible without the many efforts and contributions of Ilda Maraand Savithri Subramanian.

Thanks also to Manish Gupta, Vikas Shah and Rana Mitra at Macrographics for their creativity andhard work on the design and layout.

Photo credits for images on the cover page, clockwise from the top left, are as follows: Nina BullJorgensen, Choy Arnaldo/UNESCO, Mukunda Bogati/UNESCO, Ian Pringle/UNESCO, MaartjeOp de Coul, Choy Arnaldo/UNESCO.

Encarta maps used in the various directory entries are reproduced within provisions stipulatedby Microsoft Corporation.

Special thanks to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in supporting this publication.

Acknowledgments

ContentsIntroduction

AfricaBeninBanikoara 3Segbèya 7

Burkina FasoDassasgho/Gambidi 10

GhanaAda 13Pokuase 17

MaliBanamba 20Goundam 23Kayes 25Koutiala 28Niéna 32Niono 35San 38Yélimané 40

MozambiqueChówkè 42Dondo 45Manhiça 49Moamba 53Namaacha 56Sussundenga 59Xinavane 62

SenegalKhombole/Siggil Jiggèen 65

TanzaniaSengerema 66

UgandaApac 70Buwama 73Kachwekano 76Kagadi Kibaale 79Nabweru 82Nakaseke 85

Multimedia Training Kit/MMTK 88

UNESCO Publications 90

BarbadosSaint Michael, Bridgetown/Radio GED 93

CubaCocodrilo 95

GuyanaAnnai/Paiwomak 98

JamaicaThree Miles, Kingston/Roots FM/Zinc Link 101

SurinameGuensi/Muye 104

Trinidad & TobagoToco 107

eNRICH 110

Ethnographic Action Research 111

Caribbean/Latin America

South AsiaBangladeshSitakund 115

BhutanJakar 118Kanglung 121

IndiaBudikote/Namma Dhwani 124

NepalMadanpokhara 128Rupandehi/Lumbini 131Tansen 135

Sri LankaAnuradhapura/Rajarata 139Girandurukotte 142Kandy/Kandurata 145Kothmale 147Mahailluppalama 151Uva/Bandarawela/Buttala 154

Contents

UNESCO supports Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) development in some of the poorest and mostmarginalised communities of the developing world. A CMC combines local radio – and in some cases television,print and other media forms – by local people in local languages with a walk-in telecentre facility. At its most basic,the centre offers the simplest FM broadcasting unit, plus one or two computers for basic office applications andinternet access. At its most developed, the centre offers a range of multimedia facilities and information services, aswell as educational and training activities including literacy classes, computer courses and training related to the localeconomy in such areas as sustainable tourism.

CMCs vary greatly according to local conditions, national broadcasting legislation, ownership arrangements andso forth. However, in all cases, there is a shared goal of ensuring that the ICTs available are oriented towardscollective community use, while also being available for individual access. All CMCs seek to build up strong localcommunity ownership and participation. The CMC, whatever its size and configuration, is an information andcommunication platform that operates as a development service provider able to cover that crucial "last mile" toreach those in need.

A CMC generally offers a combination of for-profit and free or subsidised services. Access to training, internet,telephone, fax, scanning, radio messages and desktop publishing is usually priced at levels that seek togenerate a small profit for the CMC, or to enable it to break even, while remaining affordable for poorcommunities. At the same time, free or subsidised activities are offered for target groups such as women andgirls or unemployed youth, while important public information such as weather forecasts, health information ormarket prices benefits all.

The key to the success of these centres is their ability to collect, produce, exchange and disseminate relevantcontents for the development needs of individuals and of the community as a whole. The specific added value ofthe CMC lies in the way it combines local and global contact, local and global content, in an unbroken continuumof information and communication between local, national and international languages, between the spoken andthe written word, between traditional and new technologies. As an inclusive, "info-rich" force for development, theCMC not only meets identified learning and information needs, but also creates a new demand for learning,information and knowledge.

Taking CMCs to ScaleUNESCO, along with many other international development partners involved in ICT4D (information andcommunication technology for development), believes there is an urgent need to demonstrate that pilot ICT projectssuch as CMCs can break out of the "perpetual pilot" syndrome and go to scale.

Introduction

Since 2001, some forty pilot CMCs have been established in over fifteen developing countries in Africa, Asia and theCaribbean. These CMCs clearly demonstrate the platform's potential for social and economic development, offeringa way to combine both traditional knowledge and media with the huge potential of information sourcing and sharingprovided by the internet and other new information and communication technologies.

However, the impact of these pilots is inevitably limited. As UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan noted, in a messagefor the launch of the CMC scale-up initiative, "Our challenge now is to scale up…only then will CMCs realise theirenormous potential to make a positive difference to the lives of the poor and the marginalised".

In 2004, UNESCO and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) proposed a CMC scale-up initiative to the Heads of State of Mali, Mozambique and Senegal. All three agreed to champion theinitiative and participated in the launch during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Genevathat year.

UNESCO and SDC triggered the CMC scale up process, with stretch targets, rather than a single project cycle movingtowards a fixed goal, fully planned and funded at the outset. The CMC scale-up in Mali, Mozambique and Senegalinvolves a first phase now underway, with funds to develop twenty CMCs in each country in two years. It has a statedaim of reaching a level of fifty CMCs in each country. But if it is successful, it should eventually go beyond that targetto reach whatever density of facilities is necessary and feasible.

A key aim of the CMC scale-up is to encourage broad-based national ownership and national capacity to deliverand sustain a national network of CMCs. UNESCO is fostering the emergence of national ICT4D resource centresthat will offer expertise in training, applications, maintenance, networks and content production. This offers a way tobuild up the national capacity to deliver the project in a long-term, sustainable manner. Project implementation ishandled by national project teams.

Successful scale-up needs to federate the forces of all development partners. Several large-scale ICT4Dprojects in Africa are beginning to establish strong links with each other. For example, the partnersimplementing the Open Knowledge Network or OKN – and the CATIA (Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa)project, are cooperating closely with the CMC programme and its capacity-building component, theMultimedia Training Kit (MMTK). UNESCO plans to continue building on such partnerships in order to takemore CMC initiatives to scale in developing countries.

OrganisationOwnership Non-profit association

Start date Radio 1994, telecentre 2002

Staff 5 full-time, 4 volunteers

FacilitiesMedia in use FM radio; computers, internet

Set-up Telecentre co-located with FM radio

Number of PCs 12 public access/training,2 radio production,1 management/server

Telecentre Digital still camera; scanner, fax,photocopier; television; 20 KVAmaize-mill generator

Software Office applications; digital audio editing

Connectivity VSAT, 64/128 kbps

Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, 2 portable digital recorders,2 portable cassette recorders

Transmitter 250 watts, range 50-100 km

Frequency 104.2 FM

ServicesBroadcast Monday-Friday 6-9h, 18-23h,

Saturday-Sunday 7-10h, 17-23h

Telecentre Daily 8-24h

ICT Training Basic computing; intermediatecomputing: internet skills; digital audiotraining (for other local radio stations)

Other training Organisational management forNGOs; health, supplementalschooling, literacy skills

Other services Desktop publishing, fax, scanning,document binding, photocopying,digital photography, communitymeeting hall

Radio programming Overview 8 hours daily: 20% information,

36% culture, 32% entertainment,2% advertisements

Bulletins Weather, market prices,market schedules

Programmes Education, health, farming,livelihoods, traditional music andmusical instruments, story-telling,general culture

Languages 60% Bariba, 30% Peulh, 6% Dendi,3% French, 1% others

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs on desertification,

agriculture, wildlife protection,educational materials

Languages French

Other content National newspapers

Languages French

Banikoara

Name Banikoara CMC

Location Northern Benin

Address BP 47,Banikoara, Benin

Telephone (229) 650 050

Phone/fax (229) 650 200

Email [email protected],[email protected]

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 10,000 in Banikoara town,

150,000 in the districtLanguages French, Bariba, Peulh, Dendi,

Gourmanthé, Ditamari, Waama,Djerma, Fon

Distance from national capital 745 km, 10+ hours by roadto Cotonou

Distance from provincial capital 140 km, 3 hours by road to ParakouMain economic activities Cotton, farming, trade, crafts,

weaving, livestock tradingOther internet access None

Background and missionRadio Banigansé of Banikoara was established in 1994to promote participatory broadcasting with a focus onlocal realities and activities. The station encourages

local ownership and appropriation ofbroadcasting media and technologies.The addition of telecentre facilities in2002, supported by UNESCO,provided access to new technologiesfor both the radio and localcommunities. The radio is still themain source of information for the

district and the CMC’s VSAT internet connection allowsunique links with the outside world.

Location and contextBanikoara is a major cotton-producing centre some750 kilometres by road from Cotonou, the country’seconomic capital. Sixty kilometres from the nearestpaved road, Banikoara is remote and isolated,factors that are perceived as barriers to local socio-economic development. In the rainy season, thefinal stretch of earth road can become impassableeven for four-wheel drive vehicles. There is just onecotton processing factory and no othermanufacturing plants. The locality also producesgroundnuts, almonds, maize and rice. As thecountry ’s foremost cotton producing region,Banikoara experiences a high flux of migrantworkers at harvest time. This migratory labour forceposes a challenge to the prevention of HIV/AIDS inBanikoara. Subsistence economic activities includesmall scale farming and trade, weaving and otherlocal crafts. Aside from Radio Banigansé, the localityhas no other local media. National radio stationsignals can be received, but not television. Somenational newspapers are available. The CMC hasplans to start its own community television service.

PartnersIn the early 1990s, the Francophone DevelopmentAgency (then ACCT) supported a community radiodevelopment programme in the region, whichhelped establish Radio Banigansé. Subsequently theradio has developed partnerships with a wide rangeof international organisations: Radio FranceInternational provides access to radio programmes;

Deutche Welle donated a satellite television andradio receiver; the African Rural Radio Network,AMARC, Radio Nederland, PANOS and othershave provided various types of support.

The first building for the community radio was builtwith financial support from the Banikoara Co-operative Association for Farming Development(ACOODER) and the Union of Cotton Producers.Later, an annex building was constructed withfunding from the community.

UNESCO supported the establishment of amultimedia facility through its global CMCprogramme, including the computer networkand basic digital production facilities in early2002, the installation of VSAT in 2004 as wellas basic and intermediate training, all withfunds from the Swiss Agency for Developmentand Cooperation.

The CMC has a range of national partnerships withgovernment and civil society groups working inICTs, agriculture, environment, micro-finance,decentralisation and rural development

Local support for the CMC has been very strong.Among groups supporting the CMC are the cottonproducers’ union, the local government authorities,a number of NGOs involved in literacy work,religious groups and the local hospital.

IncomeThe CMC operates as an entirely self-reliantorganisation covering its operating costs, including themonthly VSAT subscription, from the following services:internet and email access, training, digital photography,office services, desktop publishing, advertising, and anincome-generating cafeteria.

Human resourcesThe CMC has five full-time staff members, four volunteersand a contract with a computer maintenance specialist.The radio also works with the Union of Cotton Producersand some seventy local women groups. A localmanagement committee of nineteen members directs theradio. The members of the committee are elected by a

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Banikoara CMC/UNESCO

local general assembly for a two-year mandate.The General Assembly consists of representatives fromeach of the ten townships of Banikoara.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC’s main activities are internet access, training andradio production and programming. Between 2002 and2005, five full computer training courses have taken place,aimed in particular at civil servants, NGO staff, activists infarmers’ and women’s associations and secondary schoolstudents. Every year, each of the five junior secondaryschools nominates its three most deserving girls for freecomputer training during the school holidays. The centrealso offers capacity building in key development areas,such as organisational skills. The CMC offers a range ofdocument services. Radio programming covers a widerange of development topics. The CMC has played a keyrole in introducing other radio stations in the region todigital audio. It runs literacy courses and offers specifictraining modules to women’s and villagers’ groups.Information on desertification, agriculture, environmentalprotection and education are retrieved from the internetand made available in the telecentre and on air.

In 2002, the radio created listeners’ societies in fiftyvillages of Banikoara. These societies monitor feedbackfrom listeners and bring it to the attention of the radioproducers in a continuous manner.

Achievements Banikoara CMC has “computerised” this large butisolated town. Before the telecentre opened, all of

Banikoara’s public departments had computerisationplans, but none were able to start implementing thembecause no one in the local government had everused a computer. When the CMC opened, itstraining courses were fully booked for months ahead;staff from all these departments have now acquiredIT skills and the computerisation of departments hasgone ahead.

Locally maintained and focused, with welldeveloped radio content and a dynamic andgrowing telecentre, the CMC is a successful localenterprise. The CMC has successfully managed itsown growth, expanding from four donatedcomputers to fifteen computers and a range ofactivities and services.

The CMC’s combination of local radio with newICTs has been a major factor in overcoming theBanikoara area’s isolation, which is perceived as akey obstacle to local development.

Constraints and challengesBanikoara has an unreliable power supply.The CMC’s main electricity supply comes from amodified corn-thresher that runs on diesel.

Internet connectivity is expensive and telephonelines are of poor quality.

There is some risk for the sustainability of the CMCgiven the increasing number of private cybercafés.

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Mohamed Alidou, the manager of Banikoara CMC, had a grand vision for the future facility when he, alongwith other radio managers, attended a workshop in Burkina Faso in 2001 on telecentre management.UNESCO equipped each of the participating radio stations with four computers and related equipment,preferring for the sake of sustainability that the CMCs should start small, then grow at their own pace andaccording to their capacity.

Banikoara did not appear initially to be a candidate for rapid growth. Its extreme isolation and absence ofany existing IT capacity to build on were major obstacles. However that assessment did not take into accountthe quiet tenacity and determination of the man everyone knows simply as Alidou. Within a year, he had builtup the telecentre to fifteen PCs – some old, some borrowed, but all working and meeting the huge demandfor training that kept theCMC’s computer coursesbooked for months ahead.The courses wereaffordable, some placeswere given free tomembers of target groupsincluding women andgirls. A steady profitwas generated, allowingthe CMC to expand otherservices. As the centrebecame the town’s socialhub, Alidou seized a newopportunity and opened acafé. When the dailyprotocol of dust preventionand maintenance provedinsufficient, he plantedflowers all round the CMC,radically reducing dust in the telecentre.

When UNESCO introduced a second phase of consolidation for the CMCs in the region, Banikoara was theideal candidate for the introduction of the first VSAT in an African CMC, as it was clearly capable of sustainingthe running costs. “Since we have had broadband, we have queues all day long and often cannot close ateleven PM – we have to stay open until midnight to meet the demand,” says Alidou. “But for me, the moststriking change is that we have been able to start radio browsing programmes and peasant farmers from thesurrounding countryside feel so empowered to possess information they know comes from the internet. Theysay they feel part of the Information Society.”

Banikoara: A home-grown venture


OrganisationOwnership Non-governmental organisation

Start date Cultural centre 2000,telecentre 2004


FacilitiesMedia in use Computers, internet; FM radio

(in development)

Set-up Telecentre co-located with culturalcentre and linked to local FM

Number of PCs 7 public access/training, 1 server

Telecentre Digital still camera; scanner,modem; television

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email; digital audio editing

Connectivity Dial-up, 48 kbps

Radio Airtime arrangement with localFM station

ServicesTelecentre Monday-Saturday 9-20h,

Sunday closed

ICT training Basic computing; intermediatecomputing: internet skills;digital photography

Other services Desktop publishing, fax, scanning,document binding, photocopying

Radio programming Overview Daily production for slot on local FM

station (planned for the end of 2005)

Programmes Radio browsing, introduction to ICTs,cultural programmes (planned by theend of 2005)

Languages Bariba, Peulh, Dendi, French

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs: literacy skills, office ICT

skills, software tutorials, generaleducation; encyclopaedias

Languages French

Other content Library National newspapers

Languages French

Segbèya

Name Segbèya CMC

Location Cotonou, South Benin

Address 03 BP 4448, Segbèya Township,Jéricho, Cotonou,Benin

Telephone (229) 98 34 74

Fax (229) 33 84 21

Email [email protected]

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 30,000 in Segbèya, 1.5 million

in Cotonou

Languages Bariba, Peulh, Dendi, French

Main economic activities Labour, trade, retail business:hotels, shops, transport, etc

Other internet access 3 cybercafés inthe neighbourhood

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Background and missionCulture de Quartier de Segbèya was established in2000 through UNESCO’s Culture in theNeighbourhood programme, supported by Swiss

National Commission for UNESCO.The centre’s goal is to promoteparticipatory cultural, social andeconomic development thatemphasises local cultures and culturaldiversity. The telecentre was added in2004 in order to reinforce the centre’scapacity to fight poverty by

empowering local people, particularly youth from poorand marginalised families, through access to newmedia and ICT skills and facilities. At the time ofpublication, radio programming is planned inconjunction with a local FM station. The CMC plans toadd its own community radio station in the future.

Location and contextSegbèya, which means ‘God refuses poverty’, is anoutlying neighborhood of Cotonou, Benin’s economicand political capital and a unique seaport. Cotonou ishome to the country’s main markets and key nationalinstitutions. Segbèya is close to the bridge across thelagoon that divides the city. There are three nearbycybercafés. The local private FM station, Radio Tokpa, isenthusiastic about the partnership with the CMC and isready to start the training of young volunteers at theCMC in radio production.

PartnersThe CMC’s main international partner is UNESCO.The Culture Sector launched the cultural centre in2000 as part of the Culture in the Neighbourhoodprogramme, supported by the Swiss NationalCommission for UNESCO, and the telecentrefacility was established in 2004 through the globalCMC programme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The local community contributed financiallytowards the establishment of the CMC. Most of thefinancial contributions came from members of theSteering Committee. One member donated thespace where the CMC is housed: a hotel buildingin a busy street of Segbèya.

Schools, traders’ associations, youth and womengroups are being mobilised to support the CMC asusers, participants and volunteers.

IncomeThe centre raises funds from drama plays, poetry, andother theatre productions. The cultural centre provideshuman resources to the new CMC in the form of amanager and two other general staff, but has not beenable to contribute financially to day-to-day operations.The CMC is still developing its services and is not yetraising revenue from training. Most of the income atpresent is earned from internet access and officeservices. The local community contributed theequivalent of 3,000 euros towards the CMC.

Human resources The centre has three full-time paid staff who coordinatethe cultural programmes and other activities associatedwith the CMC along with assistance of two volunteers.The volunteers provide technical assistance to individualtelecentre users and coaching during training sessions.The combination of cultural and telecentre facilities hasreinforced the role of both facilities as communitycentres. On average, thirty users visit per day andneighbouring schools also bring groups of students tosee and use the facilities.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC’s main activities are cultural events, providinginternet access and training. Radio production isexpected to start by the end of 2005. The CMC offerstraining in basic computing and digital photographyskills. Plans are underway to structure this dimension ofthe centre by setting up CMC user clubs, linking andnetworking users according to their interests andproviding specific, interest and need-based culturalactivities and programmes. The telecentre facilities arebeing used to support the CMC’s cultural mandate,both existing activities and new programmes. Locals arealso using the CMC to support economic activities:traders use internet to place orders and search out newpotential markets; local craft workers send digitalphotos – for example, of new shirt and shoe designs –to potential buyers in Europe and the USA. The centre isalso recognised as an important service for the Nigeriandiaspora that lives in the neighbourhood, whose

Segbèya CMC/UNESCO

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members use the facilities to keep in touch with theirfamilies, friends and associates.

AchievementsThe telecentre has become an important newmeeting place for local youth, who gather to docollective internet searches relating to their schoolwork and studies and to socialise; this developmentis significant as the CMC is viewed not only as asocially safe and positive space, but also oneassociated with new ideas and opportunities.

The CMC has introduced a series of new services andopportunities for the local population, among theminternet links to other countries and relatives and newICT-based support services for local business.

Constraints and challengesThe area has a poor electricity infrastructure, whichresults in frequent power failures.

There is limited connectivity during lengthy periodsdue to storm damage to the installations of localinternet service providers.

The local area is already serviced by severalcybercafés making it a competitive market.Developing well-adapted, marketable serviceswith limited financial capital for investment is amajor challenge.

Dedicatory Poem by Benin poetErick Hector HounkpeA friend opened my eyesWith a screenWith a hard driveWith a keyboard and a mouseAnd the friend said “click”“Click” and the world will spread out before you

Do you want knowledge?Do you want contacts?Do you want opportunities? Happiness?Do you want to feel close to a far-away relation?“Click!”

This friend was the Segbèya Community Multimedia CentreThis friend was the InternetThis friend was Culture in the Neighbourhood, the CIERROproject, UNESCOAnd I said “Thank you”“Thank you, my friend”

Segbèya CMC/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Private cultural organisation

Start date Cultural centre 1996, CMC 2001



Set-up Telecentre and community radioco-located with cultural centre

Number of PCs 7 public access/training, 3administration/research/production

Telecentre Digital still camera; scanner, printer,modem, CD writers, photocopier

Software Office applications; digital editing:multimedia, audio


Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,portable digital recorders

Transmitter 100 watts, 45 km range

Frequency 97.7 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 6-23h

Telecentre Monday-Saturday 8-22h,closed Sunday

ICT training Basic computing; intermediatecomputing: internet skills, basicmultimedia production; radioand video recording, editingand production

Other training Literacy

Other services Desktop publishing, fax, scanning,document binding, photocopying,digital photography

Radio programming Overview 17 hours daily: 25% music, 35%

community/public affairs, 35%arts/culture, 5% advertisements

Bulletins Community activities

Programmes Health, agriculture, education,culture and arts, environment, society

Languages French, Mooré, Jula, Peulh, Bobo,Dagara, Bissa, Gourounsi, Bwamu,Gourmantché

Digital content Learning tools Literacy CD-ROM; digital books

Languages French

Other content Library Wide range of books;

national newspapers

Languages French

Dassasgho

Name Gambidi CMCLocation Central Burkina FasoAddress 01 BP 3479, Ouagadougou 01,

Burkina Faso Telephone (226) 50 365 942Fax (226) 50 365 942Email [email protected]

[email protected] Website http://pp.ispfp.ch/oafrique

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 2,000,000 in Ouagadougou

Languages Jula, Peulh, Bissa,Mooré, French

Main economic activities Trade, industry, farming,handicraft production

Other internet access Numerous private cybercafés inthe neighbourhood and otherparts of the city

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Background and missionThe CMC in Dassasgho was established in 2001 at EspaceCulturel Gambidi, a cultural centre that dates back to1996. The cultural centre was set up through UNESCO’sCulture in the Neighbourhood programme, supported bythe Swiss National Commission for UNESCO, with the goalof promoting participatory cultural, social and economicdevelopment. The centre emphasises local cultures,languages and cultural diversity. The centre aims to meetneeds across the neighbourhood community, includingspecific concerns of youth, women, the elderly andminorities. The objective of the CMC is to reinforce andencourage social dialogue on issues related to thecommunity: education, cultural diversity and self-awarenessthrough access to ICTs and skill development.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in Dassasgho, on the easternoutskirts of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso,five kilometres from downtown, near the NationalMuseum. There are a dozen primary schools and onesecondary school, five markets, and numerousdispensaries in the local area. The neighbourhood ispoor and has quite low rates of literacy, especiallyamong women. There is little economic activity inDassasgho itself and those who have employment tendto work in other parts of the city. Gambidi Radio coversa radius of some forty-five kilometres. With the majorityof radio, television and print media concentrated in thecentre of Ouagadougou, Gambidi is the only localmedia in the area. There are a dozen cybercafés in theneighbourhood with competitive prices. Located withinthe country’s capital area, Dassasgho has access to thevast majority of the country’s media, from radio andtelevision to daily and weekly newspapers.

PartnersEspace Culturel Gambidi is the main organisationalvehicle for the CMC. It funded the refurbishment ofthe building that houses the radio and providesongoing operational support. The centre wasinitially established through UNESCO’s Culture inthe Neighbourhood programme.

UNESCO also supported the establishment of theradio and telecentre facilities, gave the initialtraining programmes and continues to provide

materials and technical expertise through its globalCMC programme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

Oxfam Quebec has also supported the CMC,notably by providing volunteer trainers.

Other partnerships support specific programmesand projects and include the following: the Ministryof Arts, Culture and Tourism, the Ministry ofInformation and the Burkinabé CopyrightCorporation (BBDA), local press agencies, Echangeset Productions Radiophoniques (EPRA), the FrenchEmbassy, the American Cultural Centre, Théâtre dela Fraternité and the International Theatre andPuppet Festival of Ouagadougou (FITMO).

IncomeSome thirty percent of the CMC’s total income isgenerated from the following services: public fax,scanning, desktop publishing, training, internet access,radio announcements and messages. The balance iscovered through funding from Espace Culturel Gambidiand the Ministry of Information. The contributions ofthirty volunteers are also essential to the CMC’sfinancial sustainability.

Human resourcesThe CMC is primarily managed and patronised by youngpeople from the neighbourhood. The centre has four paidstaff: one full-time manager for the CMC operations, onetechnician and two administrators. There are thirty regularvolunteers who assist in all aspects of the CMC’soperations. Volunteers play an active role in mobilisingthe audience and organising cultural events.Approximately twenty people visit the CMC everyday forcomputer training, to use internet and other services. Theradio has an average of thirty guests per week.

Main focus of activitiesWith programmes and services that address groupsworking in culture, education and community issues, theCMC has associations with a wide range of groups. TheCMC is an important means of expression for women,street children and artists of all disciplines. An importantfocus is on promoting positive local role models: youngartists, students, traditional craftsmen, peasants,

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tradesmen, etc. The CMC has sought to bring traditionalcultural activities and the CMC together by broadcastinglive festivals and special events. Likewise Radio Gambidi isa window for expression of various ethnic groups and

cultures in a range of languages. Theradio staff are often asked to covercultural events, shows and festivals inOuagadougou and surroundingprovinces. The radio has createdlisteners’ clubs and cultural activities arecarried out on a regular basis withstrong participation from the community

through the clubs. Cultural events are linked with existingradio programmes in specific local languages. Folkgroups and artists are often invited to participate in radioevents. The CMC also has a strong focus on communityeducation, particularly computing skills, literacy, health,environment and awareness of social issues.

AchievementsThe CMC was the first independent radio tobroadcast in local languages. At the time ofpublication nine local languages were spoken onthe radio.

The radio is an essential cultural medium giving thecommunity the opportunity to show their culture totheir children, to other cultural groups and to all ofOuagadougou. The radio’s programming andevents serve as a framework of free expression thatpromotes intercultural dialogue, social harmonyand a culture of peace.

The CMC organised the invisible friends cyber-game, an email correspondence programme

organised with a large number of local studentsand other neighbourhood youth. The gamerequires participants to hide their identity whileestablishing an email correspondence and onlylater do they discover the gender, ethnic group andoccupation of their correspondent. The aim is toencourage tolerance and peace by promotingdialogue among various groups and cultures.

The CMC also organised Paga Teint Naturel, meaningnatural skin complexion, an event to sensitise womenand girls to the dangers of using harmful cosmeticproducts to lighten their skin. A beauty contest to elect“Miss Natural Skin” was broadcast live.

Constraints and challenges Dassasgho has an irregular power supply; there arefrequent cuts lasting several hours. The CMC hasno back-up generator and therefore services areregularly interrupted.

At only 100 watts, the CMC’s transmission power isrelatively weak compared to commercial radiostations, which average 1000 watts. The signal isnot clear in several parts of Ouagadougou.

The CMC’s dial-up internet connection is adisadvantage in comparison to the higher speedinternet services available at local commercialcybercafés, resulting in a loss of customers due touncompetitive prices.

High staff and volunteer turnover is a majorchallenge in building human capacity andmaintaining services.

Gambidi CMC/UNESCO Gambidi CMC/UNESCO

Gambidi CMC/UNESCO



Staff 12 full-time, 3 part-time,4 associates, 40+ volunteers

FacilitiesMedia in use FM radio; computers, CD-ROMs

Set-up Telecentre co-located withcommunity radio

Number of PCs 2 public access/training,5 production

Other equipment Digital cameras: still, video;LCD projector; scanner, printer

Software Office applications; broadcastprogramme manager, music rostermanager; digital editing:audio, video

Connectivity None (pending attime of publication)

Radio 1 broadcast studio, 2 productionstudios, 1 open-air studio; portableminidisc recorders

Transmitter 1000 watts, range 100 km

Frequency 93.3 FM


Telecentre Daily 7-18h (planned)

ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications; radio production:programme production, newsreporting, broadcasting,technical operations

Other training Participatory community research

Other services Secretarial services, digital video andstill camera hire

Radio programming Overview 17 hours daily: 37% public affairs,

15% news, 10% traditional music,35% entertainment music,3% announcements

Bulletins News, weather, market prices

Programmes Health, agriculture, environment,culture, social issues, governance,literacy, family life; programmesproduced with occupational anddemographic groups: fishmongers,fishermen, women farmers, malefarmers, public transport drivers,children, elders, Christian andMuslim religious programmes

Languages Dangme

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs: literacy; typing, basic

and advanced computer tutorials;encyclopaedias

Languages English

Ada

Name Ada CMCLocation Southeastern GhanaAddress Box 33, Big Ada,

Dangme East District, GhanaTelephone (233) 968 22371Fax (233) 968 22371Email stnhead.radioada@

ghanacommunityradio.org, [email protected]

Webpage www.ghanacommunityradio.org(in development)

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 100,000 in Ada and the surrounding area;

500,000 in the overall broadcast area

Languages Dangme; dialects: Ada, Gbugbla,Klo, Ningo, Se

Distance from national capital 110 km, 2 hours by road to Accra

Distance from district capital 10 km to Ada Foah

Main economic activities Fishing, subsistence farming, salt mining,petty trading, crafts, stone cracking,sand mining

Other internet access None locally; one private internet centre60 km away in neighbouring district

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Background and mission Radio Ada went on air in February 1998, the firstcommunity radio in Ghana. Identified as Dangmeli agbi or ‘the voice of the Dangme-speaking people’, themission of the radio is to support the developmentaspirations and objectives of the Dangme people in allspheres of life, to provide a local communication outlet,especially to marginalised groups, to support thedynamic growth of Dangme culture, and to encourage,promote and contribute to informed dialogue andreflective action. The station broadcasts exclusively inthe Dangme language and offers a “window to theworld” for local populations. The creation of a CMC isintended to widen this window, particularly for the area’syouth. The telecentre was added in 2005 throughUNESCO’s global CMC programme with the objectiveof expanding the community’s access to informationresources and communication technologies byincreasing the scope of services and range of toolsavailable through the community’s local media facility.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in Big Ada, the traditional centre ofDangme East, a district of some 100,000 people. Thedistrict administrative capital is in the adjacent/twin townof Ada Foah. Radio Ada broadcasts to all four Dangme-speaking districts in the country: Dangme East, DangmeWest, Manya Krobo and Yilo Krobo, with a combinedpopulation of approximately 500,000. The telecentreprimarily serves communities in Dangme East. There isone minor local market at Ada Foah and one majormarket at the town of Kasseh, on the highway to Togo,Benin and Nigeria. Busy markets can also be found inthe adjacent Dangme-speaking districts; one of whichcontinues a thriving barter trade practice. AlthoughGhana’s capital is only 100 kilometres away by road, theDangme districts are relatively isolated. While Dangme-speaking districts retain a cohesive sense of identity,community and pride in their common traditions,differences in language, the overall poverty of the areaand negative perceptions of social status constrainaccess, interaction and integration at the national level.

Ada and its surrounding villages lie at the estuary of theVolta River and the Atlantic Ocean. The area’s uniquescenery, including small islands and mangroves, hashelped earmark Ada as one of the country’s prime tourist

destinations and a wetlands biodiversity project is alsobased in the area; however for local residentssubsistence fishing and farming are the main sources ofeconomic livelihood. Other local employment includessalt mining, petty trading, crafts production, stonecracking and sand mining. In recent years, fish stockshave depleted considerably – a particular concern giventhe growing population. Towns and villages along thearea’s coastline are experiencing increasingly severeerosion from the sea. Salination of the soil combinedwith low rainfall limit agricultural produce mainly tovegetables such as tomatoes and okras; traditional cropssuch as tiger nuts and bambara beans are no longersupported by the changing soil composition. Althoughthe damming of the Volta River reduced flooding in thearea and generates electricity for the country, it hasexacerbated bilharzias and dried up small freshwaterbodies that used to support dry season fishing. Somelocal villages fall within the Songor Lagoon area, whichas one of the richest natural salt deposits in the regionhas been slated for development through foreign directinvestment. Ironically, however, these villages are amongthe poorest in the district.

Ghana does not have any African-language dailynewspapers published on a regular basis. Circulation ofEnglish-language papers is limited and English literacyis well below fifty percent. Relatively close to Accra,Ghana’s capital, Ada receives the transmissions fromtwo public and fifteen commercial radio and televisionstations as well as three foreign radio services. Severalcellular telephone companies are also operating in thetown and surrounding areas.

PartnersA member of the Dangme community in Ada whois a strong proponent of community radio providedland and premises for the radio station.

Equipment for the radio station was provided byUNESCO, the Stem Foundation for West Africa, theWorld Association for Christian Communication,and the Freevoice Foundation of the Netherlands.Freevoice and IBIS have also supported thedevelopment of small bureaus in neighbouringdistrict offices as well as having provided second-hand vehicles.

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UNESCO, Ford Foundation West Africa Office andPANOS, among others, have supported radiotraining and the production of radio programmes.

UNESCO supported the addition of the telecentrethrough its global CMC programme, funded by theSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Local district assemblies have financed a dieselgenerator as well as bicycles.

Various national NGOs sponsor radio programmesas part of their development activities in thestation’s broadcast area.

Income The radio station generates the bulk of its income frompaid music requests, messages and announcements; asa result of cultural and social practice, most of theannouncements are for funerals. This basic incomeenables the station to cover its basic running costs,including electricity and generator fuel andmaintenance. Regular income also provides for modestsalaries (living allowances) of a dozen staff. A smallpercentage of programmes are sponsored bydevelopment organisations. The degree of engagementof the station with its community and the resulting scaleof activity is possible only because of the dedication andinputs of volunteers. At the time of publication, thetelecentre had not regularised its income generatingservices; however the CMC has started some paidservices and anticipates additional revenue fromtraining and internet access as well as documentservices, desktop publishing and videography.

Human resourcesThe CMC has a staff of twelve, who manage thecentre’s operations, programmes and services, fromadministration to on-air productions and training. Someforty regular volunteers, many working nearly full-time,are involved with the radio, mostly as programmeproducers and facilitators; they work alongsidenumerous community members who participate inprogrammes as guests and advisors. Volunteers, otherparticipants and the CMC’s management committee,include many long-time supporters and represent across-section of the community: fishermen and

fishmongers, farmers, traders, artisans, students,teachers, civil servants, etc. The CMC also hasassociate staff, essentially volunteers who are paid asmall stipend, in each of the area’s four district seats.

Main focus of activities The radio is on air seventeen hours a day and maintainsa high degree of community engagement. Theparticipatory approach of the station is extremelyresource-intensive, involving constant visits to remotevillages and hamlets to gather information, assesscommunity needs and record various programmes withthe active participation of community members. Newlyestablished at the time of publication, the distinctivefeatures of the CMC will become more precise as itsoperations evolve; however plans focus on training,access to information by the community and researchinputs to the radio’s programmes, especially specialisedprogramming for occupational groups throughout theCMC’s listening community; for example, timely, up-to-date weather information will be of immense benefit tofarmer and fishing groups. The telecentre’s facilities arealso intended to significantly enrich news, public serviceannouncements and general knowledge programming,for example on topics such as soil regeneration andbiodiversity. The CMC has already started to facilitatelinkages with civil society and advocacy groups onstrategic local issues such as protecting small fishermenfrom large-scale trawling abuses, protecting localculture in the face of tourism and ensuring thatindigenous communities benefit from mineral resourcedevelopment. The success of other CMCs in the regionwith finding external markets for local products will alsobe emulated. Linking up with schools and enrichingclassroom teaching is another priority as is furtherdeveloping linkages among the different districts andfostering a cohesive local information andcommunication network. Radio Ada is also a foundingmember of the Ghana Community Radio Network andserves as a training hub for the network.

Achievements Radio Ada was the first community radio in Ghana.The station’s success in maintaining consistentbroadcasting and operations, its growth, especiallyin terms of providing services to surroundingdistricts, and its focus on community participation

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provides a positive model and a source of trainingexpertise for other radios in Ghana and the region.

Dangme communities have consistently identified RadioAda as their preferred and most valued radio service forits prioritisation of the local language, production ofrelevant content and its focus on local culture.

The CMC has built up a strong degree of localcommunity ownership. In addition to regularparticipation in day-to-day activities andprogramming, community members have alsodonated bicycles, items of furniture and even a

baby crocodile (which the enthusiastic donors werepersuaded to return to the nearby river).

Constraints and challengesThe absence, to the time of publication, of internetconnectivity is a major constraint in terms of fullyoperationalising the telecentre and offering servicesto the public. Telephone lines are of insufficientquality to carry data and the cost of commercialbroadband or wireless services is prohibitive. TheCMC hopes that a barter arrangement with a localwireless telecom company will have connectivity inplace by the end of 2005.

“ It is ours. It speaks our language the way we speak it. It carriesour voices. It reflects our development priorities. It promotesour culture. Without Radio Ada, we would lose our language,we would lose our culture… we would lose who we are.A local woman in Ada speaking aboutthe role of the radio ”

Ada CMC/UNESCO


Start date 2005



Set-up Radio and telecentre co-locatedwith cultural centre

Number of PCs 3 public access/training,1 radio production

Telecentre Digital still camera; scanner,printer; mobile telephone

Software Office applications; digitalaudio editing

Connectivity None

Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,suitcase radio, 2 portablecassette recorders


Frequency 102.7 FM (permanent frequencystill to be allocated)



ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications

Other training Literacy, marketing; other non-formaltraining, e.g. handicraft production,are organised when there is demand

Other services Desktop publishing, secretarialservices, public mobiletelephone, scanning

Radio programming Overview 60% community affairs, 30% local

and international music, 10% news

Bulletins Weather, market prices, news

Programmes Health, agriculture, education,cultural dramas

Languages 60% Ga, 30% Twi, 10% Hausa, Ewe

Digital content Learning tools Literacy CD-ROM; encyclopaedia

Languages English

Pokuase

Name Pokuase CMC

Location Southeastern Ghana

Address PO Box AN 10117,Pokuase Town,Accra-North, Ghana

Telephone (233) 21 220 082, 27 779 4352

Fax (233) 21 220 082


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 700,000 in Pokuase and the

surrounding area

Languages Ga, Twi, Hausa, Ewe, English

Distance from national capital 25 km, 1 hour by road to Accra

Distance from regional capital 20 km, 30 minutes to Nsawam

Main economic activities Trade, farming, fishing

Other internet access Internet cafés in Accra,25 km away

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Background and missionThe Ghana Centre was established throughUNESCO’s Culture in the Neighborhoodprogramme with funds from the Swiss NationalCommission for UNESCO. The centre was launchedin the late 1990s and registered in 2003. Its mainobjective is to promote participatory cultural, socialand economic development emphasising localcultures and cultural diversity and to help developthe marginalised Ga rural district communities.Radio Daetsrifa and the Pokuase CMC wereestablished in 2005 with support from UNESCO’sglobal CMC programme. The combined facility isowned by the people of Ga District and managed bythe Ghana Centre. The CMC was established toprovide development information and ICT skills tothe local communities.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in Pokuase village, abouttwenty-five kilometres north of Accra, the capital ofGhana. Pokuase means ‘edge of a hill/mountain’.Pokuase is home to the indigenous Ga people. Thearea has historical significance as the origin ofmigrants who settled in Accra and others of thecountry. The Pokuase area is governed by atraditional chief, who is also the chairperson of thelocal CMC steering committee. There are localmarkets in Pokuase village along with a number ofinformal businesses, mostly related to trade infarming and fishing commodities. Despite its relativeproximity to Accra, there is no piped water, electricitywas only recently installed and the area has fewschools and high rates of illiteracy andunemployment. Pokuase has access to both nationaland private commercial FM radio and televisionstations. Radio Daetsrifa is the only community radiostation in the district. There are no localnewspapers, however there are national papers fromthe capital. At the time of publication there was onlymobile phone coverage in Pokuase village. As yet,the area has no internet access.

PartnersUNESCO has been the centre’s maininternational partner. The cultural centre wasestablished with funds from the Swiss National

Commission for UNESCO and the CMCfacilities through UNESCO’s global CMCprogramme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

Other partners include the District Assembly, theMinistry of Agriculture, the District EducationService and the Grand Rapid/Ga District SisterCity Committee: a collaboration launched in2000, it draws support from well wishers inMichigan, USA.

IncomeAt the time of publication, the CMC was newlyestablished and services were only just beingintroduced. Planned income generating servicesinclude training, scanning, printing and mobiletelephone and when facilities and infrastructure allow,photocopying and paper binding as well as fax,landline telephone and internet access. The radiostation will develop revenue streams from communityservice announcements and programme sponsorship.

Human resourcesThe CMC has an initial paid staff of eight: a stationmanager, two programme producers/presenters, an ICTsupervisor/trainer, one receptionist, one cleaner andtwo security guards. Staff are assisted by a team of tencommunity volunteers, who help with radio production,peer training and general duties associated with theCMC’s operations.

Main focus of activitiesAlongside providing information and other servicesto the community-at-large, the CMC has a specialfocus on training workers from different agriculturalassociations and their families in basic computingskills. The radio station plans to support literacylearning and training of activists on general healthwith a focus on the dissemination of informationabout HIV/AIDS and the prevention of malaria.Although the CMC is mandated to serve thecommunity as a whole with information andcommunication services that were previouslyunavailable to the public, there are also plans toconduct special ICT training for local youth, womenand the physically challenged in order to help

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promote sustainable livelihoods. The CMC alsoplans to set up a library of information resourcescontaining both digital and print materials.

AchievementsAt the time of publication, the CMC was still in itsvery early stages of development; however theestablishment of the CMC itself is a majoraccomplishment and a significant development forthe local community. The CMC is the only localmedia and the first accessible communication andinformation facility in a poor and otherwisedisconnected and marginalised area.

Constraints and challengesThe telecentre currently has only three computersfor public access; the fourth is used for radioproduction. To meet the demand of users, the CMCanticipates the need additional computers andreliable internet connectivity.

Limited facilities combined with limited capital forinvestment is a challenge. In order to generatefunds through paid services, the CMC will need toexpand facilities, specifically a photocopier anddocument-binding machine.

Pokuase CMC/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Non-profit organisation





Number of PCs 3 public access/training,1 administration

Telecentre Digital still camera, scanner,photocopier, modem

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email, chat; desktoppublishing; digital audio editing



Frequency 98.1 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 7-12h, 16-24h


ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, email;intermediate computing: officeapplications, internet searching;advanced: web design, digital editing:audio, image; radio production

Other training Literacy, accounting, marketing

Other services Desktop publishing, public phone,fax, scanning, photocopying,digital photography

Radio programming Overview 13 hours daily: 50% music,

25% community/public affairs,10% news, 5% arts,10% youth information

Bulletins Agriculture products market pricesand weather

Programmes Health, agriculture, animalhusbandry; youth issues, sports

Languages 60% Bambara, 20% Soninké,15% French, 5% Maure

Digital content Bulletins Weather, market prices,

governmental information onthe internet

Learning tools Locally produced CD-ROM: RuralDevelopment in the Sahel;encyclopaedias

Banamba

Name Banamba CMC

Location Southern Mali

Address BP 21, Banamba,Mali

Telephone (223) 625 6834

Fax (223) 226 2122


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 28,000 in Banamba town, another

150,000 in surrounding areasLanguages Bambara, Soninké, Maure,

Peulh, FrenchDistance from national capital 150 km, 3 hours by road to BamakoDistance from regional capital 85 km, 1+ hour by road

to KoulikoroMain economic activities Agriculture: peanut farming;

animal husbandry, trade Other internet access None locally; private internet

access in Bamako, 150 km away

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Background and missionBanamba Radio was created in 1995 through theefforts of the local community supported by PlanInternational, an international developmentorganisation. As part of its CMC scale-up initiativeand following strong interest from the Banambacommunity, UNESCO supported the addition oftelecentre facilities in 2005. The goal of the newcombined facility is to contribute to the area’s socio-economic development by raising local awareness ofinformation and communication applications, andfostering new skills and opportunities to use mediaand ICT tools.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in the middle of the Banambamarket, in the same facility as the community radio.The headquarters of the cercle (district)administration, Banamba lies eighty-five kilometresnorth of the regional capital at Koulikoro and 150kilometres by road northeast of Bamako, Mali’scapital city. The area is part of the Sahel, a semi-aridzone bordering the Sahara Desert to the north.Agriculture is the main source of livelihood.Banamba is one of Mali’s major peanut growingareas. As in other parts of the Sahel, cattle rearingis an important part of local livelihoods. Literacyrates are low and overall, Banamba is a poor areawith roughly forty-five percent of the populationbelow the poverty line. Banamba is known as amigration zone. Many of the area’s young peoplemigrate to Democratic Republic of Congo andGabon to support their families. There are no otherlocal media in the area; however Mali’s nationaltelevision and radio services are both available(broadcast from a regional transmission station inBanamba itself). Major newspapers from the capitalare also available.

The CMC’s power is provided by an innovative powersystem called the multifunction platform, whichprovides electricity for the village as well as otherpower services. Part of a national government’sstrategy to provide power in rural areas that are notpart of the national grid, the platform revenues areexempt from any taxes. The system is not only costeffective but also has the potential to generate

revenue, for instance through charging batteries ofindividuals and businesses in the neighbourhood.

PartnersPlan International supported the initial establishmentof the Banamba Radio.

UNESCO supported the addition of telecentrefacilities through the Mali CMC scale-upinitiative funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

Locally, the CMC has been supported by theassociation of ressortissants (nationals) of Banambaand by members of the local community who raisedfunds to house the telecentre.

IncomeOnly recently established at the time of publication,the CMC is planning to raise revenue from paidservices: public telephone, computer and othertraining, internet access, desktop publishing, scanningand photography. With enriched services, it is alsoexpected that revenue from radio announcements andpaid messages, currently the main source of incomefor the radio, will increase.

Human resources During its establishment phase, the CMC has a total offour full-time, paid staff. The telecentre has a managerand an assistant; the radio has a director and afinancial manager. Together they handle the CMC’soperations with the support of six volunteers, three eachfor the radio and the telecentre. Volunteers are localyouth, mostly newly graduated, who come to getexperience, access the facilities and build theirknowledge of ICT.

Main focus of activitiesAlongside ongoing radio programming, the mainfocus of activities at the time of publication isbuilding staff capacity for the new telecentre facilitythrough training. The CMC is providing intensivetraining in the use of various ICT hardware andsoftware as well as in management and programmedevelopment skills for CMC managers and the localsteering committees.

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AchievementsAs with other new centres in isolated rural areas, theestablishment of Banamba CMC is a majorachievement. At the time of publication, theinstallation of the equipment was finished, initialtraining had been provided, and local managementcommittees were elected.

Encouraged and facilitated by the mayorand the municipality, the telecentre spacewas built with funds collected throughvolunteer contributions from communitymembers themselves.

The introduction of the multifunction platformhas solved the problem of electricity cutsthrough an innovative solution supported by thenational government.

Constraints and challengesInternet connectivity is still somewhat unreliable,which is a major constraint given the importance oflinkages provided by the world wide web and emailfor an isolated community.

Sustainability is a key challenge in the face oflimited awareness of the potential benefits of newICTs and local poverty.

Teriya Amitié Mali Association

OrganisationOwnership Civil society association




Set-up Telecentre co-located with localradio

Number of PCs 3 public access/training, 1 staff

Telecentre Digital still camera, scanner,printer, photocopier



Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,portable minidisc recorders


Frequency 96.2 FM


Telecentre Daily 7h30-21h

ICT training Basic and intermediate computing,web skills

Other services Desktop publishing, scanning,photocopying; digital photography;public phone; printed copies ofonline newspapers



Bulletins Agricultural market prices, weather

Programmes Health, agriculture, youth issues

Languages 50% Sonrhaï, 15% Touareg,30% Bambara, 5% French


governmental informationfrom the internet

Learning tools CD-ROMs: Rural Development in theSahel; tutorials: word processing,spreadsheets, internet

Goundam

Name Goundam CMC

Location Northern Mali

Address BP 362 Goundam,Mali

Telephone (223) 293 2074(223) 293 2012


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 12,000+ in Goundam and

the immediate area

Languages Peulh, Maure, Sonrhaï, Touareg,Bambara, Bozo, French

Distance from national capital 1,044 km, 12+ hours by roadto Bamako

Distance from regional capital 97 km, 1.5 hours by road to Timbuktu

Main economic activities Agriculture: sorghum, rice; animalhusbandry, fishing

Other internet access None locally; 100 km awayin Timbuktu

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Background and missionGoundam Radio was set up in 2002 by a private groupsupported by the Goundam municipality. In 2005, throughits CMC scale-up initiative in Mali, UNESCO supported theaddition of a telecentre facility to the community radiocreating the Goundam CMC, which is owned andoperated by a local association. The overall goal, buildingon the mandate of the radio, is to contribute to localdevelopment through expanded access to informationresources and communication tools as a means toempower young people and the community-at-large.

Location and context The Goundam CMC is located in the centre of the town,very close to the market, the municipal administration andtown hall. Located on the bank of the Niger River roughly100 kilometers southwest of Timbuktu, Goundam is aTouareg desert town. The main sources of livelihood arerice, sorghum and wheat cultivation, livestock rearing andfishing. Goundam is quite isolated and access is difficult,particularly in the rainy season from June to September.The area has been affected by ongoing droughts that haveresulted in the degradation of existing natural resources,which combined with the slackening of developmentefforts has driven some residents into leaving the area. Thelevel of literacy is low, mirrored by other developmentindicators. There are no other local electronic media in theGoundam area and only one small local newspaper;national radio and television are both available.

PartnersThe radio was established with the support of theGoundam municipality and is now run by alocal association.

The addition of telecentre facilities, internetconnectivity and capacity building was madepossible through support from UNESCO’s CMCscale-up initiative in Mali, funded by the SwissAgency for Development and Cooperation.

The local community collected funds to buildpremises for the telecentre and to renovate theradio facilities.

IncomeFreshly established at the time of publication, the CMC isplanning to earn revenue from paid telecentre services,namely training courses in computing and other skills,public telephone and internet access, desktop publishingand other document services, scanning and photography.

The radio generates income primarily through paidannouncements and messages as well as sponsorshipsfrom non-governmental organisations during communitysensitisation and awareness campaigns, generallyconcerned with vaccination and elections.

Human resourcesThe CMC has three paid staff: a manager and anassistant for the telecentre and a director for the radio.They are full-time paid staff and look after most of theCMC operations. There are also five volunteers, threeworking with the radio, two for the telecentre. Volunteershelp the CMC staff to conduct training sessions andsupport the radio programming by collecting localinformation. The only facility of its kind in Goundam, theCMC is rapidly developing as a multipurpose communitycentre attracting regular visitors and engaging a range ofparticipants from the community, especially youth.

Main focus of activitiesIn addition to ongoing radio production, the main focus ofactivities in the initial CMC establishment phase is on trainingstaff in ICT and other relevant skills, in particular CMCprogramme development, coordination and management.The CMC is in the process of collecting information aboutthe local area that will form the basis of a local website.

AchievementsAs with other new CMCs in isolated and sparselypopulated rural areas, the establishment of theGoundam centre is a major achievement. At thetime of publication, the installation of theequipment was finished, initial training programmeshad also been completed, and local managementcommittees were elected and functioning.

The local community has demonstrated theircommitment to the establishment of the CMCfacility: the space for telecentre was built with fundscollected from the community itself.

Constraints and challengesEnvironmental conditions in desert areas,particularly dust and heat (often in excess of fortydegrees centigrade), pose a major challenge for themaintenance of equipment, especially thecomputers, printers and other new technologies.

Although the CMC has an internet connection, it isunstable, which presents challenges in terms ofmaintaining consistent services and developinginformation programmes.

OrganisationOwnership Community association




Set-up Telecentre co-located with1 community radio and linked to3 other local radios


Telecentre Digital still camera; scanner, printer,photocopier; modem, telephone

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email; desktop publishing;multimedia content packaging,digital editing: audio, image



Transmitter 20 watts with 500 watt amplifier,range 60 km

Frequency 102.2 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 7-12h and 16-00h


ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications; intermediatecomputing: internet skills;radio production

Other training Literacy skills, accounting, marketing

Other services Desktop publishing, newspapersprinted from web, business cards,flyers, public phone, fax, scanning,document binding, photocopying,digital photography



Bulletins Market prices, agricultureand weather

Programmes Health, agriculture, local currentaffairs, music

Languages Malinké, Kassonké, Sarakolé,Peulh, Maure, French


governmental information

Learning tools CD-ROMs: Rural Development in theSahel; encyclopaedias

Kayes

Name Kayes CMC

Location Western Mali

Address BP 61, Kayes, Mali

Telephone (223) 252 3755

Fax (223) 252 3736


Website http://www.promali.org/rrk/

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 100,000 in Kayes municipality

Languages Malinké, Kassonké, Sarakolé,Peulh, Maure, French

Distance from national capital 650 km, 8 hours by roadfrom Bamako

Main economic activities Agriculture: peanuts, millet;subsistence farming, animalhusbandry: cattle; fishing;trade, crafts

Other internet access 2 km away at SOTELMA, nationaltelecom operator

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Background and missionThe first independent rural radio in Mali, Radio Rurale deKayes was established in 1987, with the support of twoItalian NGOs, Terra Nuova and GAO, the Italian agency

for international cooperation andURTEL, the Union des Radios et desTelecentres Libres of Mali. UNESCOsupported the addition of a telecentrewith computers, other equipment andinternet connectivity in 2003. Buildingon the mission of the radio as aninstrument of awareness, information,

training, education and rural development, the overallgoal of the CMC is to make information andcommunication tools more accessible, especially to thepoor, as a means to improve their own lives. Thetelecentre facility is shared with other local radio stations.In Mali, most towns have several small radio stations andUNESCO’s CMC development strategy has been to seekto ensure that all the stations in a locality have equalaccess to and benefit from the telecentre facilities thatare housed in one of the stations.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in Kayes, the administrative andcommercial centre for the region of Mali borderingSenegal in the west. The area is also part of the Sahel,the semi-arid lands bordering the Sahara desert to thenorth. Situated about eighty kilometres east of the borderof Senegal, Kayes is relatively isolated from the centre ofMali, but represents the midway point for trade betweenDakar and Bamako. The agricultural economy isdominated by peanut and gum Arabic farming. Livestockis raised in the area and the town also has a series oftanneries. Fishing, crafts and trade are other importantlocal economic activities. A port on the Senegal River,Kayes lies at the upper limit of navigation on the Senegaland is also an important rail terminus. Though a poorregion, Kayes is an expanding urban area with a growingeconomy. In addition to national radio and televisionservices, there are currently seven local FM radio stationsin Kayes – five commercial stations, the rural radiostation and another community station. The Kayes CMCis located on the eastern side of the city between therailway station and the municipal stadium. Kayes hasalways had a tradition of expatriation. The Kayesdiaspora in certain parts of France is well organised and

provides well coordinated support to developmentprojects back home. The CMC has facilitated thisrelationship between the town and its expatriates.

PartnersThe radio was established with the support of ItalianNGOs Terra Nuova and GAO, and the Italianagency for international cooperation.

UNESCO supported the addition of telecentrefacilities and operational capacity building throughthe Mali CMC scale-up initiative, funded by the SwissAgency for Development and Cooperation.

At the national level, URTEL, an association ofindependent broadcasters, is also supporting theCMC with equipment and training and also acts as achannel for support from foreign agencies includingUNICEF, USAID and the Fredrich Ebert Foundation.

The CMC is a partnership of local radios and alsodraws upon the support and participation of localcivil society groups and government departments.

IncomeThe Kayes CMC generates funds from ICT training andtelecentre services, including telephone, fax, internet,email, photocopying, scanning and word processing.Earned income is sufficient to cover expenses,including salaries, compensation for volunteers,internet and telephone costs, electricity and water bills,as well as maintenance expenses. The radio generatesfunds through sponsored radio programmes, variousadvertisements and announcements. The radio alsoearns income from a tourist hostel, which was createdfrom part of a converted building left over from anItalian development project. Situated in front of theCMC, the hostel guests are also regular CMC users.

Human resourcesThe CMC is run by two paid employees: a manager andan assistant, who are assisted by a handful ofvolunteers. Three other employees and two volunteerswork for the radio station. The Kayes CMC welcomes anaverage of more than fifty visitors per day, more duringschool holidays. The CMC is also part of a pilotethnographic action research initiative and employs a

Kayes CMC/UNESCO

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full-time local researcher/animator through projectfunds from UNESCO.

Main focus of activitiesAlongside radio production and broadcasting, theCMC focuses on training and provision of telecentreservices. Key interests among the community areinformation on weather, market rates for the agricultureproducts, family matters, politics and sports. Computertraining sessions are very well attended by localstudents. Email services are much in demand by localpeople with expatriate relatives, but the connection isunreliable. The CMC is also widely used by localgovernment officers and local NGOs. As part ofUNESCO’s pilot ethnographic action research initiativein Mali, a joint initiative with the Open KnowledgeNetwork in Africa, the CMC is actively researching thelocal communication and information environment, inparticular the circumstances and needs of CMC users,the poor and local women, with observations andinsights feeding back into CMC programmedevelopment and decision-making. The manager hasalso participated in a regional training workshop onusing ICTs to report on HIV/AIDS and is now enhancingthe quality and quantity of the CMC’s HIV information.Several radio journalists from the rural radio stationand the community radio station use the telecentrequite intensively to conduct research for theirprogrammes on such topics as health, women’s issues,news and current affairs, weather and sport.

AchievementsThe CMC has been successfully supporting localentrepreneurs to develop small initiatives and to

learn how to apply a variety of ICTs in their day-to-day business activities.

The CMC has helped local teachers to use theresearch functions of the internet and many nowprepare lessons using the CMC’s facilities, sourcinginformation from the world wide web.

Radio producers and broadcasters from all the localstations increasingly use the internet to improve andexpand the content of their programmes.

The CMC provides an important link between theinhabitants of Kayes and the region’s diaspora.

The CMC is a significant step for Kayes in termsof combating its remoteness. The CMC’s newICT facilities are an important link to the rest ofMali, neighbouring countries and other parts ofthe world.

The CMC provided computer training for all theelected officials of the rural district of Kolimbiné,as a contribution to improving the efficiency oflocal government.

Constraints and challengesInternet connectivity is still somewhat unreliable,which is a major constraint given the importance oflinkages for an isolated community.

Sustainability is a key challenge in the face oflimited awareness of the potential benefits of newICTs and local poverty.

“ I follow the radio programmes very regularly for thenews and messages and I use the telecentre for mycorrespondence and email. The CMC really is a toolthat links us to each other and to the rest of the world. ”Tié Konaté, Deputy-mayor of Kayes

OrganisationOwnership Cooperative



FacilitiesMedia in use FM radio; computers, internet;

local language newspaper



Other equipment Digital still camera, LCD projector;scanner, printer, fax, photocopier

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email, chat; multimediaproduction, digital editing:audio, image

Connectivity Dedicated wireless-in-local-loop,64 kbps

Radio 1 broadcast/production studio; 4+portable cassette, minidisc recorders

Transmitter 20 watts with 500 watt amplifier,range 50-100 km

Frequency 100.6 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 6h30-22h


ICT training Basic computing; intermediatecomputing: internet skills;radio production


Other services Desktop publishing, newspaperpublishing, public phone, fax,scanning, document binding,photocopying, digital photography;mini-ISP: internet connection to twofactories, two local NGOs and aprivate cybercafé


community/public affairs, 5% news,10% arts, 5% youth issues

Bulletins News (3 daily), weather (daily),market prices (weekly)

Programmes Health: malaria, diahorrea, maternalhealth; agriculture: cotton,subsistence farming

Languages 60% Bambara, 30% French,10% Minyanka

Digital content Bulletins Weather, market prices, government

information

Learning tools Locally produced CD-ROMs: audioediting; encyclopaedias

Koutiala

Name Koutiala CMC

Location South Eastern Mali

Address BP 61, Koutiala,Mali

Phone/fax (223) 264 0134


Website www.jamanakoutiala.radio.org.ml

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 76,000 in Koutiala city, 500,000 in

the surrounding areaLanguages Minyanka, Bambara, Bobo,

Peulh, French Distance from national capital 400 km, 6+ hours by road

to BamakoDistance from regional capital 137 km, 2 hours by road

from SikassoMain economic activities Cotton cultivation, subsistence

farming, animal husbandry, small tradeOther internet access One private cybercafé in town

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Background and missionEstablished in 1993, Radio Jamana of Koutiala was oneof the first community radio stations in Mali. The stationis part of the Jamana Multimedia Cooperative, acultural association that includes nine community radiosin different parts of Mali. Radio Jamana aims to enlargelocal space for expression, promote local culture,knowledge and know-how and more generally tocontribute positively to the day-to-day lives of thecommunity and their efforts at local development.UNESCO supported the addition of a telecentre, withcomputers and other ICT facilities in 2002. Extendingthe mission of the radio, the CMC aims to provideaccess to ICT skills and facilities in the service of localdevelopment and empowerment, particularly youth andwomen. In mid-2005, the CMC overcame itsconnectivity problems when Helen Keller InternationalMali funded the installation of a dedicated wireless-in-local-loop system. Although located within the premisesof Radio Jamana of Koutiala, the telecentre facility isshared with Koutiala’s other local radio stations. In Mali,most towns have several small radio stations andUNESCO’s CMC development strategy has been toseek to ensure that all the stations in a locality haveequal access to and benefit from the telecentre facilitiesthat are housed in one of the stations.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in the country’s second largestindustrial zone, Koutiala, in southeastern Mali. As thevast majority of Mali’s cotton passes through itsfactories, Koutiala is known as the capital of white gold.Koutiala town, the headquarters of the local cercle(district) administrative area, has a population of76,000. The radio’s broadcast reaches a potentiallistenership of as many as a half million in the district.The vast majority of people are poor labourers,subsistence farmers or run micro-businesses.Infrastructure is limited and literacy and otherdevelopment indicators, especially in outlying areas,reflect Mali’s status as one of the least developedcountries in the world. However, Koutiala is also abustling centre that draws people from many parts of thecountry for its relatively greater access to livelihoodopportunities. In addition to national radio andtelevision services, there are eight local radio stationswith more proposed.

PartnersThe Jamana Multimedia Cooperative provides anorganisational umbrella for the CMC and funds themanager’s salary.

UNESCO supported the additionof the telecentre facilities andcapacity building with initialfunds from the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperationas part of the organisation’sglobal community multimediacentre programme.

Helen Keller International in Mali, in theframework of cooperation with UNESCO’s CMCscale-up project, installed the high-speedinternet connection in June 2005.

The Open Knowledge Network, an initiative ofOneWorld International supports the CMC as aknowledge hub and is co-funding with UNESCOthe introduction of ethnographic action research asa participatory evaluation and programmedevelopment methodology.

Local NGOs, the International Institute for theDevelopment of Communication (IIDC) andAssociation NATUGO are providing training inmaintenance and management.

The CMC collaborates with a wide range of localcommunity groups, civil society organisations andgovernment departments.

IncomeThe Koutiala CMC operates as a financially self-reliant organisation, generating funds from a rangeof paid services: computer training, telephone, fax,internet access, email, photocopying, scanning,word processing, as well as sponsored radioprogrammes and advertisements and paidannouncements. The combined income is enough tocover the CMC’s expenses, including salaries,compensations for volunteers, internet connectivity,telephone, electricity, water bills, and equipmentmaintenance expenses.

Maartje Op de Coul

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Human resources The CMC is run by three full-time staff: a generalmanager, an administrative assistant and a deputyresponsible for radio production. Paid staff are assistedby interns, by local volunteers, particularly on the radioside, and by a local steering committee. CMC users arearound thirty percent women and seventy percent men.Interns are recruited for three months placements inwhich they receive a month of training and then supportthe CMC users for two months. At the end of theirinternships they receive a certificate after which most areable to find work. The CMC is also part of a pilotethnographic action research initiative and employs afull-time local researcher/animator through projectfunds from UNESCO.

Main focus of activities The main day-to-day activities are radio production,computer training, and running the telecentre, whichoffers users a range of low-cost, affordable services.The addition of computer equipment has expanded theradio’s information sources and use of digital editing.The community shows great interest in weatherinformation and market rates for agriculture products.There is also strong interest in literacy programmes. TheCMC is running a special programme to supportwomen’s micro-enterprise activities through the use ofICTs. As part of UNESCO’s pilot ethnographic actionresearch initiative in Mali, a joint initiative with the OpenKnowledge Network in Africa, the CMC is activelyresearching the local communication and informationenvironment, in particular the circumstances and needsof CMC users, the poor and local women, withobservations and insights feeding back into CMCprogramme development and decision-making. TheCMC also publishes a newspaper that uses the N’koscript. Prior to the establishment of the CMC, the paperwas actually handwritten. The CMC is the only N’kodesktop publisher in Mali and handwritten documentsare regularly sent from the capital to be computerised atthe CMC.

Achievements The CMC has effectively introduced computersand ICTs to Koutiala, where there were previously

no facilities or access points. In June 2005, withthe advent of dedicated, reliable internetconnectivity, the CMC began to offer service as amini-ISP.

The CMC is credited with concrete new benefitsfor the local community, for example: severalwomen’s groups have improved their smallbusiness activities, sending designs and takingorders via email with clients in Guinea; localteachers have learned to search the internet anduse materials from the web to prepare theirlessons; prices of some goods have fallen sincetraders order over the internet rather thantraveling overseas.

The CMC’s facilities made it possible to produceand print Sindjiya, a Bambara-language paper,the only one using the N’Ko script, locally.Originally the paper was distributed via twentyhand-written copies.

As a successful multimedia producer and serviceprovider, one that meets community needs andgenerates income, the CMC is a model of aneffective local social enterprise.

Constraints and challengesThough the CMC is run on a largely self-reliantbasis, sustainability remains a challenge.Koutiala is a low-income area in which fewpeople have much awareness of the potentialbenefits of ICTs; at the same time, more andmore competition – in the form of internetcentres – is entering what is likely to remain afairly small market.

The lack of awareness of ICT is a constraint in termsof general public use of computers and internet aswell as developing more advanced and innovativeapplications of the CMC facilities.

The lack of local expertise with computer and otherdigital equipment also presents problems in termsof repairs and reliability of services.

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Mali CMC Makes N’koNewspaper’s Circulation SoarBefore the community multimedia centre (CMC) opened in Koutiala, Mali’s second largest industrial town, the onlylocal paper in the N’ko alphabet was painstakingly written out by hand. Just twenty copies of each issue of theBambara-language Sindjiya were made.

When the CMC opened its doors in 2002, N’ko script font software made it possible toproduce the paper electronically and Sindjiya was then printed out on A4 paper, with 500photocopies produced and circulated in the town each month. Today, after training indesktop publishing at the CMC for Sindjiya staff, the paper appears as a broadsheet and all1,000 copies are reserved and paid for in advance.

“We can’t meet the full demand because printing costs are too high if we go over 1,000copies,” explains CMC manager Malamine Sylla. Each issue is edited and laid out at theCMC and sent on CD-ROM over 400 kilometres to the capital, Bamako, for printing.Although the Koutiala district is home to half a million people, it has no printing press andthe CMC provides the only public access to internet, email and computer training.

Koutiala CMC provides the only electronic N’ko publishing currently available in Mali. Thenational N’ko association in the capital sends all its documents hand-written to the CMC to be put into electronicform. “Thanks to this service, N’Ko is becoming much more widespread,” notes Mamady Doumbia, a tailor andmember of the N’ko association in Bamako.

“The CMC has made a huge difference for us,” said Mamadou Diarra, Sindjiya editor and member of the N’kocultural association of Koutiala. “We have been able to expand our activities and foster the use of N’ko, which is areally important vehicle for local cultures.”

The N’ko alphabet was developed in 1949 by Soulemayne Kante in Guineaand is used by speakers of Malinke, Bambara and their dialects in Guinea,Mali and Ivory Coast. Originally created to demonstrate that Africanlanguages could be written and used as a medium for traditional knowledgeand texts from the Koran, N’ko is becoming increasingly popular. One greatadvantage is that it makes reading and writing accessible to people who lackformal schooling.

Before ICTs made electronic publishing of N’ko texts possible, its proponentshad to produce all materials by hand. The Koutiala cultural associationpossesses a well-worn French-N’ko dictionary, dating from the first years ofN’ko, whose tens of thousands of entries were carefully inscribed by hand.

Today, desktop publishing, multilingual software and numerous othermultimedia applications available in the CMC ensure that local people canproduce local content themselves, either for community radio or in a rangeof media using the telecentre.

Koutiala CMC recently produced its own training CD-ROM for radio producerswanting to go digital. As the first pilot CMC to be established in Mali, it plays aleading role in supporting the new community multimedia centres currently beingestablished as part of UNESCO’s CMC scale-up initiative in Mali, Mozambiqueand Senegal. The scale-up was launched in 2004 at the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva.

UNESCO, through its Initiative B@bel also supports the development of a standard for N'ko to the internationalcharacter encoding standards, Unicode, and ISO/IEC 10646. The project is being conducted by the University ofCalifornia Berkeley's Script Encoding Initiative.

UNESCO

UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Local association




Set-up Telecentre co-located withlocal radio


Telcentre Digital still camera; scanner,printer, photocopier

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email; desktop publishing;digital audio editing


Radio 1 broadcast/production studio


Frequency 97.1 FM



ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet, email;intermediate computing: internetresearch, digital audio and imageediting; radio production

Other training Marketing

Other services Desktop publishing, scanning,photocopying; digital photography;public phone; newspapers printedfrom the web



Bulletins Market prices and weather

Programmes Health, agriculture, youth, womenand development, sports,rural issues and affairs

Languages 95% Bambara, 5% French

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs: Rural Development in

the Sahel

Niéna

Name Niéna CMC

Location Southeastern Mali

Address BP 16 Niéna,Mali

Telephone (223) 263 0231


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 6,000 in Niéna village, 29,000 in

the surrounding area

Languages Bambara, French

Distance from national capital 300 km, 4 hours by roadto Bamako

Distance from regional capital 75 km, 1 hour by road to Sikasso

Main economic activities Agriculture, cotton,animal husbandry

Other internet access None locally, 2 cybercafés inSikasso, 75 km away

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Background and missionRadio Teriya was created in 1993 by the Niénacommunity with support from Teriya Amitié Mali, anassociation set up by residents of the French town ofBougival twenty years previously to help Niéna. Theradio is a long-standing member of the Union of FreeRadios and Televisions of Mali (URTEL). The Niéna CMCwas created in 2005, within the framework ofUNESCO’s CMC scale-up project in Mali, with theaddition of telecentre facilities to the community radio.The CMC’s goal is to make information andcommunication tools accessible to the local community,especially poor and marginalised groups, in order toenrich and improve their own lives and to empoweryoung people and the community-at-large.

Location and contextThe Niéna CMC is located in the same compound asRadio Teriya and nearby to Radio Wateni, another localradio. The CMC borders the main street of the villageand is situated close to the venue of Niéna’s Sundaymarket, which features the area’s agricultural, livestockand other products, attracting visitors from as far asBamako, Mali’s capital city. Niéna is about seventy-fivekilometres from Sikasso, the regional capital, and 300kilometres from Bamako. Niéna is generally a poorarea. The level of literacy in the town and even more soin surrounding areas is low; illiteracy stands at abouteighty percent. Only forty percent of the localpopulation have finished their basic education. The onlyother public access computer in Niéna at the time of theinstallation of the telecentre was in the local craft centre(also provided by Teriya Amitié Mali).

Niéna has a strong tradition of folk media, whichremain the only available local media: a month prior tothe rainy season, during the Gnanadié festival, theWoloso (meaning “born in the family”) people, atraditional slave caste who played an important role inintegrating the family, share indigenous knowledge,information and histories throughout the area’s villages,encouraging higher production.

The CMC’s power supply is provided by an innovativepower system called the multifunction platform. The systemprovides power for the village as well as a battery chargingstation and other potential applications of electrical power.

Part of a national government’s strategy to provide powerin rural areas that are not part of the national grid, theplatform revenues are exempt from any taxes. The systemis not only cost effective, but also generates revenue, forinstance through charging batteries of individuals andbusinesses in the neighbourhood.

PartnersRadio Teriya was created in 2004 by members ofthe local community with support from Teriya AmitiéMali and URTEL (Union of Free Radios andTelevisions of Mali).

UNESCO supported the addition of telecentrefacilities through the Mali CMC scale-up initiative,funded by the Swiss Agency for Developmentand Cooperation.

Assistance in improving the capacity of the radiohas been provided by the French association, TeriyaAmitié Mali.

The CMC has been supported by an associationof ressortissants (expatriated residents) of Niénain Bamako.

At the community level, young people from Niénaregularly organise a day of work in the fields, whichraises funds for the CMC.

IncomeAs with other CMCs recently established at the time ofpublication, the Niéna CMC is planning to raiserevenue from paid services: public telephone, computerand other training, internet access, desktop publishing,scanning and photography. With enriched services, it isalso expected that revenue from radio announcements,paid messages and NGO sponsorships, currently themain sources of income for the radio, will increase.

Human resourcesThe CMC’s major operations are handled by three full-time paid staff: a manager, an assistant and a radiodirector. The manager and assistant are responsible forthe day-to-day management of the telecentre, includingtraining of community users and the radio staff andvolunteers. The radio director coordinates daily radio

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programming and production. Between the radio andthe telecentre there are about eight volunteers whoassist in the general operations of both facilities. Theradio director is a member of the CMC steeringcommittee, alongside other community representatives.

Main focus of activitiesAs with other newly established CMCs in Mali the mainfocus of the centre, alongside ongoing radioprogramming, is on building staff capacity throughtraining. The CMC is providing intensive training in theuse of various ICT hardware and software as well asin management and programme developmentskills training for the CMC staff and the localsteering committee.

AchievementsFor a rural area with limited facilities, theestablishment of Niéna CMC is a majorachievement. At the time of publication, theinstallation of the telecentre equipment wascomplete, the initial training programme had alsobeen completed and the local managementcommittee had been elected.

The telecentre premises were built with funds raisedby the community itself: each of theforty villages of the commune (sub-district) of Niéna

collected funds to construct a space to house thetelecentre and the multifunction electricity platform.

The introduction of the multifunction platform hassolved the problem of electricity cuts.

Constraints and challengesAlthough the CMC has an internet connection, it isnot entirely reliable and from time-to-timeconnectivity is slow.

Raising awareness of the potential applications ofnew ICTs and creating a day-to-day market fortelecentre services, which in turn can sustain thecentre’s operations, is a major challenge, especiallyin a poor, isolated rural area and one with limitedprior exposure to new technologies.

International links, localdevelopment and unique formsof learning and cooperationThe relationship between the Malian village of Niéna and the small French town of Bougival goes back to 1985. TheTeriya Amitié Mali Association was founded by local people in Bougival who wanted to develop direct and sustainedlinks with a community in French-speaking Africa. Over the years, this association has supported literacy courses, ahealth centre, a crafts centre and the establishment of the community radio. Each year, young people from Bougivalhave spent time volunteering in Niéna, gaining invaluable experience of development issues as well as rewardingpersonal contacts. The recent creation of the CMC has already transformed this cooperation. “We sent a partnershipdocument the other day by email and got confirmation of the agreement the next day, when before it would havetaken three months by post,” commented Roberto Ghigo of Teriya Amitié Mali. The Association plans to support theCMC and, above all, to use its services to deliver its development projects in Niéna. This function as a “developmentservice provider” will reinforce the CMC’s sustainability.

Teriya Amitié Mali Association

OrganisationOwnership Radio: community association;

telecentre: municipal government


Staff 4 full-time, 4+ volunteers




Telecentre Digital still camera; scanner, printer,document binding machine;telephone



Radio 1 broadcast studio and 1 productionstudio, portable minidisc recorders

Transmitter 20 watts with 500 watt amplifier,range 60 km

Frequency 89 FM and 101.1 FM



ICT training Basic computing; intermediatecomputing: internet searching skills;radio production

Other training Literacy, accounting

Other services Desktop publishing, scanning,photocopying, document binding;digital photography; publictelephone; newspapers printedfrom web



Bulletins Market prices: cereals, cattle;weather: rain, wind speeds

Programmes Health: malaria, common localdiseases; agriculture: rice,onion farming

Languages Bambara, Minyanka, French

Digital content Information Weather, agriculture market rates,

family issues, news, politics andsports information from the internet

Learning tools Encyclopaedias; CD-ROMs: generalICT knowledge, computer andinternet skills

Niono

Name Niono CMC

Location South Central Mali

Address BP 35, Niono,Mali

Telephone (223) 235 2373


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 35,000 in Niono; total 190,000 in

the surrounding areaLanguages Minyanka, Bambara, Bobo,

Peulh, FrenchDistance from national capital 355 km, 5 hours by road

to BamakoDistance from regional capital 115 km, 2.5 hours by road to SegouMain economic activities Agriculture: rice cultivation, onions;

sugar factory; small tradeOther internet access None locally, 115 km away

in Segou

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Background and missionNiono’s Radio Cesiri, established in 1994, was amongthe pioneers of community radio in Mali. The station wasestablished by Radio Mali, the national broadcaster, as

part of a project to develop rural radioand is now owned and operated by thelocal Niono community. The station isa member of URTEL, the union ofindependent radio and televisionstations. In 2003, UNESCO supportedthe addition of a telecentre facility tothe radio station as part of its global

CMC programme. Building on the work and mission ofthe radio, the goal of the CMC is to widen thecommunity’s access to information resources andcommunication tools, directly, through training andpublic access to the telecentre, as well as indirectly, byincreasing the capacity of local radio stations and otherknowledge groups to use the internet and other ICTs asinformation sources and production tools. Prior to theestablishment of the telecentre, the radio had alreadyparticipated in a UNESCO programme for mediasupport to basic education.

Location and contextThe Niono CMC is located in the centre of the city, betweenthe post office, two banks and the town hall. Niono has apopulation of 35,000 in the urban area and another155,000 in surrounding rural areas. The local economyrevolves primarily around agriculture, notably rice andonion production. Niono is known as the “onion capital” ofMali, due to the prevalence of onion farming in the area.There are three radios operating in Niono: Cesiri, acommunity radio, and two private radios: Kolon and Delta.All the radios are members of CMC steering committeeand all receive dedicated training from the centre’s trainers.

PartnersRadio Cesiri, the base for the CMC, was establishedby Mali’s national broadcaster, Radio Mali.

UNESCO supported the addition of telecentre facilitiesthrough the global CMC programme, funded by theSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

The CMC collaborates actively with different groups inthe community, from the local government and non-

profits to offices of national government departments,the chamber of commerce, agricultural and tradecooperatives and civil society organisations.

The CMC is a partnership of all three localFM radio stations with each participating in thecentre’s management.

IncomeThe CMC generates funds from its own services,namely ICT training, telephone and internet access,email services, photocopying, scanning, office rentaland word processing. The CMC’s income is enough tocover the centre’s basic expenses: salaries, stipendsfor the volunteers, internet and telephone cost,electricity and water bills, as well as basic equipmentmaintenance expenses. The radio generates incomefrom sponsored radio programmes, advertising andpaid announcements.

Human resources The CMC is run by two employees: a manager and anassistant. Paid staff members are assisted by threevolunteer interns, whose posts are renewable every threemonths. Two full-time staff and one regular volunteeralso assist with regular ICT training programmes andinformation gathering and on-air presentation for radioprogrammes. There are a handful of other, more casualvolunteers. The CMC has an average of forty-fivevisitors a day who come to use the telephone and thephotocopier, to surf the internet, access their email, andto take training courses. The CMC is also part of a pilotethnographic action research initiative and employs afull-time local researcher/animator through projectfunds from UNESCO.

Main focus of activities In addition to daily radio broadcasting, the CMC runsregular training programmes and offers users a range ofinformation and document services. Key areas ofcommunity interest and demand for both radioprogramming and content available in the telecentre areweather, agricultural market rates, family issues, news,politics and sports. Young farmers in the area are showingkeen interest in the literacy campaign launched by theCMC. Though based at Radio Cesiri, the CMC is used byall the local radio stations, whose staff come for training and

Niono CMC/UNESCO

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to access the internet and email in order to get informationand research content for their radio programmes.

As part of UNESCO’s pilot ethnographic actionresearch initiative in Mali, a joint initiative with the OpenKnowledge Network in Africa, the CMC is activelyresearching the local communication and informationenvironment, in particular the circumstances and needsof CMC users, the poor and local women, withobservations and insights feeding back into CMCprogramme development and decision-making.

AchievementsBefore the Niono CMC opened its doors, there wasonly a private cybercafé in the neighborhood, whichwas inaccessible to many because of prices.

Lower access rates and availability of inexpensivetraining has enabled the community, especiallyentrepreneurs, to integrate the use of the ICTs intotheir businesses.

The CMC has expanded local access toinformation, particularly evident amongst two keylocal information users: teachers, who now use theinternet to prepare some lessons, as well as radiobroadcasters, who use the web to enrich the contentof their radio productions.

Constraints and challengesAlthough the CMC has a connection, dial-upconnectivity is at times unreliable and the speedsare generally slow.

Integrated research and participatoryevaluation: ethnographic actionresearch in Mali“We welcome the opportunity to use this researchmethodology – for the first time in Africa – as we think that itwill be an important tool in providing better access to newinformation and communication technologies,” said MonsieurAdama Kansaye the prefect of Koutiala during theinauguration of a workshop on ethnographic action research.“We hope in particular that it will improve the access ofwomen to these technologies in the course of fighting poverty.”

The workshop, held between May 23 and 26, 2005, markedthe introduction of ethnographic action research into Africaand the beginning of a partnership between UNESCO, OpenKnowledge Network/Jamana Multimedia Cooperative andlocal communities in research sites across Mali.

The methodology is based on the use of ethnographic tools,such as participant observation, field notes, diaries and in-depth interviews, as part of a process of action research, inwhich participatory investigation forms part of a continuous cycle of ‘planning’, ‘observation’, ‘reflection’ and ‘doing’.

Local researchers in Kayes, Koutiala and Niono are using simple research tools in an effort to better connect the useof radio, computers, internet and other ICTs with the real needs of communities they serve, especially poor women.

“We use this approach in rethinking goals and activities and refocusing strategies on local needs in dialogue withlocal communities. Applying the methodology brings a new dynamism and determination to the efforts of thecommunity multimedia centres in Mali,” said Kadiatou Toure, the programme’s research coordinator.

Although newly introduced, representatives of UNESCO, Open Knowledge Network, Jamana and the University ofBamako have all shared their optimistism that the approach will not only improve local community media andapplications of new ICT, but also yield important insights into the potential of innovative uses of media like radio andinternet to foster local development.

Maartje Op de Coul





Set-up Telecentre co-located withcommunity radio and linked withthree other local radios


Telecentre Digital still camera; scanner,printer; telephone

Software Office applications, accounting;internet browsers, email, chat;digital audio editing




Frequency 102.7 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 6h30-12h, 14-24h


ICT training Basic computing; intermediatecomputing: internet, email;radio production


Other services Desktop publishing, newspapers fromthe web, public phone, scanning,photocopying, digital photography


35% community/public affairs,10% news, 5% arts/culture

Bulletins Agricultural products, market pricesand weather

Programmes Health: maternal and child health,HIV/AIDS awareness; agriculture:rice, fishing; youth issues:sports, music

Languages 60% Bambara, 20% Bobo,10% French, 5% Minyanka, 5% Peulh


governmental information

Learning tools CD-ROM: Rural Development inthe Sahel

San

Name San CMC

Location Central Mali

Address BP 96, San,Mali

Telephone (223) 618 0647

Fax (223) 237 2769 / 2120


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 100,000 in San municipality

Languages Bambara, Bobo, Minyanka,Peulh, French

Distance from national capital 450 km, 6+ hours by roadto Bamako

Distance from regional capital 210 km, 2 hours by road to Segou

Main economic activities Agriculture, animal husbandry, trade

Other internet access The one cybercafé closed in2004 due to problems withinternet connectivity

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Background and missionSantoro Radio was established as a community station in2004. A year later, UNESCO supported the addition oftelecentre facilities within the framework of the MaliCMC scale-up project. Though co-located with thepremises of Radio Santoro, the CMC’s computer andinternet facilities are shared by all of San’s local radiostations. The goal of the CMC is to make informationmore accessible, through direct access to new ICTs forthe community and by enriching the services offered bylocal radios. A key aim of the CMC is to empower youngpeople and others in the community-at-large throughcommunication and information skills and facilities.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in the centre of San city, close to themarket and city hall, opposite to the Place del’Independence. San is literally a crossroads, situatednear the middle of the country at the juncture of severalmajor roads connecting Bamako, the capital, withMopti and beyond it the north of the country, as well asKoutiala, the country’s second largest industrial area inthe southeast. Literacy levels in San along with otherimportant development indicators reflect Mali’s positionamong the world’s poorest countries.

PartnersUNESCO supported the establishment of telecentrefacilities in 2005 through its Mali CMC scale-upinitiative, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The CMC benefits through partnership of all thelocal radios in San.

As new facilities and services are added, localgovernment departments and development NGOsand groups are increasing their collaboration withthe CMC.

IncomeStill very new at the time of publication, the CMC isplanning to raise revenue from paid services, includingtelephone and internet access, photography, scanning,

desktop publishing and computer training. RadioSantoro and other local radios currently earn incomefrom paid announcements and messages.

Human resourcesThe CMC has three paid staff who look after thetelecentre operations with the assistance from a growingnumber of local volunteers. Co-located with RadioSantoro, the CMC serves all the local radios.

Main focus of activitiesAlongside radio production and operation of thetelecentre, the main activities of CMC in itsestablishment phase will consist of building the capacityof the staff in a range of ICT skills as well as thoserelated to the management and organisationaldevelopment of the CMC.

AchievementsThe CMC is the first facility of its kind in San,representing a significant accomplishment forthe local community. At the time of publication,the installment of the equipment was complete,the initial training was also finished, and electedmanagement committees were in place.

The CMC has both electrical and internetconnections, the latter promising to be of goodspeed and reliable service.

The premises for the telecentre, an addition to theexisting Santoro radio facilities, were providedthrough funds collected from members of thelocal community.

Constraints and challengesMaintaining and expanding cooperation amongSan’s local radios in order to maximise the impactof the CMC facilities and to reach the largestpotential is a challenge.

Sustainability in a poor region with limitedexposure to and awareness of new ICTs is asignificant challenge.







Telecentre Digital still camera; scanner,printer, photocopier

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email, websitedownloading; digital audio editing




Frequency 98.7 FM



ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet/email;intermediate computing: internetsearching; radio production

Other training Accounting, marketing andcommunication

Other services Desktop publishing, newspapersprinted from the web, public phone,scanning, photocopying,digital, photography



Bulletins Agriculture products, marketprices, weather

Programmes Health, agriculture, youth

Languages 50% Soninké, 20% Bambara,7% Maure, 5% Peulh, 12% French

Digital content Materials Newspapers printed from the web;

weather, market prices, governmentalinformation

Learning tools CD-ROM: Rural Development inthe Sahel

Other content Library Books and videos (in development)

Yélimané

Name Yélimané CMC

Location Western Mali

Address BP 10, Yélimané,Mali

Telephone (223) 606 9883 / 607 1085

Fax (223) 252 3156


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 25,000 in the town

and surrounding areas

Languages Soninké, Bambara, Maure,Peulh, French

Distance from national capital 800 km, 12+ hours by roadto Bamako

Distance from regional capital 146 km, 2-3 hours by road to Kayes

Main economic activities Agriculture, animal husbandry,migrant labour

Other internet access None

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Background and missionYélimané Radio was established as a community radioin 1996. The telecentre was added in 2005 within theframework of UNESCO’s CMC scale-up in Mali,which aims to establish a network of multimediacentres across the country. Extending the work of theradio, the mission of the CMC is to contribute tomaking information and communication basic tools ofthe poor in improving their own lives and to empoweryoung people and the community in general throughaccess to ICT skills, facilities and new opportunitiesassociated with them.

Location and contextYélimané CMC is located in the eastern part ofYélimané, a town of some 25,000 people. Close to theMauritanian border in western Mali, Yélimané is about140 kilometres north of Kayes, the regional capital.Yélimané is a very poor area, characterised by highrates of migration, very low levels of literacy and limitedaccess to education and health facilities. There are alsorelated social problems such as the early marriage ofgirls. Leaving the country is a common dream of youngpeople and many of the area’s population havemigrated to France. Yélimané is an area of very lowmedia penetration. The CMC offers the only radioservice in the district. The radio and telecentre facilitiesare located in the same compound. With theestablishment of the CMC, the telecom operator,SOTELMA, installed new poles to bring the telephoneline to the CMC facility. With the addition of computers,a printer and an internet connection, printouts ofnewspapers are now available at the CMC.

An innovative power system called the multifunctionplatform provides power for the village. Part of anational government’s strategy to provide power in ruralareas that are not part of the national grid, platformrevenues are exempt from any taxes. The system is notonly cost effective, but also has revenue generatingpotential, for instance through charging batteries orpowering other small enterprises.

PartnersUNESCO supported the addition of telecentre facilitiesalong with training and other capacity building as partof the CMC scale up project in Mali, funded by theSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Yélimané community members funded theconstruction of the telecentre site.

Support has also been provided by the Associationdes Ressortissants de Yélimané, an association ofMalian nationals from Yélimané living in France.

IncomeNewly established, the CMC is planning to raiserevenue from the following services: public phone,pictures, scanning, desktop publishing, training, andinternet access. The radio earns income from paidannouncements and messages.

Human resourcesThe CMC has three full-time, paid staff: a generalmanager, an assistant, and a radio director. Togetherthey look after most of the CMC operations with theassistance of six volunteers, three for the radio and threefor the telecentre.

Main focus of activitiesTo the time of publication, the main focus of theYélimané facility has been on radio production. Newlyestablished, the first priorities for the CMC arereinforcing the capacity of the staff through training,particularly computing and other aspects of ICT, as wellas on building an effective management team andstructure. Training has been provided to staff as well asmembers of local steering and management committees.

AchievementsThe establishment of a community-based multimediafacility is major achievement for an isolated communitywith limited means. At the time of publication, theinstallation of the equipment and initial training werecomplete and committees to look after managementand other areas of CMC operations had been elected.

The community’s commitment to the CMC is significant:the telecentre facility’s building was built with fundscollected from community members themselves.

The introduction of the multifunction platform hassolved the problem of electricity cuts through aninnovative solution supported by the nationalgovernment. The provision of regular power supplyand connectivity is a major accomplishment giventhe state of local infrastructure and improves theCMC’s ability to offer reliable services.

Constraints and challengesBeing financially self-reliant as an enterprise in apoor region with limited exposure to and awarenessof new ICTs is the CMC’s most significant challengeduring its establishment phase.

OrganisationOwnership Association

Start date Telecentre 2002, radio 2005


FacilitiesMedia in use FM radio; computers,

internet, CD-ROMs

Set-up Radio co-located with telecentre


Telecentre Scanner, printer, fax, photocopier, paperbinder; telephone, mobile phone

Software Operating systems in English andPortuguese; office applications,anti-virus; internet browsers, email,voice chat; CD burner, mediaplayers, digital editing: audio, image

Connectivity Lease-line, 64 kbps

Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, 1 suitcase radio,1 portable digital recorder


Frequency 102.7 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 5h55-12h, 14h55-22h15

Telecentre Monday-Friday 8-22h, Saturday 8-13h

ICT training Basic computing, radio production

Other training Literacy, HIV/AIDS awareness

Other services Desktop publishing, scanning,printing, document binding;telephone, mobile phone, fax

Radio programming Overview 13.5 hours daily: 50%

community/public affairs/news,40% music, 10% advertising andannouncements

Bulletins Local and national news (3 daily),weather, market prices

Programmes General health, HIV/AIDS, STDs;agriculture, human rights, local historyand traditions, local art and music;debates, local news and current affairs,youth, women, children, sport, religion,humour, entertainment

Languages 70% Shangaan, 30% Portuguese

Digital content Bulletins News and market prices (produced

by ORAM from Maputo)

Learning tools Encyclopaedias and dictionariescovering wide range of information;CD-ROMs about literacy skills,mathematics, geography, history,astronomy and chemistry

Languages Portuguese


Chókwè

Name Chókwè CMCLocation Southern MozambiqueAddress Rua dos Combatentes,

Chókwè city, Chókwè District,Gaza Province, Mozambique

Telephone (258) 281 20183,(258) 8232 23600 (mobile)

Fax (258) 281 20181Email [email protected] Webpage www.telecentros.org.mz/

chokwe.htm

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 50,000 in Chókwè town, another

125,000 in other parts ofthe district

Languages Portuguese and Shangaan Distance from national capital 215 km, 3+ hours by road from MaputoDistance from provincial capital 140 km, 2 hours by road from Xai-XaiMain economic activities Cash crops: cotton, maize, tomatoes;

subsistence farming; strong localtrading sector, shops and mills

Other internet access Secondary school in Chókwè; 100 kmaway at the Xinavane CMC; internetcafés in Xai-Xai, 140 km away

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Background and missionThe Chókwè CMC is owned and run by the RuralOrganisation for Mutual Support (ORAM), aMozambican NGO founded in 1992. ORAM’smission is development of rural communities, withspecific objectives to provide legal support for accessto land and support to peasant and farmersassociations. With headquarters in Maputo City andseven provincial offices, ORAM works directly withsixty-eight associations all over the country. Thesouthern region office in Macia, Gaza, wasestablished in 1999.

The floods in March 2000 destroyed the localcommunication infrastructure and revealed the urgentneed for better means of communications, access toinformation and new technology in Chókwè. Thetelecentre in Chókwè was established in 2002, a jointeffort by ORAM and Eduardo Mondlane UniversityInformatics Centre (CIUEM), with funding from the W.K.Kellogg Foundation.

UNESCO’s CMC scale-up initiative in Mozambiquesupported the addition of radio facilities to thetelecentre with Swiss funding. Radio Vembe ofChókwè started transmitting in May 2005,significantly widening the CMC’s dissemination ofinformation, in particular reaching listeners who arenot typical visitors to the telecentre.

The CMC is committed to providing better access toinformation and communication tools and services,particularly information about prices, food security andproduction plans to peasants and farmers and varioustypes of information and knowledge support to miners,their families, women and young people. The mission ofthe CMC is to contribute to the general social andeconomic development of the whole community. Thepartnership combines ORAM’s strong field presenceand network with CIUEM and UNESCO’s technicalknowledge and capacity.

Location and contextLocated about three hours drive from Maputo in thesouth of the country, Chókwè District has fouradministrative posts and a total of 175,000 inhabitants.Some 50,000 live in the district capital of the same

name. Chókwè town, situated by the Limpopo River,became a city municipality in 1998. The CMC is servinga community characterised by peasant farming andagricultural labour. Nearly sixty percent of thepopulation are women, indicative of the volume of malemigration from the district to South Africa. Chókwè isconsidered the economic centre of Gaza Province. Themain marketable goods are tomatoes, maize andcotton. The family sector produces cowpeas, cassava,sugar, cashew nuts, tobacco, sweet potatoes andvegetables. There is a strong local trading sector, shopsand mills, and products are taken to Xai-Xai, Maputoand the border of South Africa. There is also a smallcattle industry. The district government includesgovernment health, education and agriculturedirectorates. There are only two secondary schools in asixty kilometre radius, the illiteracy rate is high, and thepeople are generally poor. Chókwè was one of the mostaffected districts during the 2000 floods – even the townflooded up to the level of the first floor of the localbuildings. When there are no floods, the district oftensuffers from lack of rain and even drought. The districtwas also heavily affected by the war in the 1980s.

Chókwè has access to national television stations, andRadio Mozambique is the most popular radio station.The area also has access to some South Africanstations. Radio Vembe is the only local media service. Afew people have satellite dishes and access tointernational television channels. National newspapersarrive by bus in small quantities. There are nointernational newspapers available, except via internet,and no local papers are being produced.

PartnersThe organisational umbrella for the CMC isAssociação Rural de Ajuda Mútua, the regionalchapter of Rural Organisation for MutualSupport (ORAM), a national NGO. ORAM’smain social partners are private agriculturalassociations, but the CMC is also collaboratingwith the academic community, local authoritiesand other organisations.

The District Directorate of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment is located in Chókwè, very close tothe CMC, and is one of its main users.

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Local NGOs, for example Auxilio Mundial andMedicos Mundial are regular CMC users, andprospective collaborators.

CIUEM was the main partner andsponsor of the initial telecentreand continues to have stronginvolvement with the CMC.

UNESCO is giving training andtechnical support for the addition of radiofacilities and transformation into a

multimedia centre through the global CMCprogramme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The CMC is a member of the emerging network ofCMCs in Mozambique, which aims to supportcontent development and exchange, technicalmaintenance, and capacity building.

IncomeThe CMC raises revenue from the following services:computer training, fax, scanning, internet access,printing, photocopying, paper binding and publictelephone as well as through the radio advertising andbroadcast messages. This revenue covers the electricitybills and sometimes the telephone bills. Funding fromUNESCO during the establishment phase and supportfrom ORAM meets other running costs.

Human resourcesThe CMC has six paid staff: a full-time manager, whocovers most of the CMC operations, a full-timecommunication assistant (funded by ORAM at the time ofpublication), a full-time technical assistant, a computertrainer, and two guards. The CMC has fifteen volunteerproducers and programmers for the community radio. Anaverage of fifty visitors uses the CMC facilities every daymostly for the use of photocopier, computers and deliveryof messages/advertisements for radio.

Main focus of activitiesAs the CMC is run by ORAM, an organisation forrural agricultural development, one of the main

activities to date has been training workers andfamilies of workers from different agricultureassociations in computing skills. The addition of theradio is an opportunity for the CMC to extendservices and information to the community-at-large.The CMC now provides radio production coursesand is also planning training for literacy andHIV/AIDS awareness. Dissemination of informationabout HIV/AIDS is also one of the importantobjectives of the new radio. Production of radioadvertisements and messages has also become amajor activity.

AchievementsThe CMC has provided training in computingskills to more than 200 hundred people in thecommunity, mostly youth. The CMC has alsoconducted special training courses for membersof peasant organisations and their families, andthus improved their ability to gather andexchange important information in their fieldsof work.

The CMC provided the first and still the only localradio service in the district. After only a couple ofmonths of broadcasting the radio has becomewell known and very popular among thecommunity: between ten and twenty people visitthe CMC every day wanting to send messages onthe radio.

Constraints and challengesThe CMC has too few computers to meet the demandof the users, which limits income generation.

The internet connection is slow and every othermonth or so the CMC has problems with theconnectivity, which goes down for one to two weeksat a time.

The content library is also limited, andneeds materials: more books and additionalCD-ROMs with more substantial information(especially useful at times when the internetconnection is down).

Chókwè CMC/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Community association


Staff 7 full-time, 1 part-time,45+ volunteers



Number of PCs 4 public access/training, 2 radiobroadcast/production,1 administration

Telecentre Digital camera, video cassetterecorder; scanner, 2 printers,photocopier, fax

Software Office applications, digitalaudio editing


Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, 8 cassette recorders


Frequency 106 FM

ServicesBroadcast Monday-Friday 5h55-11h05,

13h55-21h05; Saturday-Sunday5h55-22h

Telecentre Monday-Friday 8-18h, Saturday8-14h, Sunday closed; also openedby special arrangement

ICT training Basic computing; intermediatecomputing: web design;radio production

Other services Desktop publishing, documentservices; document lamination andbinding; printing, photocopying; publictelephone, fax; video screenings

Radio programming Overview 12 hours daily: 30%

community/public affairs, 10% news;60% music: 60% Mozambican(mostly recorded by the CMC),20% other African, 20% international

Bulletins News and weather (hourly)

Programmes Health, HIV/AIDS and STDs, education,agriculture, women, children, culture,human rights, elections

Languages 40% Sena, 40% Ndau, 20% Portuguese

Digital content Bulletins Weather, national and international

news, government schemes via internet

Learning tools CD-ROMs: literacy skills, generalhealth, HIV/AIDS, malaria, sciencetopics, Mozambique and otherhistory; Mozambique’s new familylaw; encyclopaedias, dictionaries

Languages Sena, Ndau and Portuguese

Other content Library Books and videos; at the time of

publication the library was beingconsiderably expanded

Dondo

Name Dondo CMC

Location Central Mozambique

Address Rua da Administração,Dondo

Phone/fax (258) 23 950 473

Email [email protected],[email protected],[email protected]

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 118,000 in Dondo city

Languages Sena, Ndau and Portuguese

Distance from national capital 1,200 km, 15+ hours by roadto Maputo

Distance from provincial capital 30 km, 1 hour by road to Beira

Main economic activities Agriculture, subsistence farming,informal market, commerce, industry

Other internet access Digital agency ofTelecomunicacoes de Mocambiquein Dondo town

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Background and missionIn 2000, the Association for the Development of Dondo(ADEDO) responded to a joint UNESCO/UNDP call forinterest to develop community radio stations. ADEDO

won one of eight Media DevelopmentProject grants. The radio went on theair in 2002, owned and operated bythe ADEDO community association.Telecentre facilities were added in2004, also with Media DevelopmentProject funding, with the objective ofincreasing the resource base and

impact of the radio by integrating new technologies. TheCMC’s mission is to work for the economic, cultural andintellectual development of the community throughimpartial and professional programmes and servicesthat strengthen democracy and peace in Mozambique.

The radio’s motto - the radio of us all - is significantgiven the recent history of civil war and it translatesinto a vision that the CMC will enable the wholepopulation of Dondo to take part in the process ofdeveloping the district.

Location and context Dondo is situated thirty kilometres inland from the portcity of Beira in central Mozambique. Badly affectedduring the war, which ended in 1992, both Dondo’sinfrastructure and socio-cultural tissue was badlydamaged and scars are still visible. A city of some118,000 inhabitants, Dondo is on the busyZimbabwe-Beira travel corridor, a location thatfacilitates relatively greater mobility and at one time,trade and economic opportunities; however morerecently, Dondo has emerged as one of the nation’sHIV/AIDS hotspots, with infection prevalence rangingbetween fifteen and twenty percent, and the economicrecession in neighboring Zimbabwe, which earlierprovided a lot of activity and business, has slowedgrowth. During the rainy season, areas of Dondo areprone to flooding and related problems.

The Dondo CMC is the only local media in thedistrict, which also has access to RadioMozambique, Radio Cidade - a commercial radio inBeira (new at the time of publication) - and a localCatholic radio station. National television channels

and newspapers are also available. There are nolocal newspapers.

PartnersThe community radio was initiated by ADEDOthrough the national UNESCO/UNDP MediaDevelopment Project.

The Austrian Cooperation Development Agencysupports the radio’s agricultural programmesthrough PROMISO, a project to strengthenpartnership and cooperation between governmentand civil society.

The CMC collaborates closely with the provincialgovernment in Beria, in particular the ProvincialDirection on Public Construction and the PublicTransports Department.

The electricity company offers reduced rates inexchange for public service announcements on theradio concerning electricity cuts; a programmesupported by the National AIDS Council is indevelopment to further strengthen HIV/AIDS relatedprogramming and content, etc.

The CMC is involved with a wide range of localgroups as a social mobiliser. Among groupsinvolved are the local women’s network, anorganisation of widows and other older women,organisations for vulnerable children, and localAIDS groups.


Income The CMC raises revenue from a variety of services:training, internet access, photocopying, fax, scanningand desktop publishing as well as radio programmeproduction and advertisements, including the allimportant daily local messages. This revenue is almostcovering running costs, however the CMC is still in needof external funds to break even and to meet unexpectedcosts and make capital investments. The CMC plans to

Birgitte Jallov

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expand the centre’s technical facilities, includingadditional computers, in order to attract a largernumber of users.

Human resourcesThe CMC has seven full-time staff: a coordinator, whosupervises overall operations; a community mobiliser,who identifies and organises volunteer communityprogrammers and is responsible for the coordination ofthe daily radio broadcast as well as weeklytraining/planning/evaluation meetings; a telecentremanager, who manages the telecentre component andorganises activities, including training, and looks after thecomputer facilities. The CMC also has an administratorand a technician, each with a deputy. The CMC has overforty-five regular volunteers who work primarily in radioproduction and programming. The volunteers are mostlylocal youth; about twenty percent are girls/women.Considerable effort is put into increasing the percentageof women and a women’s network within the radio hasbeen established for this purpose. The CMC is managedby a committee with members elected in annualcommunity assemblies.

Main focus of activities One of the CMC’s main focuses is to generate andshare community knowledge through the radioprogrammes. The CMC works on ways of broadeningthis through the recently included telecentre component.Through baseline research the core developmentchallenges of the area were identified and on the basisof this research, editorial groups were formed aroundcentral issues, among them agriculture and environment,women and gender issues, democracy and goodgovernance, education, and culture. The station’sprogramme format/grid was planned and continues onthis basis. The management committee uses listenerfeedback and the various community research methodson an ongoing means to update plans and activities.Based on local needs, the radio’s programming hasproven to have an impact in areas like health andenvironmental awareness, public issues and culture.

Computer training and ICT services have also becomeimportant functions of the CMC. Sixty percent of theradio volunteers have received training in the use ofcomputers and internet; each volunteer is entitled to use

the internet for ten to fifteen minutes every day forresearch, which is significant given that connectivity isexpensive. Aside from training volunteers in ICT skills,regular training courses are run with twelve participantsin each; at the time of publication, four had beenconducted. At the national level, work is being carriedout to lower communication costs for CMCs.

The radio is a community reference point, a spacewhere the different parts of the community meet, todiscuss and work with local problems and challengesand to find adequate solutions together. An average offifty people visit the CMC every day to use thecomputers and internet, to do photocopying and useother facilities as well as to participate more generally incontent production and programming. The majority ofvisitors are young men, seventeen to twenty-five yearsold. Adult users include teachers from various schools inthe city and business people. The number of visitors withlimited education is fairly low.

AchievementsThe community radio has helped to open spacesfor discussion of HIV/AIDS that has led tomarked increase in both awareness and action.In the three years since the forums began, thenumber of individuals seeking HIV testing hasincreased significantly.

A campaign about the importance of chlorinatingwater supplies increased women’s awareness andconfidence, contributing to reduced incidence andzero mortality in the most recent cholera season.

The CMC has played a valuable role in improvingsecurity and stability: helping the police to raiseawareness and disseminate information aboutabuses in the ‘community policing’ programmeand influencing the town council to change thelocal electricity contractor, resulting in anexpansion of service and many new areas havingtheir streets lit in the evenings.

The community radio helped generate a sense ofvalue of the local culture and general self-confidence and pride as the listeners hear theirown language used and learn about their culture.

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The CMC also organised a festival of traditionalsong and dance.

Constraints and challengesThe power supply to the CMC is irregular and thereare daily cuts, a constraint to offering a regularservice and ultimately sustainability.

Sustainability is a challenge: though the CMC is almostself-reliant, financial inputs are still needed to meetrunning costs. There is also a need for capital investment

as the CMC’s original equipment, especially PCs andthe photocopier, are quite old and starting to run down.

Sustaining community participation and ownership –essentially the willingness of the local community toown, run and use the centre – is an ongoing challenge.

Internet costs are high and though the serviceis valuable, it represents a major challengeto the CMC’s self-reliance and prospectsfor sustainability.

The CMC has a strong public and civic mandate,which requires proper planning and processes in orderto be effective.

During Mozambique’s latest two elections the CMC’swomen's collective, along with all other editorialgroups of the radio station, worked hard to demystifythe election process by informing listeners of theirrights, explaining relevant legal frameworks and theimportance and implications of elections in a buddingdemocracy like Mozambique. A 'Code of Conductduring Election Periods' for the country’s communityradios was formulated by some forty community radiosthrough an extended participatory process during 2002 and 2003 to make up for the lack of legislation inthis important area. The regulations were made available in a large poster format and placed in the station’sbroadcast studio (see photo).

The radio’s intensive civic education campaign meant that people in the area were better informed and as aresult a very different kind of local debate was registered during local elections. More people participated inthe elections, which also took place in a much more peaceful and orderly atmosphere, according toobservers, with much less political and ethnic tension. Due to the large corps of well-trained volunteer radioproducers, Radio Dondo was present at all the polling stations, and was the first to communicate electionresults. No other local, provincial or national media had a comparable coverage. In another example of theCMC’s public role, during recent floods, Radio Dondo became the area’s message centre, coordinating themany actors involved in dealing with the crisis. As radio producers and CMC workers were on the spot whenthings started to turn problematic, the effects of the floods were limited in comparison to earlier incidents. Thepublic costs involved in relief efforts were also considerably diminished due to an early and intensiveintervention using localised media and other ICT tools.

Community multimedia and governance

Birgitte Jallov

OrganisationOwnership Association


Staff 3 full-time paid, 20 volunteers

FacilitiesMedia in use FM radio; computers, internet,

CD-ROMs; bulletin boards

Set-up Radio co-located withcommunity telecentre


Telecentre Digital still camera; scanner,photocopier; phone, fax; bindingmachine; television

Software Office applications, anti-virus;internet browsers, email, voice chat;CD burner, mediaplayer; digitalediting: audio, image


Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 suitcase radio;1 digital recorder


Frequency 106.7 FM

ServicesBroadcast Monday-Friday 7-20h, Saturday

7-19h, Sunday 10-18h

Telecentre Monday-Friday 7-17h, Saturday7-12, Sunday closed

ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet; intermediatecomputing; radio production

Other services Desktop publishing, scanning,photocopying, printing, documentbinding; telephone, fax

Radio programming Overview 13 hours daily: 60% music; 40%

community/public affairs, news,education, information programming

Bulletins News (3 daily), weather (2 daily),market prices (occasional)

Programmes Health, HIV/AIDS, malaria and otherdiseases, agriculture, sports, women’saffairs, education, entertainment


Digital content News Local, national and international news

are printed daily from the internet andmade available on bulletin boardsand tables in the CMC

Learning tools Encyclopaedias and dictionariescovering wide range of information;CD-ROMs on literacy, Englishlanguage learning, naturalsciences; locally producedCD-ROM on malaria

Languages English, Portuguese and Shangaan

Other content Library Novels and scientific literature

(mathematics, physics, biology, etc)in Portuguese

Manhiça

Name Manhiça CMCLocation Southern Mozambique Address Estrada Nacional No.1,

Vila de Manhiça,Maputo Province, Mozambique

Telephone (258) 21 810 171,(258) 8443 42390 (mobile)

Phone/fax (258) 21 810 052Email [email protected] Website www.telecentros.org.mz/manhica.htm

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 22,000 in the town, 105,000 in

surrounding areasLanguages Portuguese, Shangaan, RongaDistance from national capital 78 km, 1.5 hours by road to MaputoDistance from provincial capital 75 km, 1.5 hours by road to MatolaMain economic activities Subsistence farming, local sugar

factory, cattle rearingOther internet access Digital agency of

Telecomunicacoes de Mocambiquein Manhiça, CMC in Xinavane,50 km away

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Background and missionThe CMC was established in response to communitydemands for local ICT and radio services. Initiallyowned and run during its pilot phase by Eduardo

Mondlane University InformaticsCentre (CIUEM), the CMC is nowlocally owned and operated byAssociação Telecentro da Manhiça, alocal non-profit association. Theassociation was formed out of theprevious Telecentre Committee,composed of members of the

community in the fields of agriculture, health, educationand others. The telecentre was initially supported by theCanadian International Development Research Centre(IDRC) and UNESCO, with UNESCO also supportingthe addition of the radio. The CMC’s goal is toempower young people and the community in generalthrough access to information and new technologiesand through skills development in the area of ICT.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in the small town of Manhiça, thedistrict government seat. About one and half hoursdrive from Maputo, the capital of Mozambique,Manhiça is situated on the country’s only major south-north route, giving it potential for commercial activitiesand road-side restaurants; however people in thedistrict are poor, and the illiteracy rate is high. The mainsource of income in the area is subsistence farming.There is also a sugar factory, and some livestockindustry. The district was badly affected by the war inthe 1980s and early 1990s. The infrastructure andmany houses were destroyed, and many people fled thearea. The district was also badly affected by the bigfloods in 2000.

All national television and radio channels are available.The national commercial channel STV has anagreement with BBC, and shows news from BBC Africaa few hours per day. The radio at the CMC is the onlylocal radio available, although the Xinavane CMCradio service became available in 2005 in some partsof the local Manhiça area. No local newspapers areproduced. All national newspapers are sold in the street,while international newspapers are available onlythrough internet and copies printed at the CMC.

PartnersThe CMC was initially owned and run during itspilot phase by Eduardo Mondlane UniversityInformatics Centre (CIUEM), which continues toprovide a variety of support, for example in 2004the CMC produced a CD-ROM about malaria.

The Canadian International Development ResearchCentre (IDRC) and UNESCO funded the initialestablishment of the telecentre in 1999. The CMCis moving to better facilities funded by theCanadian government.

The local health authorities collaborated with thetelecentre during the floods in 2000 to distributeimportant information to avoid water born diseases.

UNESCO supported the addition of radio in 2003as part of its global CMC programme, funded bythe Swiss Agency for Development andCooperation, and is providing further training,materials and expertise in association with CIUEM.

The CMC has regular contact with theadministration of the district to disseminateinformation from the government.

The local division of Forum Mulher, a nationalnon-governmental women’s forum is using theCMC on a daily basis to give training to women inthe community.


Income The CMC is largely able to sustain its operationsthrough income generating services, but is still lookingfor partners and donors in order to improve facilitiesand expand services. Revenue is generated from thefollowing services: photocopying (which accounts forthe majority of income), scanning, internet access, fax,public telephone, paper binding and desktop publishing(layout and printing of invitations and advertisements) aswell as training. Income covers basic running costs such

Mucelo Moises/UNESCO

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as rent, electricity, phone, and the salary of five staff(including two guards). There are still difficulties meetingthe cost of major repairs. The lease-line is currentlyfunded through an IDRC access project.

Human resourcesThe CMC has three paid staff: a manager, who worksfull-time and covers most of the CMC operations, afull-time assistant, and a part time collaborator whoassists with administrative and other work. There areabout twenty regular community radio volunteers,eight women and twelve men; half are students, theothers are teachers and workers from different localsectors: health, agriculture and the sugar factory. Eightof the volunteers are working as field reporters; theothers are on-air presenters or production assistants.The CMC benefits from the assistance of a localuniversity-trained electrical engineer. About fiftypeople visit the CMC every day, most of them to takephotocopies. Three to four visitors per day come to usethe computers and internet in addition to the peoplewho come for training.

Main focus of activities The CMC provides ICT training to a broad range ofpeople in Manhiça town, especially from the districtadministration and through Forum Mulher, a women’sorganisation. Local education and other municipaldepartments along with some national andinternational NGOs are also using the CMC on aregular basis. The CMC has produced a number ofICT manuals on how to use computers, internet, etc.The CMC has also produced an award-winning CD-ROM about malaria in the local language. On a day-to-day basis, the photocopy machine is the mostpopular service at the CMC; internet use is lessfrequent. The radio focuses to a great extent oneducational programmes, particularly HIV/AIDS,agriculture and school issues.

AchievementsThe CMC is largely responsible for “digitising” thecommunity. All the government departments andlocal municipality officials have been trained by theCMC, and everyone in town with an email addressopened their first account through the CMC. Morethan 300 people have taken ICT training.

The CMC has made Manhiça an information andcommunication producer. In addition to daily radiocontent, the CMC has made digital informationavailable and also created it: in 2004, the CMCproduced its first CD-ROM, on malaria preventionand treatment in both Portuguese and locallanguages, with strong participation of thecommunity. In 2005, the CD-ROM was awardedfirst prize for production of digital content by anational jury under the auspices of the Ministry ofScience and Technology in Mozambique.

The CMC has provided information and literatureto local students, contributing to education, bothformal and informal. Radio programmes aimed atwomen have encouraged more girls/women in thearea to go to school.

Both individuals and organisations benefit byvarious telecentre services, for example, earlierManhiça residents had to travel seventy-eightkilometres to Maputo for paper binding.

Constraints and challengesThe lack of transportation to buy materials andequipment is a problem for CMC staff.

There is a need for more computers for training;currently two or three trainees often have to shareone computer.

The electricity supply is unstable and there arepower cuts as frequently as three to four times aday. In 2004, an electrical surge caused a shortcircuit in the fax machine, resulting in a fire thatcaused major damage to the copy machine andseveral computers. Internet connectivity isrelatively stable; once or twice a week it is downfor an hour or two.

Turnover of staff has been relatively high. Duringsix years the CMC has had four differentmanagers. Initially there were more womenvolunteering for the radio, but most of themstopped – some because they live too far away,others because they didn’t have enough free timefrom their domestic obligations.

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Rewarding local digital contentBy and for the community were key words when Manhiça CMC in southern Mozambique decided to make aCD-ROM about malaria. For the first time ever, digital content was produced in the local languages of the area,Shangana and Macua, alongside Portuguese. With strong participation from the whole community, the content of theCD is tailored to the needs of the audience. The CD-ROM has sound, pictures, text and video sequences filmed inthe community that show and address their concerns around the widespread malaria disease.

“The CD-ROM Malária– pela e para a comunidade de Manhiça is a great tool in the fight against malaria, raisingawareness on how to prevent and treat the disease. It is useful, user-friendly and of high professional quality,” the jurycommented in awarding the CD-ROM first prize for production of digital content. The selection was made by anational jury under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Polly Gaster, the CMC project coordinatorin Mozambique expresses the need togenerate more local content in locallanguages and in participatory ways: ”Thekey to success of the CMCs is not just toprovide the communities with technicalequipment. Even more important is thegeneration of useful content – informationof importance to the community inlanguages they understand – disseminatedthrough different means of communication– digital, radio, video, posters, flyers,newsletters, etc.”

The CD-ROM about malaria wasproduced in 2004 by Manhiça CMC incollaboration with the Centre of Informaticsat the University of Eduardo Modlane(CIUEM) in Maputo. It has since beenwidely circulated to other communityinformation and multimedia centresthroughout Mozambique and will nowcompete on behalf of Mozambique for theInternational e-Content Award to beannounced during the World Summit onthe Information Society in Tunis inNovember 2005.

OrganisationOwnership Institute




CD-ROMs



Telecentre Scanner, 2 printers, telephone,fax, modem

Software Office applications, anti-virus;internet browsers, email, voice chat;media players, digital audio editing


Radio 1 broadcast/production studio;portable digital recorders

Transmitter 150 watts (of 250 watt capacity),range 50-70 km

Frequency 102.7 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 4h50-21h15

Telecentre 8-14h (trial)

ICT training Basic computing: operatingsystems, office applications,internet; radio production


Other services Desktop publishing; scanning;telephone, fax

Radio programming Overview 16.5 hours daily: 40% music,

38% community/public affairs,2% syndicated educational content,5% news, 15% advertisementsand announcements

Bulletins Local and national news

Programmes Education, rural development,agriculture; health: HIV/AIDS,malaria, cholera, STDs; women’saffairs, sport, culture, youth issues,entertainment, oral traditions/oldstories, environment, news,official information

Languages 70% Tsonga, 30% Portuguese

Digital content Bulletins Local, national and

international news

Learning tools Encyclopaedias and dictionariescovering wide range of information;CD-ROMs about malaria, history ofMozambique, human body, literacy

Languages Portuguese, English, Shangaan


Moamba

Name Moamba CMC

Location Southern Mozambique

Address Rua do Brasil, Moamba,Maputo Province,Mozambique

Phone/fax (258) 21 520 089

Mobile (258) 82 478 3210


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 13,000 in the town, 30,000 in

the district

Languages Portuguese, Tsonga

Distance from national capital 50 km, 40 minutes by road to Maputo

Distance from provincial capital 55 km, 1 hour by road to Matola

Main economic activities Subsistence farming; poultryfarming, livestock rearing;commercial farming

Other internet access Internet cafés in Maputo,50 km away

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Background and mission Moamba radio was established in 1998 throughsupport from the Norwegian Refugee Council in orderto support the return of Mozambican refugees fromSouth Africa following the civil war. The station is run bythe Institute of Social Communication (ICS), agovernment institute for media research and extension.The telecentre was added in June 2005, throughsupport from UNESCO’s CMC scale-up initiative, withthe objective of contributing to rural development,improving access to information and supportingeducation by synergising radio and ICT tools.

Location and context The CMC is located in the town of Moamba, capital ofthe Moamba district. The district has a population ofsome 43,000 people, mainly occupied with agriculture,subsistence farming, and rearing chickens and livestock.The Corumana dam ensures water supply and irrigationfor commercial farming. Located at a crossroads nearthe route between Maputo and Johannesburg, SouthAfrica, the district is characterised by a mobilepopulation and has some trade and commerceactivities. The district government includes directoratesrepresenting most of the national ministries. Moambahas one secondary school, one rural hospital, a library,one sporting club and some religious institutions. Thereare no banking facilities. Moamba has access to TVMozambique, the provincial station of RadioMozambique, a local radio from South Africa andnational newspapers.

PartnersThe organisational vehicle for both the radio andthe CMC is the Institute of Social Communication,a Maputo-based government institute that runstwenty community radios in Mozambique.

The establishment of the radio was supported byNorwegian Refugee Council.

CIUEM (Eduardo Mondlane University InformaticsCentre), in association with UNESCO, is the mainnational partner of the CMC initiative.

Major financial support for the establishment ofthe CMC was provided by UNESCO through its

CMC scale-up programme in Mozambique,funded by the Swiss Agency for Developmentand Cooperation.

Helvetas, a Swiss NGO, is supporting the CMC’srunning cost.

The CMC collaborates with the local division of theRed Cross on dissemination of info on HIV/AIDSand other diseases and with GADEJO, a localorganisation focusing on environment, water andconflict resolution.


IncomeThe new telecentre facility raises revenue from thefollowing services: fax, scanning, training, internetaccess, desktop publishing (production of invitations,pamphlets, etc), and the radio through paidannouncements and messages. This revenue is notenough to cover the day-to-day running costs and theCMC is dependent on funding from partners. Themajority of funds to support the radio have come fromICS with additional support from Helvetas.

Human resourcesThe CMC has three full-time paid staff: a CMCcoordinator, an administrator, who also works as atechnician, and one person responsible for radioproduction. The CMC also has one assistant whoworks full-time on a voluntary basis, as well as avolunteer technician. There are ten volunteers whowork mainly in the radio. There is a communitymanagement committee that oversees theoperations of the CMC. The committee has twentymembers from farmers’ and women’s associations,the private sector, churches as well as teachers andcivil servants.

Main focus of activitiesMain activities are radio production and broadcasting,ICT training and services, including the production ofbrochures, pamphlets and invitations for private citizens,

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private enterprises and government institutions. Theradio has a strong focus on education and informationabout health, environment and agriculture. Literacytraining is provided when funds are available.

AchievementsRadio Moamba is the most popular station in thecommunity, listened to by a significant majority ofthe population. The radio has had a significantimpact in the community, especially by providinginformation and raising awareness on importanthealth issues such as prevention of HIV/AIDS,malaria and cholera.

The telecentre had just started at the time ofpublication, making impact difficult to assess ordescribe; however the inauguration attracted

several hundred people, an indication of people’sinterest in new ICTs.

Constraints and challengesFinancial self-reliance and sustainable are twinchallenges for the CMC. At present the majority ofoperational funds come from ICS, however theseresources are limited and outside of local controland therefore the CMC must increase its revenues.

Maintenance of equipment is another challenge,both as a financial burden and in terms of ensuringregular operations and reliable services.

As with most of the CMCs in Mozambique,Moamba also has problems with the reliability andspeed of its internet connectivity.

Moamba CMC/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Secondary school (non-profit)


Staff 4 full-time, 2 part-time,20 volunteers


CD-ROMs; wall newspaper

Set-up Telecentre co-located with radioin a secondary school


Telecentre Scanner, 2 printers, photocopier,fax; video player, television

Software in use Office applications, anti-virus;internet browsers, email, voice chat;digital audio editing, media players


Radio 1 broadcast studio, suitcase radio


Frequency 90.5 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 6-21h30


ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet, email;radio production

Other training English courses

Other services Scanning, printing, photocopying;word processing; desktop publishing;telephone, fax


30% community/public affairs,16% news bulletins, 10% culture

Bulletins News, weather

Programmes Health, education, agriculture,HIV/AIDS and STDs, agriculture,local news, culture


Digital content Learning tools Encyclopaedias and dictionaries

covering wide range of information;educational CD-ROMs about literacylearning, health, HIV/AIDS, malaria,science, history

Languages English, Portuguese and Shangaan

Other content Local newspapers A weekly wall newspaper is produced

with local news as well as translatedcontent sourced from internet

Library National newspapers

Namaacha

Name Namaacha CMCLocation Southern Mozambique Address Escola Secundaria, Estrada

Nacional No.4, Namaacha,Maputu Province, Mozambique

Telephone (258) 21 960 098 Phone/fax (258) 21 960 097Email [email protected] Webpage www.telecentros.org.mz/

namaacha.htm

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 10,000 in town, another 32,000

living in outlying rural areasLanguages Shangaan, Portuguese, Seswati

and Ronga Distance from national capital 75 km, 1.5 hours by road to MaputoDistance from provincial capital 70 km, 1.5 hours by road to MatolaMain economic activities Agriculture, subsistence farming,

petty trade/commerce, tourismOther internet access Digital agency of

Telecomunicacoes de Mocambiquein Namaacha town, 1 km away

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Background and missionThe telecentre in Namaacha was one of the two firsttelecentres in Mozambique. Established in 1999 byEduardo Mondlane University Informatics Centre(CIUEM), the pilot was supported by the CanadianInternational Development Research Centre (IDRC) topromote access to information/ICT for development inrural areas. Through support from UNESCO, thecommunity radio – Radio Cascatas – was added in 2003,run by Namaacha Secondary School and supported byCIUEM. Comprising both radio and telecentre, the CMCis now both owned and managed by the secondaryschool, with a local advisory committee representing thecommunity. The aim is to combine access to digitalinformation with radio in order to spread information,support education across the community, especially onHIV/AIDS and malaria prevention.

Location and contextSome seventy-five kilometres from the capital city,Namaacha District is in the southern part of Maputoprovince, bordering Swaziland and South Africa. The districthas a total population of approximately 42,000 with about10,000 living in the town area. Main economic activities aresubsistence farming, some petty cross-border trade and onefactory producing bottled mineral water. With borders to twoother countries, the district is characterised by migration andnon-permanent residency. There is some potential fortourism. The district has been suffering from a long-standingwater shortage and faces serious environmental problems.The district government has directorates representing mostnational ministries. The CMC is located on the premises ofNamaacha Secondary School.

Radio Cascatas is the only local media outlet in thedistrict. The area also has access to Radio Mozambique,Radio Cidade - a commercial radio from Maputo - andlocal radio stations from Swaziland and South Africa.National television channels and newspapers are alsoavailable. There is no local newspaper. (The CMC waspreviously producing a monthly local newspaper, but hadto freeze the production because of lack of finances.)

PartnersNamaacha Secondary School owns the CMC andruns it in cooperation with a local advisorycommittee established in 2003.

The telecentre was established and training andrunning costs supported during the pilot phaseby IDRC.

UNESCO provided the suitcase radio and hasalso been giving radio training, assistance inraising funds and facilitation of networking withother CMCs through its global CMC programme,funded by the Swiss Agency for Developmentand Cooperation.

The CMC has benefited from other projects fundedby IDRC to improve connectivity access andservices, and also from the SchoolNet programme.

Some local and provincial organisations, such asAMODEFA, an association for development offamily planning, and Núcleo Provincial deCombate ao SIDA, an organisation to fightHIV/AIDS, have sponsored programme production.

The District Education Directorate sends itsemployees for computer training.


IncomeThe CMC raises revenue from the following services:training, internet access, photocopying, fax, scanning,desktop publishing, radio programme production andadvertisements. This revenue is almost covering runningcosts, but the CMC is still in need of external funds to fillthe gap and for capital investments and new initiatives.Donor supported projects have until recently providedfinancing for various telecentre activities, with UNESCOsupporting most of the running costs of the radio. Thisfunding is now ending, leaving the CMC with thechallenge of sustaining its own operations.

Human resourcesThe CMC has two coordinators, one for the telecentre andone for the radio, both working half time without pay. Thereare four full-time paid staff: an accountant and anassistant, helping visitors to use the facilities, and two

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workers who clean and provide security. The CMC hastwenty regular volunteers working in radio production. Theyare mostly youth from the Namaacha Secondary School;about thirty percent are girls/women. One of the volunteers

is a local technician assisting in radioediting and repair of equipment. TheCMC is managed by a committeeappointed by the school. An average ofthirty-five people visit the CMC every dayto use the computers and photocopymachine, and to access internet andother facilities. Visitors are predominantly

young men, age fifteen to thirty years, students from thesecondary school and also civil servants from the DistrictEducational Directorates who all come for training. Otherusers include teachers from various schools in the town.Only a few other community members use the facilities.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC’s main activities are computer training,providing telecentre services and radio production. TheCMC is producing invitations for weddings andbirthdays, pamphlets for private and public sectorclients, and also prints and copies texts for use in thesecondary school. The radio has a particular focus oneducation and dissemination of information aboutHIV/AIDS and malaria. The CMC has a constant flowof visitors from the Namaacha Secondary School, andsome youth also come just to spend time and socialise.The green space in front of the CMC has become apopular meeting place. There is also regular, ongoingtraining of radio volunteers.

Achievements The CMC has trained more than 600 people in thecommunity, mostly students, in computing skills.

Radio Cascatas, the only local radio in the district,plays an essential role as a source of informationand a channel of public debate in the community.

There are strong feelings of local ownership, that theCMC meets local needs and that the radio is widelyif not universally listened to in the district. Reportersare often stopped in the street and encouraged toincrease the hours of broadcasting; they are likewisefrequently invited to go to remote areas to interactwith people in outlying areas of the district.

The CMC’s combined strengths of new ICTs and radiohave contributed to building capacity and raising thelevel of education and awareness of developmentissues among the community-at-large, particularly inthe areas of HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention.

Constraints and challengesFinancial sustainability is the CMC’s majorchallenge. At the time of publication, the CMC hadnot yet achieved self-reliance and therefore needsto increase income or generate additional fundingto be able to cover running costs.

Social sustainability is also a challenge, especiallythe turnover of volunteers; for example; Englishcourses were temporarily stopped because therewas no one to teach the classes.

The power supply to the CMC is irregular and thereare daily power cuts lasting from twenty minutes to onehour. The CMC does not have a back-up generator.

Internet connection is relatively good, except duringheavy rains and storms.


Mucelo Moises/UNESCO Mucelo Moises/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Institute


Staff 6 full-time; 10 regular,25 irregular volunteers


CD-ROMs; local newspapers

Set-up Telecentre co-located with localradio station


Telecentre Printers: 1 colour, 1 black/white;photocopier; fax, telephone, modem;television, video player

Software Office applications, antivirus; email,internet browsers; web design; mediaplayers, digital editing: audio, image


Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,1 mobile unit, 2 portable taperecorders

Transmitter 250 watts, 40 km range

Frequency 99.6 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 4h50-8h, 11h50-14h10,

15h55-22h

Telecentre Monday-Friday 8-18h30,Saturday-Sunday closed to public

ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet;radio production

Other services Fax, printing, photocopying, desktoppublishing, internet access


community/public affairs, 20% news,2% ads, 2% syndicated educationalprogramming

Bulletins News, weather, local market prices

Programmes Health, HIV/AIDS, STDs; agriculture,environment, human rights,education, debates, current affairs;women, youth, children; local cultureand music, sports

Languages 70% local languages: Chiuté,Chimanyika; 30% Portuguese


covering wide range ofinformation, including dedicatedmaterials for children; CD-ROMsfor literacy learning and aboutscience, math, geography, history,astronomy, entertainment

Languages Portuguese, translations to locallanguages

Other content Local newspapers Wall newspaper with information

from internet, local sources; weeklynewspaper including translateddigital content

Library School books, dictionaries, novels,culture and social books; alsovideos, national newspapers

Sussundenga

Name Sussundenga CMCLocation West Central MozambiqueAddress Vila Sede de Sussundenga,

Bairro 25 de Junho,Sussundenga District,Manica Province, Mozambique

Phone/fax (258) 251 52059Email [email protected] www.telecentros.org.mz/

sussunde.htm

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 37,000 in Sussundenga town,

56,000 more in other parts ofthe district

Languages Chiuté, Chimanyika, PortugueseDistance from national capital 850 km, 24 hours by road

to MaputoDistance from provincial capital 42 km, 1+ hour to Chimoio on a

dirt roadMain economic activities Agriculture, tobacco cultivation,

cattle breeding, subsistence farmingOther internet access Chimoio, 42 km away

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Background and missionSussundenga Radio was established in 2000, initiatedby the Social Communications Institute (ICS), agovernment media research and extension institute,

and the Ford Foundation, withthe goal of promoting bettercommunication and access toinformation for the development ofthe community. One key objectivewas to disseminate information aboutenvironmental issues and how topreserve the natural resources of the

district. A committee composed of members of thecommunity now manages the CMC. The addition oftelecentre facilities alongside the radio was fundedby the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 2002. UNESCOis providing further capacity-building to integrateSussundenga CMC fully into the nationalCMC network, as part of its Mozambique CMCscale-up initiative.

Location and contextSussundenga CMC is located close to the border ofZimbabwe; about forty kilometres from the provincial capitalof Chimoio, and long two-day drive from Maputo. Thedistrict is rich in natural resources, but very poor in terms ofhuman development. Until 2000, there was no secondaryschool in the district, and there is still no pre-universityschool. The district still suffers from infrastructural damagecaused during the war in the 1980s. There are no pavedroads. In general, people are very poor. The district is themost mountainous in Mozambique and includes the highestpeak, Monte Binga. The Chimanimani nature reserve, richin flora and fauna, is also situated within the district.

The main economic activities are in the agriculture sector:growing tobacco, breeding cattle and goats, andsubsistence farming. Child labour in the tobacco industryis a major problem. Another problem is land clearance forfarming through burning and over-utilisation of naturalresources. Media coverage in the area is limited, howeverthe CMC produces two newspapers as well as the radioservice, making it the major media producer in the area.

PartnersThe Ford Foundation funded the initial establishmentof the radio.

ICS continues to pay salaries for personnel andrunning costs and provides syndicated educationalprogrammes on a periodic basis.

The addition of telecentre facilities was funded bythe W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

UNESCO’s Mozambique CMC scale-up initiative,funded by the Swiss Agency for Development andCooperation, and its main partner, the EduardoMondlane University Informatics Centre (CIUEM),are providing training and technical assistance andfacilitating networking with other CMCs.

The National AIDS Council (CNCS) issponsoring programmes and content aboutHIV/AIDS. The CMC has also receivedsponsorships for programmes about humanrights, in particular the rights of women andchildren and concerning labour.


IncomeThe majority of the CMC’s running costs are funded onan ongoing basis by ICS along with support from otherpartners and donors. The CMC has a limited incomefrom telecentre services, training courses and theproduction of radio programmes, on-air messagededications and advertisements.

Human resourcesThe CMC has six full-time staff: a coordinator, a manager,two radio technicians, one administrator and one guard.The radio has ten steady volunteers, and sometimes up totwenty-five irregular volunteers, however the turnover ofthese volunteers is high, as people find other paid jobs orgo outside the district to study. A unique local resourceand facility, some 300-500 people per month visit theCMC to use the facilities and visit the radio.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC runs courses in basic computing skills,primarily operating systems and office applications,

Luis Nevef/University of Eduarto Modlane

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charging a small fee. There are also free mini-courseson how to use email and internet given to people whocome to the CMC to use other services, like fax andphotocopying, in order to build up basic skills amongcommunity members, increase awareness and attractmore visitors and users.

The CMC produces a weekly wall newspaper inPortuguese and Chimanyika, which is posted in schools,administrative offices, health stations, communityorganisations and other public places throughout thedistrict. The CMC also produces a local newspaper, theonly one in the district. Both publications draw on digitalresources like internet and CD-ROMs for content, whichis then translated into the local language.

In addition to daily production and broadcasting, theradio reaches out and actively engages the wholecommunity by using a mobile studio. Programmes areproduced live from different parts of the district, often withaudiences of 1,000 or even 2,000 people. Communitymembers engage in debates, get the chance to air theiropinions and participate in live theatre productions.

AchievementsThe CMC produces the only local newspaper in thedistrict as well as a wall newspaper. Bothpublications draw upon the CMC’s uniqueinformation resources for additional content.

Radio programmes have a great impact on thecommunity in terms of education, sharinginformation, raising awareness and stimulatingdebate. One example is a programme the radio

made about the high crime rate on the main roadsduring dark nights, which prompted the nationalelectricity company to take action and provideelectricity and light to the streets in the town.

The radio has also instigated widespread debatesabout child labour in tobacco production, thewider abuse of women’s and children’s rights andraised awareness of environmental issues andHIV/AIDS.

Constraints and challengesThe area’s infrastructure is weak and there areregular problems with power supply and the qualityof telephone lines and internet connectivity.

There are also challenges and dilemmas withrespect to financial sustainability. The CMC doesnot have enough customers, as most of thepopulation is too poor to pay for the services.Reducing prices to help the disadvantaged will alsoyield less income. The CMC is dependent onnational partners and donors to a great extent inimplementing ideas and activities.

Lack of equipment is a problem: the centre does nothave a back-up generator to use when electricity iscut; there is only one radio transmitter so when it isnot functioning all programming stops.

Turnover of staff, both paid and volunteer, in a poorcommunity like Sussundenga is another challenge,as people are always on the lookout, above all else,for any kind of paid work.

Luis Nevef/University of Eduarto Modlane Luis Nevef/University of Eduarto Modlane


Start date May 2005

Staff 3 full-time volunteers,60 casual volunteers


CD-ROMs



Telecentre Scanner, photocopier, fax; 1 inkjet,1 laser printer; telephone, publiccell phone, modem

Software Office applications, antivirus; internetbrowsers, email; CD burning, digitalaudio editing


Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,1 suitcase radio, 1 portabledigital recorder


Frequency 96.9 FM


Telecentre Monday-Friday 8-12h, 14h30-18;Saturdays 8-12h

ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet, email;basic radio journalism


Other services Desktop publishing, photocopying,printing; internet, email; telephone,fax; sale of diskettes, paper,cardboard; library: books, CDs


35% community/public affairs,10% news, 5% ads

Bulletins Local, national and internationalnews, weather and market prices

Programmes Health, agriculture, youth, AIDS andSTDs, culture, sports, local currentaffairs, public debates



covering wide range of information;CD-ROMs on malaria awarenessand prevention, also on anatomy,the solar system, Mozambique history

Languages Portuguese, Shangaan

Other content Newspapers National

Library Radio and ICT manuals and guides(there is a proper library at thesecondary school)

Xinavane

Name Xinavane CMC

Location Southern Mozambique

Address Xinavane, Manhiça District,Maputo Province,Mozambique

Phone/fax (258) 21 870 000

Mobile (258) 82 319 0640


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 11,000 in Xinvane village,

16,000 more in outlying areas

Languages Shangaan, Portuguese

Distance from national capital 132 km, 2 hours by road to Maputo

Distance from provincial capital 137 km, 2.5 hours by roadto Matola

Main economic activities Sugar cultivation and milling,agriculture, fishing andcattle rearing

Other internet access Manhiça CMC, 50 km away

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Background and missionThe CMC is owned and operated by AJUCOM(Associação Juvenil para o DesenvolvimentoComunitário em Moçambique), a local associationstarted by seventy young community members to helprebuild houses and infrastructure following seriousfloods in the area in 2000. At the time, the group wascollaborating closely with the International Red Cross.AJUCOM is now recognised by the government as anational NGO, with headquarters in Xinavane andoperations in all parts of the country. In Xinavane,AJUCOM continues its efforts to help the community tomeet needs in different social areas, for example healthissues like malaria and HIV/AIDS as well as localconcerns like cleaning the streets, building schools,initiating water programmes and arranging culturalactivities. The CMC was established with the creation ofboth a radio station and a telecentre in May 2005through a partnership with CIUEM (Eduardo MondlaneUniversity Informatics Centre) with technical andfinancial support from UNESCO. The CMC is animportant tool in exchanging and disseminatinginformation in all AJUCOM’s core work areas.

Location and contextXinavane is an administrative post in Manhiça District ofMaputo Province. The village is about two hours drivefrom Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Xinavane hasapproximately 27,000 inhabitants, about 11,000 ofwhom live in Xinavane village; the rest live in outlying,scarcely populated areas. The area is poor, has highilliteracy rates and was heavily affected by serious floodsin 2000. Xinavane is best known for its sugar plantationsand mill, which employ more than 3,000 people fromthe local community. Fishing in the Incomati River is alsoan important livelihood activity. The family sectorproduces cassava, maize, peanuts, sweet potatoes,beans, bananas and vegetables in small quantities.There is also some production of handicrafts, such asartistic bricks for houses, baskets, mats, etc.

National television and radio channels are available.STV, the national commercial television channel, has anagreement with BBC and shows news from BBC Africa afew hours per day. The radio at the CMC is the only localradio available. No local newspapers are produced. Allthe national newspapers are available in the market.

PartnersThe local sugar company provided the CMCbuilding, rehabilitated it, and is paying the CMC’selectricity costs.

UNESCO and CIUEM supported theestablishment of the CMC, gave training andcontinue to provide materials and expertise aspart of the CMC scale-up initiative inMozambique, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

AJUCOM’s other activities are supported byseveral national and international NGOs: CNCS(National AIDS Council) is supporting acampaign to promote sports in the fight againstHIV/AIDS; SAT (Southern African AIDS Program)provided computers, furniture and training to themembers of the organisation; the PortugueseSchool in Maputo supplies newspapers for thelibrary. The International Red Cross gavematerial to build houses after the floods. TheCanadian Embassy and KEPPA are alsosupporting the organisation.

Local partners include the Xinavane SecondarySchool, the local hospital and the Ministry ofHealth, which the CMC helps to disseminateinformation about important health issues,vaccination campaigns, etc. The CMC alsoassists UJUPROX, the local youth organisation, tomake and print their newsletter and localchurches with HIV/AIDS counselling and Sundayreligious programmes.

The CMC also established a partnership with theUnion for Music Development in Xinavane(UNIDEMU). Following support by AJUCOM tohelp establish and organise the union, the CMCis now helping the union with document servicesand the radio is helping local artists to recordtheir music.


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IncomeThe CMC raises most of its revenue from thephotocopier, computer training and use of computers.Some revenue also comes from radio advertising. The

CMC is not yet able to pay runningcosts/salaries to the staff, and thusrelies on partners and or donors tocontribute to its operations in theshort term.

Human resourcesThe CMC has no paid staff of its

own. There are three full-time staff who work on avoluntary basis without salary: an administrator incharge of income and human resources, a computertrainer who is also giving training in basic radioproduction/journalism, and one trainer/secretary whodeals with photocopies, fax and telephone as well ascleaning. The coordinator of AJUCOM doubles as theCMC’s activity coordinator. There is also a radiodirector who coordinates radio operations andprogramming. There are about sixty volunteers: fifteenhost radio programs, the rest collect information inthe community, with and without audio recorders.

Main focus of activities The CMC started operations in May 2005 and at thetime of publication was still early in its establishmentphase. Training local people in radio and other ICTskills and outreach, especially to people in surroundingareas, are the main priorities. Volunteers are visitingschools and other public institutions, communityleaders, local companies and hotels to raise awarenessand encourage the use of ICTs. The CMC is hoping toraise funds to buy a bicycle or motorbike in order toreach a wider area. In terms of content, HIV/AIDS is akey focus. The CMC plans to disseminate informationon the radio, and produce pamphlets and CD-ROMs inlocal languages.

AchievementsThe Xinavane CMC represents a number of firsts forMozambique: it is the first such facility outside thedistrict capital level; it is the first to be developed inpartnership with the private sector; it is the first tostart up a radio station and a telecentresimultaneously and it is the first experiment inestablishing a small CMC not far from an existingone at district level (Manhiça), which will be able togive support and advice.

The CMC has attracted great attention in thecommunity in a short period of time. More than1,000 people and several local and national mediaattended the inauguration, officially conducted bythe Minister of Science and Technology. Curiouscitizens were visiting all day and evening on the firstday, and the CMC still has problems keeping to theclosing hours as so many people come to visit in theevenings. The staff members report that they arealready becoming well known in the community.Everywhere they go people ask for training andencourage them to broadcast more hours. Theyalso experienced quick interest from localcompanies wanting to make announcements andplace advertisements on the radio.

Constraints and challenges The CMC does not yet have money to pay the staff.If the revenue does not come, the full-time staff willhave to take other jobs and or limit their work forthe CMC considerably.

The CMC is also facing some technical start-upproblems with poor internet connectivity.

There is a lack of transportation to reach outlyingareas, which represents a problem in terms ofincluding all members of the local community.

Nina Bull Jorgensen Mucelo Moises/UNESCO Mucelo Moises/UNESCO


OrganisationOwnership Non-profit trustStart date Telecentre 2005, radio 2000Staff 11 volunteers


CD-ROMsSet-up Telecentre co-located with

community radio Number of PCs 10 public access/training,

1 radio productionTelecentre Digital still camera; scanner, printer,

fax, photocopier Software Office applications; digital audio

editing, multimediadesign/production

Connectivity Lease-line, 64 kbpsRadio 1 broadcast/production studio,

portable recordersTransmitter 250 watts, range 50 km Frequency 106.5 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 10-12h 17-20h Telecentre Daily 10-20h ICT Training Basic computing: operating systems,

office applications, basic internet; radio:basic production, technical operation

Other services Desktop publishing, public fax,public phone, photocopying,scanning; photography services;basic graphic design; radioannouncements; micro-credit andmicro-enterprise support

Radio programming Overview 5 hours daily: 80% community,

public, affairs, news, educationalprogramming; 20% music

Bulletins Public service announcements (daily),market prices (weekly)

Programmes Health: mother and child, HIV/AIDS,STD and malaria awareness; savingsand credit; agriculture, local historyand culture, debates, human rights;programmes for local target groups

Languages 70% Wolof, 30% Sérère and Pulaar

Digital content Bulletins Market pricesLearning tools CD-ROMs: literacy skills,

mathematics, geography, history,astronomy, chemistry;encyclopaedias, dictionaries

Other content Local history, culture; local productand service directories

Languages French

Other content Library

Khombole

Name Siggil Jiggèen CMC

Location Western Senegal

Address BP 9, Khombole,Senegal

Telephone (221) 953 1772

Fax (221) 953 1770


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 16,148 in the local areaLanguages Wolof, Sérère, Pulaar, FrenchDistance from national capital 96 km, 2 hours to DakarDistance from district centre 30 km, 45 minutes to Thiès Main economic activities Agriculture, small and

micro-enterprise, trade Market linkages Large market in Touba Toul, 7 km away Other information Potential for development of medicinal

plants, fruit farming, henna cultivation,and pottery/craft production

Other internet access none

Background and missionFounded in 2000, the Siggil Jiggèen Trust is acommunity-based women’s group that undertakesdevelopment support activities in Khombole, particularlysmall saving and credit programmes. In 2002, the trustestablished Siggil Jiggèen Radio and in 2005,UNESCO’s CMC scale-up initiative in Senegalsupported the creation of multimedia centre by adding

telecentre facilities. The Siggil Jiggèen of KhomboleCMC is owned and run by the trust. The centre’s widerange of ICTs has empowered the Siggil Jiggèen Trust,other local women and community members to increasetheir access to resources, enhance their owndevelopment initiatives, and generally to work towards abetter standard of life for their families.

OrganisationOwnership Local steering committee (permanent

ownership to be determined)



FacilitiesMedia in use FM radio; computers, internet; video

Set-up Local radio co-located withcommunity telecentre

Number of PCs 10 public access/training,2 production/content management

Telecentre Digital video camera; photocopier,binding machine; telephone, fax

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email, chat; digitalaudio editing

Connectivity VSAT, 50/64 kbps

Radio 1 broadcast/production studio


Frequency 98.8 FM


Telecentre Monday-Saturday 8-22h,Sunday 9h30-22h

ICT training Basic computing; intermediatecomputing: web, software andhardware installations; tailor-made

courses as per requirements ofclients; radio production, digitalaudio editing

Other services Desktop publishing, fax, scanning,document binding, digitalphotography and video shooting


54% community/public affairs,10% news and sports,1% advertisements

Bulletins Local news, weather

Programmes Health, agriculture, education,sustainable fishing

Languages Kiswahili, Kisukuma

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs and internet content on

HIV/AIDS, agriculture, cotton, fishing,women’s entrepreneurship, ICTs

Languages Kiswahili

Other content Library Educational video cassettes,

audiotapes; printed health brochuresin Kiswahili, e.g. on the prevention ofhookworms, and on general topics inEnglish, e.g. computer studies

Languages Kiswahili, English

Sengerema

Name Sengerema CMC

Location Northern Tanzania

Address PO Box 399, Sengerema,Mwanza Region, Tanzania

Telephone (255) 744 730 470

Fax (255) 28 259 0146


Website www.sengerema.or.tz

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 500,000 in Sengerema and the

surrounding area

Languages Kiswahili and Kisukuma

Distance from the national capital 1,200 km, 1.5 hours by planeand 1.5 hours by ferryboatand road

Distance from regional capital 60 km by ferry boat and road

Main economic activities Cotton cultivation, subsistencefarming, fishing, mining, trading


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Background and missionThe Sengerema CMC was established as a telecentre in2000 with the assistance of the InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU). The centre became aCMC in 2003 after the installation of FM radio facilities,supported by UNESCO. An extension of the telecentremission, the CMC aims to provide affordablecommunication and information services to meet thesocio-economic and cultural needs of the entireSengerema district.

Location and contextThe CMC is located within the town of Sengerema, theseat of the local district government. The CMC is easilyaccessed by the local community within the district. Peoplefrom neighbouring districts reach the CMC by road andferryboat. The CMC serves public institutions – health andeducation departments and local administration – andprivate small and medium sized enterprises as well asfarmers and traders. Sengerema District is mainly ruraland is known for cultivation of cotton as a cash crop; alsofishing and keeping of cattle, goats and sheep. The levelof literacy is above the national average. Media coveringthe area include the national radio, one FM radiobroadcasting from the regional headquarters and a varietyof newspapers from the country’s capital, Dar es Salaam.

PartnersThe International Telecommunications Union (ITU)provided initial support and basic equipment fortelecentre. The Canadian InternationalDevelopment Research Centre (IDRC) providedboth technical and financial support to thedevelopment of the telecentre.

UNESCO supported the addition of radio facilitiesin 2003 and continues to provide support forcapacity building as part of its global CMCprogramme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The CMC has also received support from arange of national partners: the TanzaniaCommunications Regulatory Authority andTanzania Telecommunications Company. The OpenUniversity of Tanzania and Tanzania Library ServicesBoard have supported the CMC with content.

The Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of RegionalAdministration and Local Government, TanzaniaChambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculturehave all provided additional support.

The Tanzania Institute of AdultEducation, and TanzaniaCommission for Science andTechnology are members of thenational Project ManagementCommittee, which has theresponsibility to oversee theoperations of the CMC and eachorganisation has contributed in kind.

The local government and community inSengerema provided land and contributed funds forthe building.

IncomeThe CMC raises revenue from the following paidservices: fax, scanning, desktop publishing, training,internet access, radio announcements and messages.This revenue covers approximately eighty percent oftotal overhead costs. The remaining twenty percent iscovered by contributions from local community andproject funds.

Human resourcesThe CMC has four paid staff: a manager who worksfull-time and covers most of the CMC operations, apart-time administrator who runs the office, two part-time IT tutors. There are about ten regular volunteers,all of whom are youth working for the radio; sixtypercent are women. Paid staff and volunteers run theday-to-day activities of the CMC under the authorityand supervision of the CMC manager. The LocalSteering Committee oversees the activities of the CMCat the local level and is responsible for the CMCmanager. Ten people visit the telecentre everyday fortraining and to use the internet and other services, theradio has an average of twenty guests per week.

Main focus of activitiesThe main activities are ICT training, other telecentreservices like internet, fax, telephone and secretarialassistance, along with radio broadcasting. Key focuses

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of radio are education, health, environment,entertainment and local news and announcements.

Achievements The Sengerema CMC is a unique facility in the localarea, providing access to a range of ICTs as well asthe only local media service. In an area where thereare few computers and no other internet accesspoints or services such as photocopying or desktoppublishing, the CMC has been a significantdevelopment for the district. As one senior districtcouncil staff put it: the CMC has become very muchpart of the life of the district.

The radio has played a key role in vaccinationcampaigns for children, increasing rates ofvaccination from around sixty percent to onehundred percent in just six months.

The radio meets the needs of the villages outsidethe district headquarters and facilitates thework of the district council through publicnotification of voter registration, vaccinationcampaigns, etc.

Constraints and challengesThe area’s power supply is irregular and there arefrequent cuts lasting several hours. The CMC has aUPS that can support operations for one totwo hours.

There is a high turnover of staff and volunteers,which poses challenges to the regularity andconsistency of services and limits new initiatives.

A hill in one area of the radio’s broadcast arealimits the coverage of the radio service.

“ The total number of users of internet/email (at the CMC)over the three years (2002-2004) was 17,000, which isover 34 users for every 1000 persons over the three yearsor about 11 per 1000 persons per year. According to thedata from the United Nations, the national average for2001 for Tanzania was 2.5 per 1000 persons internet users.From an evaluation conducted by IDRC ”Local MMTK experienceIT trainer Lismas Julius discovered the Multimedia Training Kit on the UNESCO website and was later sent the MMTKCD. He used it to begin mixing his existing training materials with components from the kit. He believes that the toolkithas improved the centre’s training methods substantially. “The MMTK was so useful and all the materials were reliableand arranged for the purpose of empowering knowledge and skills to all those who were using this kit.”

Sengerama previously faced problems getting good training materials. The MMTK modules represent a significantimprovement. The centre shares the IT materials with the students, teaching them office applications. They use theMMTK CD when the internet is down. Lismas also used modules on ‘introduction to business’, ‘introduction todatabases’ and the ‘introduction to digital editing’.

Lismas maintains that students have been performing better in their examinations, producing results significantlyhigher than those prior to using the MMTK. Overall he rates the quality, range and clarity of the kit highly, althoughhe feels that there is a need for more technical materials including a troubleshooting unit; also that CDs should beregularly supplied. He is looking forward to an improved and updated version of the kit.

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Indicators of local impact A survey conducted as part of an independent evaluation in mid-2005 found that the local Sengerema communitycredits the CMC with a wide range of positive impacts:

50% of respondents had saved money by using CMC services, which are cheaper than the alternatives; 13.6%had increased their business and 10% had improved the efficiency and quality of their work as a result of accessto the CMC facilities; 9.1% found communications to be faster, 6% obtained market information more easily, and4.5% reported ‘just saving time’ as a positive impact.

Social benefits that the community reported include: easier communications (37%), availability of information(27%), acquiring computer skills (6.4%), improved work efficiency (6%), entertainment (6%) and easy contact withdonors for scholarships (2.2%).

The secretary of a women’s group called Wanawake na Maendeleo (women and development) was given a freetraining in the use of computers and the internet. She now uses email twice a week and she is enthusiastic aboutthe benefits of the CMC for her group. “The CMC has provided us with computer technology and skills. Wehave seen and used this technology instead of just hearing about it. The radio has been useful foradvertisements and notification of deaths. Before I had to go to Mwanza for these sorts of services, which usedto cost me quite a bit of money each time. With the CMC facilities in Sengerema, I have good communicationsfor the group and more customers.”

One of the CMC’s national partners identified the most significant impact at the local level as ‘access and useof the internet to communicate with the rest of the world at affordable cost’.

The chairman of the Local Steering Committee stresses the advantage of the CMC on the community’s economicactivity and cites the example of local wheelbarrow manufacturers who used the internet to get their products intonew markets, which significantly increased demand and profits.

The CMC has brought significant changes for the wider Sengerema community, especially in terms of governanceand the inclusion of outlying communities. The radio has been a particular boon for villages that are outside thedistrict headquarters, whose needs are specific to remote rural areas and are often difficult for the districtadministration to address. The CMC’s communication and information tools have greatly facilitated the work ofthe district council by making it possible to do mass public notification of voter registration, vaccination ofchildren under five, etc.

Computers and ICT facilities have also contributed to building the overall capacity of the local administrationand improving work performance; for instance the reporting of the bee-keeping officer has become very efficientsince he started using the computer to prepare his reports. Training in computers has also led to promotions, forinstance, of accountants in the local government administration.

In the initial two years, the telecentre experienced very low usage; however since 2002 and particularly since theaddition of the radio, patterns of usage have changed: ICTs, particularly computers, have become very populareven amongst people who only a few years previously were entirely computer illiterate. At the outset, there wasminimal demand for the telecentre facilities, however, now one can be in a queue to use a computer for emailor to browse the internet, especially over the weekend.

Six new micro-enterprises dealing in secretarial services have been started by trainees of the telecentre. Afterlearning new skills and realising the potential of local ICT usage, these entrepreneurs purchased their owncomputers and started their own businesses, which also provides employment to others. One new service wasopened at the Teachers’ Resource Centre by a local teacher; although he was trained in Dar es Salaam, thecapital, he is clear that it was the Sengerema CMC that showed him the way.

OrganisationOwnership Community-based organisation






Telecentre Digital cameras: still, digital;television; photocopier


Connectivity VSAT, 64 kbps



Frequency 92.9 FM



ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet browsing;radio production

Other services Photocopying, library, public phone

Radio programming Overview 18 hours daily: 10% news,

60% public and community affairs,30% music

Bulletins News, weather (daily); marketprices (weekly)

Programmes Health, agriculture, education,sports, women, children, youth,people with disabilities

Languages Lango, English

Digital content Learning tools Archived radio programmes;

indexed websites

Languages English, Lango

Other content Library 70 books; cassette radio

archives; videos

Languages English, Lango

Apac

Name Apac CMC

Location Northern Uganda

Address PO Box 121, Apac Town,Apac District, Uganda

Telephone (256) 776 60 686

Fax (256) 412 34 924


Website www.interconnection.org/radioapac

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 20,000 in Apac town, 890,000

in the district

Languages Lango, English

Distance from national capital 400 km, 7 hours by roadto Kampala

Main economic activities Subsistence farming, trade

Other internet access 1/2 km to privateinternet centres

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Background and missionRadio Apac was established in 1999 with support fromthe Commonwealth of Learning (COL), anintergovernmental agency based in Canada. The goal ofthe radio is to bridge the educational and developmentalinformation gap in the communities of Apac District. In2003, UNESCO supported the addition of thetelecentre, creating a multimedia facility, in order toexpand the access of both radio and communitymembers to information and communication tools.

Location and context The Apac CMC is located in the Apac Town Council area.It started out serving the town and later expanded to thewhole Apac district. The CMC is easily accessible to thepublic by road, phone and post. The main economicactivities of the area are agricultural, especially farming ofcereal crops such as maize and millet. Radio Apac is theonly local radio station in the district. Signals from otherFM stations operating from neighbouring districts canalso be heard. The national television signals do notreach Apac and satellite television is available to onlythose who can afford it. Apac is covered by three cellularnetworks: MTN, CELTEL and Mango; there is no fixedtelephone network coverage.

PartnersCommonwealth of Learning supported theestablishment of the radio and initial training.

UNESCO supported the establishment of thetelecentre, provided training and technicalassistance through funding provided by Belgium.

AMARC, the World Association of CommunityRadio Broadcasters, provided equipment andtraining to the radio.

The CMC has also received support from PANOSfor equipment, training and programmeproduction; the Open Knowledge Network forprogramme production support and OneWorld forspecific HIV/AIDS productions.

Local partners also play an active role in the CMC,particularly in terms of programming and content:the Agency for Sustainable Development Initiatives

(ASDI) in Apac provides local content programming,Wougnet provides women’s content using theinternet, the Kubere Information Centre assists withagricultural programmes, the Apac police unit doescommunity security and humanrights programming and theDistrict Government of Apaccontributes programmes aboutdistrict developmental issues.

IncomeRoughly seventy percent of the CMC’searned revenue comes from radio programmesponsorship by NGOs, CBOs and governmentdepartments as well as from local advertising, anotherfifteen percent comes from internet fees, photocopyservices and computer training, and the remainingfifteen percent comes from programme productiongrants from NGOs, CBOs and public institutions.

Human resourcesThe CMC has thirteen full-time paid staff including astation manager, several technicians and radiopresenters as well as security and administrationpersonnel. Although there is a high turnover ofvolunteers, on average there are ten volunteers at atime. The gender ratio among staff is two women to oneman. Local NGOs such as ASDI, Kubere InformationCentre, and Apac Anti-Corruption Coalition send theirown staff to produce and manage related programmes.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC focuses on delivering educational andagricultural information as well as development news. Asignificant portion of local content is provided andprogrammes are implemented by local civil societygroups. Internet access has become a highly valuedservice, especially for teachers and youth, but alsoamong the general public and perhaps most significantlyfor radio researchers, producers and presenters.

AchievementsApac Community Radio was the first localcommunication facility in the Lango and Lira Sub-regions of Apac. Information resources andcommunication tools are now accessible to ruralcommunities and community spaces have a

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different composition, for example women’s voicesare now heard on radio, empowering women to bemore active in their communities.

Internet has also opened a window on the worldand doors to a whole host of new resources for thetown community. Schoolteachers from the areacome to the centre to surf the web for teachingmaterials – a major development given that mostschools do not have books.

The CMC played a key role in mobilising thecommunity during the 2005 immunisation campaign.

The CMC won prizes at the 2005 UNICEF Children'sBroadcasting Day Awards for participatoryprogramming and for its dramatic programmes.

Constraints and challengesIntermittent and unreliable power supply is a majorconstraint. There are power cuts each weekend andfor long periods during the week, forcing the centreto use expensive generators for power in order tomaintain services.

In general, financial self-reliance and all roundsustainability are challenges given high costsand limited income; for example, subscription tothe VSAT internet link is approximately USD 350per month.

Building and maintaining technical expertise andother capacity is a challenge in the face of highturnover of volunteers.

Apac CMC/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Steering committee chaired by local

government





Number of PCs 8 public access/training, 2 radio,1 server

Telecentre Digital camera: video, still; voicerecorders; scanner, printer,photocopier; generator


Connectivity VSAT

Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,portable recorders

Transmitter 100 watts and 30 watts relay,range 30 km

Frequency 103.3 FM


Telecentre Daily 8-18h, closed Sunday

ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet browsing;radio production

Other training Adult literacy, entrepreneurship

Other services Library, scanning, document binding,photocopying, printing, video hire

Radio programming Overview 18 hours daily: 50% public and

community affairs, 10% news,40% music

Bulletins Weather, market prices (daily);sports, market days, jobopportunities (weekly)

Programmes Health, agriculture, business,education, women and child issues

Languages 90% Luganda, 10% English

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs on various topics

Languages English and Luganda

Other content Library Books, cassettes, posters, brochures

on various developmental topics


Buwama

Name Buwama CMC

Location Western Uganda

Address PO BOX 163, Buwama,Uganda

Telephone (256) 77 221 447

(256) 77 660 562


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 410,000 in the Buwama

sub-county

Languages Luganda, English

Distance from national capital 64 km, 1.5 hours by roadto Kampala

Distance from district capital 30 km, 45 minutes by roadto Mpigi

Main economic activities Subsistence farming, trade, fishing

Other internet access University, private internet café andcommunity centre 6-12 km away

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Background and missionThe Buwama telecentre was established in 1999 by theUganda National Council for Science and Technology(UNCST) with support from the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Research Centre (IDRC). It was handedover to the Local Council Administration to hold in trustfor the community in March 2003. The radiocomponent was added in 2004, through support fromUNESCO, with an aim to empower communities toaccess and use ICTs to enhance their own developmentinitiatives. The addition of the radio station has helpedto overcome problems of distance and improvedparticipation, particularly among women and children.

Location and contextThe CMC is located about one and half hours drive southwest of the capital, Kampala. The population of the areais mostly peasant farmers and agricultural workers.Buwama town is a busy trading centre where the area’ssmall businesses are concentrated. Buwama Sub-countyhas a national teaching college, numerous private andpublic secondary and primary schools. Illiteracy andpoverty levels are high. The main source of livelihood issubsistence farming. The sub-county has also been greatlyaffected by HIV/AIDS prompting NGOs such as WorldVision to come and help with prevention and treatment.The community has access to national radio and televisionas well as a variety of other private FM stations.

PartnersThe telecentre was initially established by theUganda National Council for Science andTechnology with the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Research Centre (IDRC) providingequipment and training.

UNESCO supported the establishment of the radioand provided additional equipment, training,production and networking with other CMCs inUganda with funding provided by Belgium.

The Council for Economic Empowerment ofWomen in Africa (CEEWA), Uganda Chapter,provides monthly contributions to some operationalcosts such as the internet and telephonesubscriptions, and equipment maintenance.

The National Agricultural Research Organization(NARO) and National Library of Uganda providereading materials.

The CMC building was provided through theBuwama Community Training Centre (donated byWorld Vision); the radio is housed at thesub-county headquarters.

IncomeThe CMC raises revenue from the following services:computer training, internet/email access, radioannouncements, document processing and binding,scanning, printing and photocopying; video, stillcamera and generator hire. Earned revenue coversapproximately seventy percent of the total overheads,the remaining thirty percent is covered by contributionsfrom CEEWA Uganda Chapter.

Human resources The CMC has three paid staff: the manager whocovers most of CMC operations, a full-time securityguard and a full-time support staff member. There areabout ten regular volunteers, mostly men, who comefor two to three hours everyday to produce andpresent particular radio programmes. The number ofusers visiting the facility per day ranges between tenand twenty-five.

Main focus of activitiesThe main objective of the CMC is to provide access toinformation and ICT services for the whole communityof Buwama. The centre provides basic ICT training anddisseminates need-based information through the radio,especially regarding agriculture, small businessdevelopment and entrepreneurship.

AchievementsThe CMC has provided training to more than 300people from the community, including students,women groups and educationalists.

The CMC provides the community with free accessto a range of resource materials includingeducational posters, local and foreign journals andother periodicals, and books.

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The CMC has significantly increased local ICTawareness and demand for information andcommunication services. When the CMC firstopened, ICTs were a complete unknown in thecommunity; today Buwama Town has two telecentrefacilities and a growing number of public telephones.

The radio has increased the involvement of thecommunity and brought together developmentagencies, for instance NARO has used the stationas part of its electronic delivery of agriculturalinformation programme and the CEEWA UgandaChapter has used the CMC to reach variousaffiliated women groups.

Constraints and challengesThe library materials are limited and the facilityneeds more content, especially local publications.

Despite the presence of VSAT, the internetconnection is slow and is only connected to onecomputer; hence users have to line up, and othersget tired and leave. The ISP subscription is paidthree months in advance and is a drain on theCMC’s cash flow.

There are frequent power cuts lasting hours or evendays, making the provision of a reliable, low-costservice a challenge.

OrganisationOwnership Local governmental and agricultural

organisation





Number of PCs 1 public access/training,1 radio production

Telecentre Television, photocopier, generator

Software Office applications,digital audio editing

Connectivity Dial-up (CDMA), 36 kbps

Radio 1 broadcast/production studio, suitcaseradio, 2 portable cassette recorders


Frequency 107.3 FM



ICT training Basic computing; radio production

Other training Literacy, marketing

Other services Photocopying, library

Radio programming Overview 18 hours daily: 55% community

affairs, 35% local/internationalmusic, 10% announcementsand advertisements

Bulletins Weather, market prices (4 daily)

Programmes Health, agriculture, tourism,environment, education, politics,traffic and travel, culture, nutritionand family issues

Languages 60% Rukiga-RunyankoleRunyoro-Rutoro, 20%Runyarwanda, 20% English

Digital content Bulletins Press releases and information from

the internet

Learning tools Literacy CD-ROM; encyclopaedias

Languages English

Other content Library A wide range of educational and

general interest books

Kachwekano

Name Kachwekano CMC

Location Western Uganda

Address PO Box 421, Kabale,Uganda

Telephone (256) 486 23064 / 486 26219


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 43,500 in the sub-countyLanguages Rukiga-Runyankole Runyoro-

Rutoro, Runyarwanda, EnglishDistance from national capital 450 km, 7 hours by road

to KampalaDistance from district capital 8 km to Kabale Main economic activities Subsistence farming, dairy farming,

poultry, piggery, bee keeping andapiary, local brewing, trade

Other internet access 10 cybercafés or telecentres inKabale town, 8 km away

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Background and missionThe Kachwekano telecentre started in 2001 as a branchof Kabale African Highlands Initiative (AHI) Telecentre.Kachwekano became a CMC with the addition of radiofacilities in 2004, established with the support ofUNESCO. The CMC is owned and run by Bubaare Sub-county together with the Kachwekano AgriculturalResearch and Development Centre (ARDC) of theNational Agricultural Research Organization (NARO).The mission of Kachwekano CMC is to stimulate andsustain community development initiatives.

Location and contextThe Kachwekano CMC is located within theKachwekano Agricultural Research and DevelopmentCentre (ARDC) in Bubaare Sub-county, Kabale District.The CMC is two and a half kilometers from LakeBunyonyi, a local tourist attraction, about eightkilometers from Kabale town and about 450 kilometersfrom Kampala, Uganda’s capital. The radio has anaverage range of about twenty kilometres covering nineout of twenty sub-counties in the district as well asnearby areas of neighbouring Rwanda; however therange is limited by low transmission power and hillygeography. The district has characteristics of a moreremote area because of the terrain and in general thepeople are poor. There is no structured public transportto the town, and no communication services aside fromthe CMC and tourist resorts. There are a few scatteredsecondary schools.

The major sources of food and income in the area aresmall scale and subsistence farms growing sorghum,Irish and sweet potatoes, maize, beans, peas andvegetables. A very few households keep cattle on amedium scale, while about thirty percent keep a fewgoats and sheep. With no organised markets for thelittle farm produce and products they have to sell,farmers tend to get low prices. Due to the steep hills, thearea usually suffers from landslides during periods ofheavy rain. Due to the dense population, landfragmentation and degradation are major constraints tothe area’s development.

The area has access to one national short waveradio and one television station along with five FMstations, including Radio Kachwekano; some

communities receive Rwanda national radio. A smallnumber of people have access to a local newspaperand national English newspapers; internationalsatellite television and internet are only accessiblelocally at tourist resorts. There are about ten internetcafés and one telecentre in Kabale town, eightkilometers away. Five of these privately ownedinternet cafés use broadband (AFSAT) connectivityand hence are fast and cheap. Public phone centresare readily available.

PartnersThe Canadian International Development ResearchCentre (IDRC) provided the initial telecentreequipment and materials.

UNESCO supported the establishment of the radiofacilities with funds from Belgium and continues toprovide materials and support capacity building ofthe CMC staff.

The Developing Countries Farm Radio Network(Canada) sends radio scripts on a wide range oftopics, from farming to HIV/AIDS awareness.

The Ugandan government, through NARO,provided a building, furniture and staff houses forthe CMC and is providing agricultural informationand financially supporting programme research.

The Bubaare Sub-county provided funds for somematerials and contributes to the staff salaries; thelocal Kabale district government has also promisedto support the station.

IncomeThe CMC raises revenue from the following services:training, internet access, radio announcements,telephone access, photocopying and film shows. Thisrevenue covers only a small portion of totaloverheads. The remaining costs are covered bycontributions from Bubaare Sub-county and NARO-Kachwekano ARDC, which also provides the building,security, power and housing for the CMC. Thecontributions of two volunteers, totalling some fiftyperson-hours per week, are also an important aspectof the CMC’s sustainability.

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Human resourcesThe manager of Kachwekano ARDC, the host institution,manages the CMC. There are two paid staff, who covermost of the CMC operations, and two regularvolunteers, who work largely in radio presentation andproduction, but also they provide valuable technicalassistance and help with the library.

Main focus of activitiesThe main focus of activities is on informationdissemination, particularly agriculture and education;health, especially sanitation, nutrition and diseasecontrol; environment, including issues of deforestation,soil fertility management and pollution; also culturalvalues and governance, policy and politics. The radio ison air eighteen hours a day with reports, live interviews,features, music and other programme formats. As theonly accessible radio facility, the CMC has attracted alot of students who come to see and learn about howFM radios operate. The CMC is showing educationalfilms to people from the surrounding community, anactivity that also earns a little income. The telecentrefocuses on computer and internet training, largely forpeople attached to the area’s few businesses. The CMChas started organising school dropouts intoentrepreneurial groups and associations that willgenerate funds, both for themselves and for the CMC.Due to the presence of cybercafés and a telecentre inKabale town and tourist resorts at Lake Bunyonyi, otherservices, like internet, telephone, photocopying and useof the library, are mainly accessed by people within afive kilometre radius of the CMC.

AchievementsThe CMC has filled a need among locals whoselivelihood prospects benefit from access toknowledge and skills offered by the CMC, but whocannot afford either the high fees of training centresin Kabale or transport to town itself.

The proximity of telephone, internet andphotocopying services has helped residents in theimmediate vicinity of the CMC to easily andpromptly communicate to their relatives.

The CMC’s library has provided school children,teachers and students from nearby schools and thecommunity-at-large with access to books and othereducational resources, improving educationalstandards, general and particularly culturalawareness levels and increasing students’performance in end-of-term examinations.

Constraints and challengesTelephone service in the area is generallyunreliable; frequent breakdowns and slow repairsalso affect the CMC’s dial-up internet connectivity,which is already fairly slow.

The area experiences frequent power cuts, oftenlasting several hours and at times a few days. TheCMC uses a standby generator; however fuel andmaintenance costs are high.

Building human resource capacity and maintainingregular staff is a challenge given the area’s poverty,the CMC’s limited resources and the novelty ofthe services.

The CMC needs to increase and upgrade itsfacilities, including stronger transmission equipmentand better production capability as well as morecomputers and peripheral equipment.

Kachwekano CMC/UNESCO





Set-up Telecentre co-located withcommunity radio and cultural centre

Number of PCs 12 public access/training,4 production/broadcasting

Telecentre Digital still camera, satellite TV;scanner, printers

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email; digital editing:audio, video; playlist,digital broadcaster


Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,portable minidisc recorders,portable cassette recorders

Transmitter 2000 watts, range 100+ km

Frequency 91.7 FM


Telecentre Sunday-Friday 9-17h,Saturday 9-13h

ICT training Basic computing; radio production

Other training Functional adult literacy, leadershipskills; diplomas and certificates injournalism, marketing; short courseson business programming,management skills

Other services Photocopying, library,video shooting and editing


55% community affairs,30% local/international music,5% announcements/advertisements

Bulletins Weather (weekly), market prices(3 weekly); Everyday Affairs(4 daily in English and4 daily in local languages)

Programmes Health, agriculture, education,sports, women, people withdisabilities

Languages Runyakole, Rutoro, Rukiga,Runyoro, Kiswahili

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs on literacy skills; archived

radio programmes, encyclopaedias

Languages French, English

Other content Library Books on various subjects; cassette

archive of radio programmes

Kagadi Kibaale

Name Kagadi Kibaale CMC

Location Mid Western Uganda

Address PO Box 24 Kagadi,Kibaale District /PO Box 16253 Kampala,Uganda

Telephone (256) 4125 6704 / 7739 6649

Fax (256) 4134 2270


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 650,000 in Kagadi town and

surrounding areas

Languages Runyoro, Rutoro

Distance from national capital 290 km, 4 hours by roadfrom Kampala

Distance from district capital 40 km, 1 hour by roadto Kibaale

Main economic activities Subsistence farming, trade

Other internet access Kibaale cybercafé, 40 km away;Kyenjojo cybercafé, 60 km away

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Background and missionKagadi Kibaale Community Radio (KKRC) was startedin 2000 through the Uganda Rural Development andTraining (URDT) programme. URDT provides

vocational training, includingagriculture and carpentry, and has ameeting hall and other communityfacilities. The radio opened its doorsat the same time as a local culturalcentre. The radio’s slogan, clearlyreflecting its mission to support thedevelopment of marginalised

communities in Kibaale District, is radio for humandevelopment. A telecentre was added to the radio in2002 with support from UNESCO.

Location and contextThe CMC is located at Kagadi town, 260 kilometreswest of Kampala and forty kilometres from Kibaaletown, headquarters for the district of the same name.Constituting part of the East African rift valley thatpasses through mid-Western Uganda, the area is hilly.The vegetation is thick, though the forest cover hasbeen reduced by high population growth, largely dueto immigration from other parts of Uganda. Themajority of local residents are peasants, cultivatingboth cash and food crops.

KKCR is the only community radio in the area.Commercial radios as Radio Kitara, Radio Hoima,Bunyoro Broadcasting Service, Voice of Toro and RadioWest are available in the area. There three dailynewspapers available: New Vision, Monitor and RedPepper; also Radio Uganda.

PartnersInitial funding for the radio and for training wasprovided by the Swedish International DevelopmentAgency (SIDA).

Additional training has also been funded by SIDAand provided by the East African CommunityMedia Pilot Project, founded by four partners:URDT (Uganda), ECONEWS Africa (Nairobi),Orkonerei Institute for Pastoralists Advancement(Tanzania), and Mangelete Integrated CommunityDevelopment Project (Kenya).

UNESCO supported the addition of telecentrefacilities, providing additional equipment andtraining as part of the establishment of the CMC,with funds from Belgium.

The CMC also works with the NationalAssociation of Broadcasting and the NationalAssociation of Community Broadcasters.

IncomeThe most significant source of income is generatedfrom radio announcements, fifty-five percent,followed by sponsored programmes, ten percent,and internet access and photocopying, five percent.Local governments in Kibaale, comprising nineteensub-counties, give subventions, which constituteanother five percent. The founder, Uganda RuralDevelopment and Training (URDT) programmecontributes about twenty-five percent of theCMC’s budget.

Human resources The CMC has eight full-time staff members: a stationmanager, programme manager, documentalist, newseditor, librarian, assistant librarian, marketing managerand features editor. The staff are supported by twenty-four volunteers in both the radio and telecentrecomponents. The number of visitors and guests comingevery day at the CMC is around eighty-five.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC’s major goal is to meet the information needsof the population of Kibaale District, which is reflectedin its activities: a daily eighteen hour community radioservice, a library/resource centre, paid telecentreservices, including photocopying, internet access, andother computer services. The CMC uses a generatorand limited solar power to provide energy for the radiobroadcast and to keep the computers as well as otherequipment running each day.

AchievementsThe CMC has become an important local publicservice. Through regular announcements andthe daily radio broadcast service, communitiesin Kibaale District are kept informed ofpublic/community affairs and discussions.

Kagadi Kibaale CMC/UNESCO

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Both the telecentre and the radio station have beeninstrumental in reaching people with healthinformation, the radio through programmescoordinated through the district hospital, 200 metresfrom the CMC; the telecentre makes informationavailable on the local computer network. Thehospital also makes regular announcementsregarding the wellbeing of patients.

The CMC’s facilities have improved local residents’communications with other parts of the country andthe world.

The CMC’s cultural centre has collected and continuesto preserve unique documents and cultural artefacts.

Constraints and challengesThe high cost of fuel for the generator posesproblems for the station’s limited budget and is achallenge in terms of overall sustainability.

The lack of capital funds is a constraint: with risingdemand for internet and telecommunicationservices, the CMC needs to increase the number ofcomputers and expand its services.

“The telecentre has helped me to widen my scope ofunderstanding and get informed. I cannot afford to buy anewspaper every day, but the telecentre helps me to getinformation. I’m grateful that information can beaccessed cheaply. ”Kirungi Nkora Richard, local teacher, self-employed worker

and a weekly visitor to the library and telecentre

Kagadi Kibaale CMC/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Government municipality





Number of PCs 3 public access/training,2 staff, 1 server

Telecentre Still camera, video camera; scanner,printer, photocopier; generator

Software Office applications; internet browsers,email; digital audio editing


Radio 1 production/broadcast studio,suitcase radio, 4 portablecassette recorders

Transmitter 100 watts with 30 watt relay,range 30+ km

Frequency 102.5 FM



ICT training Basic computing: introduction tocomputer, operating systems, officeapplications, internet skills;radio production

Other training Adult literacy, entrepreneurshipskills, resource mobilisationfor CBOs

Other services Scanning, document binding,photocopying, videography,indigenous knowledge bank

Radio programming Overview 18 hours daily, 10% news,

60% public and communityaffairs, 30% local andinternational music

Bulletins Weather, market prices, sports,market days, job slots (6 daily)

Programmes Health, agriculture, business,education, women and child issues

Languages 65% Luganda, 20% English,15% Runyakitara

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs: Women and Business

(Luganda), Agriculture and theCommunity (Luganda, English),Training in Business; encyclopaedias


Other content Library Documentation centre, video

documentaries on local indigenousknowledge/traditional practices

Nabweru

Name Nabweru CMC

Location Southern Uganda

Address PO BOX 19005Kasangati, Uganda

Telephone (256) 41 567 345


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 153,000 in the sub-county;

2,000 each in Nabweru, Nanfana,Maganjo, the main towns

Languages Luganda, English, RunyakitaraDistance from national capital 6 km to the outskirts of KampalaMain economic activities Small scale business,

labour, agriculture Other internet access 2 telecentres at Bwaise Trading

Centre, 1.5 km away, and 1telecentre at Nansana TradingCentre, 2 km away

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Background and missionThe Nabweru CMC started as a pilot telecentre project in1999, funded through the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Research Centre (IDRC) and implemented bythe Uganda National Council for Science and Technology(UNCST). The CMC is now owned and run by theNabweru community, which is represented by a localsteering committee under the leadership of the NabweruSub-county. The main objective is to provide communityaccess to communication tools and information resourcesusing appropriate technologies in order to acceleratecommunity development. In 2004, UNESCO supportedthe addition of a community radio along with additionalcomputer equipment and training. The CMC was set upspecifically to overcome some of the barriers to informationaccess by local communities, such as limited literacy,language and ICT skills, especially among the poor.

Location and contextThe CMC is housed at the sub-county headquarters abouttwo kilometres from the Kampala-Bombo highway andabout thirty minutes by road from Kampala City. NabweruSub-county has six parishes and a total of about 153,000inhabitants. The CMC serves a community whoseeconomy is characterised by small to medium scalebusinesses, farming, and agricultural employment. A largenumber of community members are employed in differentgovernmental and non-governmental organisations. Thearea’s literacy rate is average for the country as is the percapita income. There are local primary and secondaryschools. Close to the capital, Nabweru has access tovarious media, including television, FM radios,newspapers in English and Luganda, and the nationalmedia services. The area is also well covered by all cellularand fixed telephone networks.

PartnersThe Nabweru Sub-county is the main organisationalumbrella for the CMC.

The Canadian International DevelopmentResearch Centre (IDRC) funded the establishmentof the telecentre.

UNESCO supported the addition of communityradio and the development of the CMC withfunding from Belgium.

National partners include Kawanda AgriculturalResearch Centre, Uganda Council for Science andTechnology, the Uganda National Commission forUNESCO, the National Agricultural ResearchOrganization, the National Farmers Association,the Council for Economic Empowerment of Womenin Africa (CEEWA), the National AgriculturalAdvisory Services (NAADS), Makerere UniversityCentre for Basic Adult Literacy Program, School NetUganda, and the National Libraries Board.

Local government offices are active users of the CMCas are the area’s sixty-two CBOs. Local NGOs,Environmental Alert and Vedco, provide agriculturalcontent and market information respectively.

IncomeThe CMC raises revenue from the following services:scanning, computer training, internet access,printing, photocopying, public telephone, and radioadvertisements and programme sponsorships.Telecentre services comprise approximately thirtypercent of revenues, the radio about twenty percent; thebalance comes from development partners includinglocal government, national partners like CEEWA andVedco, and international agencies such as UNESCO,UNICEF and IDRC.

Human resources The CMC has five paid staff: a manager who works full-time and takes care of most CMC operations, one full-time technical assistant, one part-time informationofficer, one security guard and one cleaner. There arefifteen radio and five telecentre volunteers. The CMCaverages between thirty and forty CMC users per day.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC has become a popular gathering place for thecommunity, especially young people who come to watchtelevision, access the internet, work on computers usingoffice applications and other software, and as the socialfunctions of the centre continue to grow, just to meet. TheCMC’s main activities are computer training and radiobroadcasting. Radio programmes focus on agriculture,small and medium enterprise development, human rights,and public service programmes such as immunisationawareness, literacy skills and other campaigns.

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AchievementsThe CMC has essentially introduced Nabweru’sresidents to ICTs: over 400 people in thecommunity have learned computing skills throughthe centre’s training courses, a much larger numberhave access to communication facilities andinformation resources, and local content has beendeveloped, especially in the fields of agricultureand health.

The CMC provides the only radio service thatconcentrates on the local issues of the sub-countyand broadcasts in the Luganda language; other FMstations are based in Kampala City.

The CMC won prizes for participatory programmingand for drama programming at the 2005 UNICEFChildren's Broadcasting Day Awards.

Local police have reported improved publicawareness of human rights and security issues as aresult of a radio programme on community securityand policing.

Local businesses and farmers have reportedimprovements due to training in ICT skills andaccess to facilities and appropriate content.

Constraints and challengesThe CMC’s ownership structure, with the centremanaged by a committee chaired by the sub-county, leaves the organisation prone tointerference from local political leaders.

Financial sustainability is a challenge. Theinternet connection is expensive – about USD400 per month at the time of publication; henceCMC prices are also quite high for thecommunity. At the same time, despite its localniche, the radio faces stiff competition fromcommercial FM services from Kampala City,which puts pressure on the station to maintainlisteners and generate revenue.

Lack of space is a constraint: the CMC does nothave extra room for the expansion of its services; forinstance, there is no room for establishing adedicated library.

Maintaining the CMC’s human resourcecapacity, especially critical skills in radioproduction and computer training andmaintenance, is also a challenge in theface of high turnover of volunteers andlimited resources.

Nabweru CMC/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Municipality





Number of PCs 7 public access/training,4 research/production

Other equipment Still camera, video player/recorder,television; scanner, printers

Software Office applications, digital audioediting, internet browsers, email


Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,suitcase radio, portable minidiscrecorders, satellite radio

Transmitter 100 watt and 100 watt relay,range 25 km

Frequency 102.9 FM



ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications; intermediatecomputing: web browsing, internet;mobile computer training in schools

Other training Functional adult literacy,communication andpresentation skills

Other services Desktop publishing, scanning,photocopying; library, book-boxlibrary service; indigenous knowledgeon agriculture; traditional birthattendants; drama programmes onHIV/AIDS and agriculture


60% public and community affairs,30% local and international music

Bulletins Weather (daily), marketprices (weekly)

Programmes Health, agriculture, education,sports, women, children, youth,people with disabilities, culture,telecentre updates


Digital content Learning tools CD-ROM on literacy skills;

encyclopaedias; digitised video andradio programmes


Other content Library Books, audio-visual tapes, radio

cassette tapes


Nakaseke

Name Nakaseke CMC

Location Southern Uganda

Address 1051, Nakaseke,Uganda

Telephone (256) 41 650 028 / 78 902 991

Email [email protected],[email protected],[email protected]

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 40,000 in Nakaseke and

Kasangombe areas


Distance from national capital 65 km, 1 hour by road to Kampala

Distance from district capital 15 km, 30 minutes by roadto Luwero

Main economic activities Coffee, subsistence farming, trade

Other internet access 1.5 km and 15 km tonearest cybercafés

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Background and missionThe telecentre was established in 1998 with supportfrom UNESCO, the International TelecommunicationsUnion (ITU) and the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Research Centre (IDRC). The BritishCouncil supported the addition of a library service at theCMC. The mission of the Nakaseke CMC is to providerelevant information and communication facilities to theNakaseke community in order to stimulate newdevelopment ideas. As an extension of its mandate,UNESCO supported the addition of radio in 2003 aspart of its CMC programme.

Location and context The Nakaseke CMC is located in Luwero District, aboutsixty-five kilometres north of Kampala, Uganda’s capital.The CMC serves both the Nakaseke and Kasangombelocal council areas, with a combined population ofabout 40,000. Local livelihoods are largely basedaround agriculture, mostly subsistence farming; coffee isan important local cash crop. The Nakaseke area wasbadly affected by the National Liberation War in the late1970s and early 1980s. A large number of people fledthe area; there were many killings, buildings and otherinfrastructure were vandalised and became dilapidated.Communication, transportation and other infrastructureremained poor for a long period of time. Today,Nakaseke receives information through the nationalradio and television services, private FM as well asnewspapers and internet. The Nakaseke CMC alsorebroadcasts programmes from satellite radio, which hasbecome a popular service.

PartnersThe telecentre was established through the supportof international partners including UNESCO, ITUand IDRC. Additional support was received fromthe British Council. IDRC’s Acacia programmeprovided a solar power system.

UNESCO supported the addition of radio facilitiesthrough its global CMC programme and thenprovided additional capacity-building throughBelgian funds.

CAB International has provided access to marketinformation for the agriculture sector.

The National Agricultural Advisory Service andNational Agricultural Research Organizationprovide information on local market prices andother agricultural publications.

The National Library of Uganda has providedbooks for the CMC library. The Nakaseke Hospitaland the Nakaseke Teachers Training College havealso provided information materials and contributeto radio programmes on public health andeducation respectively.

IncomeThe Nakaseke CMC earns revenue from a number ofservices including internet access, library subscriptions,mobile computer training and book-box library services toschools, a locally developed drama tool, radioadvertisements, local councils’ subventions, meeting halland vehicle hire, video shows and video recordings ofprivate events, photocopying, scanning and photography.

Human resourcesThe CMC has six paid staff members: one manager, tworadio presenters, one librarian, one driver and onecleaner. The Administration Police Unit of NakasekeSub-county provides the security guard. There aretwenty volunteers working in the CMC on a regularbasis and this number increases during school holidayswith the presence of additional students and teachers.The centre does not have computer and radiotechnicians and must contract these services fromKampala. The CMC welcomes between twenty andtwenty-five users daily in the low season and betweenforty and fifty during school holidays (high season).

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC’s core activities are training and informationsharing. ICT training has been provided to farmers, businesspeople, extension workers and school students. In additionto computer training at the telecentre facility, the NakasekeCMC also provides mobile ICT training to schools.

The CMC is playing a major role in the disseminationof information to local communities, from marketprices to indigenous knowledge. The radio broadcastsprogrammes on issues related to HIV/AIDS,agriculture, education, women and gender as well as

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public health. Library services are open to the publicand have also been extended to schools through thebook-box service (in which a selection of books areprovided to the schools in a box and regularlychanged). The centre also provides a range ofsecretarial services to the public.

AchievementsOver 500 people have been trained in ICT skills atthe telecentre. Mobile ICT training has been donein six schools (five secondary and one primary).

A Farmer’s Knowledge Club has been establishedby the CMC to facilitate the training of the farmersin new technologies and dissemination ofinformation; more and more farmers are using theCMC services, such as internet and photocopying.Trips have been organised by the CMC to visitmodel farms and learn new farming techniques.

The CMC has become an important communityresource. It is a popular meeting place for NGOs,

CBOs and the public. The centre also introduced adrama tool designed to reach more youth.

The CMC’s ability to provide reliable services tothe community at competitive prices has improvedsince the establishment of a solar power system.

Constraints and challengesMaintenance of equipment, particularly the radiofacilities, in the absence of an in-house technicianhas been a major challenge.

The radio signal is weak in some areas within theCMC’s broadcast range, limiting listenership.

Local content development continues to be achallenge; hence a significant amount of content isobtained from foreign sources in English.

The VSAT internet subscription is costly and presentsa challenge to the CMC’s prospects for financialself-reliance.

Nakaseke CMC/UNESCO

MultimediaTraining KitLed by UNESCO and coordinated by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the Multimedia TrainingKit is a multi-partner initiative to produce an expanding set of training materials on ICT-related topics. The materialsare based on a standard set of templates, and are intended as building blocks from which trainers can build up face-to-face training workshops appropriate for their own needs and contexts.

Although the materials can be used in a wide range oftraining contexts, they were developed with the needsof grassroots communication and information serviceproviders in mind – community multimedia centres,community radios and telecentres.

New materials are added to the MMTK web site as theyare developed and the MMTK site is on its way to beinga comprehensive suite of training materials coveringtechnical, content, organisational and ethical topics.

The MMTK materials use a standard modular format foreasy "mixing and matching". Each unit includes:

A handout for workshop participantsA list of additional resourcesA glossary of termsNotes for trainers on running the workshopExercisesWorkshop and materials evaluation formsA copyright statement

Many units contain additional resources such as slide presentations, detailed manuals for trainers, and case studiesof how the tools in question are being used in different contexts.

Components are presented as separate files so that trainers can combine them in whatever format they need. A trainerrunning a workshop on information skills for a women's organisation could choose components from the Searchingthe Internet unit and the Violence Against Women module, and combine them into a single workshop kit.

All MMTK materials are released under a Creative Commons license that allows their free use and distribution fornon-commercial use; however, the exact provisions of the license vary from module to module – while most modulespermit modification of the materials, a few do not. The copyright statement included with each unit sets out thespecific provisions which apply to that unit.

The following is a list of MMTK units available as of September 30, 2005:

TECHNICAL SSKILLS OpenOffice.org Writer and Impress Searching the InternetIntroduction to mailing lists Introduction to databases and MS AccessBurning CDs with Nero Burning ROM Digital audio production

A partnership initiative to build grassroots skills and capacity

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An evaluation of the MMTK, conducted in 2005 showed that "the MMTK project ismeeting the needs and expectations of partners, and meeting the training needs of users;87.5% of the online survey respondents say that MMTK is meeting a training/informationneed that was previously not met."

The evaluation furthermore confirmed that "the aim of resourcing trainers is being met,with MMTK units and components being used in a mix and match manner by trainers,for workshops and other trainings in a wide variety of contexts. It is supporting trainersby providing content that is then being localized. For example Chinyere Ijomah, founderof Youth Repositioning Foundation, Nigeria, is using MMTK to develop her own trainingmanuals for seminars, talk shows and workshops. "The MMTK package was very usefulto me in packaging my workshops and seminars and also evaluating the effectiveness ofthese programmes," she says."

CONTENT DDEVELOPMENT SSKILLSProducing content for radioRadio browsingWriting for the web

DEVELOPING TTHEMATIC CCONTENTPreventing violence against women Reporting on HIV/AIDS

ORGANIZATIONAL DDEVELOPMENT AAND PPLANNINGTechnology planning: open source software Technology planning: refurbished computersCooperative problem solving

ICT PPOLICY, AADVOCACY AAND TTHE DDIGITAL DDIVIDEAdvocacy journalism ICT policyDigital divide

INFORMATION FFOR DDEVELOPERSContributing to the MMTK Plans for development

TOOLSOpenOffice.org Adobe Acrobat ReaderGeneral ICTs glossary

New units on the following topics are also in development for release by the end of 2005:Ethnographic action research Educational content for community mediaCommunity radio for the blind TV browsingand visually impairedPromoting volunteerism in community media

UNESCO is also producing other language versions of MMTK, including French, Portuguese, Russian andVietnamese. Select materials will also be available in additional languages.

Visit the MMTK website at www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/mmtk or for further information please [email protected]

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UNESCOPublicationsSharing ideas, experience and strategies is central to UNESCO's mandate. Publications in the field of communicationand information facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills, and initiate and contribute to debate and dialogue.The following is a selection of UNESCO publications most relevant to community multimedia centres. Please notethat UNESCO publications are increasingly available in translation and in online versions.

A Guide to Community Multimedia Centres: How to Get Started and Keep Going, edited by Stella Hughes,Sucharita Eashwar, Venus Easwaran Jennings. UNESCO, Paris, 2004. A practical and comprehensive guide toestablishing and running a CMC, including 'how to' chapters and resource materials, contributed by leadingspecialists in the field of ICT4D.

Community Radio Handbook, by Colin Fraser and Sonia Restrepo Estrada. UNESCO, Paris, 2001. Acomprehensive guide to community radio including 'how to' chapters, resource materials and case studies.

Configuration of Radio Stations and Media Centres, by UNESCO in cooperation with DaniCom & Niels Worsoe.UNESCO 2004. A practical guide to procurement of technical equipment for community media initiatives.

Digital Opportunities for Africa CMCs. UNESCO, 2003. A CD-ROM featuring materials from the DakarSymposium, June 2005, on forging strategies for CMC development in Africa.

Ethnographic Action Research, by Jo Tacchi, Don Slater, Greg Hearn. UNESCO, New Delhi, 2003. A user'shandbook developed to innovate and research ICT applications for poverty reduction.

How To Do Community Radio: A Primer for Community Radio Operators, by Louie Tabing. UNESCO, New Delhi,2003. A step-by-step handbook for establishing and running a community radio station.

Profiles and Experiences in ICT Innovation for Poverty Reduction, by Ian Pringle, Savithri Subramanian. UNESCO,New Delhi, 2004. Detailed profiles of grassroots initiatives, including three CMCs, from UNESCO's regionalcrosscutting theme initiative on ICT for poverty reduction.

Research on ICT Innovations for Poverty Reduction, by Don Slater and Jo Tachhi. UNESCO, New Delhi, 2004.Presentation of research findings from UNESCO's crosscutting theme initiative on ICT for poverty reduction.

Step-by-Step: A Guide to Radio Browsing. UNESCO, Paris, 2002. A 13-minute multimedia presentationdescribing the concept of radio browsing and the steps involved in putting a show on-air.

To access publications online visit http://unesdoc.unesco.org and search by name or visit one of the additional siteslisted below.

Additional information, materials and resources on community multimedia centres and other UNESCO programmesare available at the following URLs:

UNESCO Communication and Information Sector: WebWorld (includes news archives with a wide range ofCMC stories) www.unesco.org/webworld

UNESCO Community Multimedia Centres www.unesco.org/webworld/cmc

UNESCO Office for the Caribbean: Multimedia Caribbean Communities www.mcclinks.com

UNESCO New Delhi – Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Communication and Information: Research andInnovation Network www.ictpr.nic.in

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OrganisationOwnership Institutional

Start date Radio 1995, computer facilities2003

Staff 3 staff, student interns

FacilitiesMedia in use FM radio; computers, internet;

college newspapers

Set-up Radio located within collegecommunication programme

Number of PCs 7 training, 2 management,1 radio production

Telecentre Digital still camera, scanner,fax, printer

Software Office applications,digital audio editing


Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, portable digital andcassette recorders


Frequency 106.1 FM

ServicesBroadcast Monday-Friday 11-15h

ICT training Introduction to computing, follow-upprogrammes in presentation andphoto editing software

Other training Various (through the college)

Radio programming Overview 4 hours daily: 65% spoken word

programmes, 30% music(70% international,30% regional/local)5% local and campus news

Bulletins News (1 daily)

Programmes Student productions relating toenvironment, health, education,public service announcements, familylife, employment, etc.

Languages English

Saint Michael,BridgetownName Radio GED Location Southeastern BarbadosAddress Barbados Community College,

“Eyrie”, Howeel and Cross Road,Saint Michael, Barbados

Telephone (246) 429 2858 / 5609Fax (246) 429 5935Email c/o Cynthia Nelson

[email protected] www.mcclinks.com/radiogedmm.htm

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 100,000 in the Bridgetown area

Languages English

Distance from national capital 5 km, 10 minutes by roadto Bridgetown

Main economic activities Tourism, agriculture, limitedmanufacturing industries

Other internet access Several private cyber cafés 10minutes away in Bridgetown

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Background and missionRadio GED, an abbreviation of General Education, thedepartment that houses the radio, was established in1995 to facilitate practical training of students pursuing

related courses in the BarbadosCommunity College. Owned andoperated by the college, the mission ofthe radio is to strengthen thecommunication skills of the studentswhile providing information andcommunication services to the localcampus and surrounding communities.

Location and contextRadio GED is located on the grounds of the BarbadosCommunity College in Saint Michael on the outskirts ofBridgetown, the capital of Barbados. The college is situatedon Two Mile Hill. College students are generally fromBarbados and other Caribbean countries such as Guyana,Trinidad, St. Lucia, Dominica and Grenada. Radioparticipants are enrolled in the Associate Degree in MassCommunications. The campus population is approximately2,000. The population of surrounding communities isabout 700. On the outskirts of the capital, there is goodlocal media coverage, including a variety of radio andtelevision stations, newspapers and local websites.

Partners The Barbados Community College funded theinitial construction of the radio building.

Radio GED was established with the assistance ofUNESCO as part of the ‘Village of Hope’ venue ofthe Small Islands Developing States conference,which was held in Barbados in 1995.

From time-to-time the government makes fundsavailable for partnership in workshops and seminars.

Income The major sources of income are contributions from thecollege budget and government subvention. Small incomeis also generated from basic services to students such asfax, scanning, desktop publishing, photocopying etc.

Human resources The college’s mass communication programme, part ofthe General Education division, has three academic

staff members, a coordinator and two teaching staff,who are partly assigned to the CMC. There are aboutten to fifteen students and teachers who participate inthe production and broadcast of daily programmes.Community representatives are also invited to contributeto programming.

Main focus of activitiesThe main focus of activities at Radio GED is trainingstudents in the college who are pursuing journalism,broadcasting or other related communication courses.Each year, students decide on different programmesthat form an element of their course work. Forexample, the class of 2005 produced Health Factor, aradio magazine on health issues, First Year, a five-partradio drama series, as well as a three-part series onthe use of English, all of which bring valuableinformation to the campus and to some extent thesurrounding community. Although the computerfacilities were established as part of a combinedmultimedia centre, at the time of publication, thetelecentre and radio facilities were runningindependently, at least temporarily, the former as partof the college’s computer lab.

AchievementsRadio GED is entirely managed and operated bystudents who make all decisions aboutprogramming and production.

Each school year, twenty or so communicationstudents receive unique training in radio andcommunication. They are responsible for dailyradio programming as well as the production,storage, and distribution of three programmeseries on CD-ROM.

Constraints and challengesGiven the inevitable link between activities at theradio and the calendar year there is evidentinactivity at the centre during summer, Christmasand other local holidays. A greater effort inplanning summer programmes is foreseen.

The students need to make a greater effortto involve the community outside of thecampus compound.

Choy Arnaldo/UNESCO



Staff 4 volunteers


Set-up Computer facilities co-located withradio and linked to primary school

Number of PCs 2 public access/training, 2 primaryschool, 1 radio production

Telecentre Digital cameras: still, video;CD writer, printer

Software Office applications, digitalaudio editing

Connectivity None (VSAT being explored)

Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,portable digital recorder


Frequency 93.7 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 7-12h and 17-00h

Telecentre As needed

ICT training Basic computing; communityradio broadcasting

Other training Environmental preservation

Other services Desktop publishing, documentservices; community meetings;community database fordevelopment projects

Radio programming Overview 12 hours daily: 20% social issues,

80% music; the station also relaysprogramming from Radio Caribe

Bulletins News and weather fromRadio Caribe

Programmes Environmental issues, healtheducation and HIV/AIDS

Languages Spanish

Digital content Learning tools Literacy learning software; CD-ROMs

with computer tutorials

Languages Spanish

Cocodrilo

Name Cocodrilo CMCLocation Southern CubaAddress c/o National Commission for UNESCO

(CNCU), Avenue Kohly No. 151,esq. 32 Nueva Vedado, La Habana, Cuba

Telephone c/o CNCU (53) 7 532 103;c/o Arnaldo Coro 7 836 0852

Fax c/o CNCU (53) 7 532 104;c/o Arnaldo Coro 7 532 103

Email c/o Omar Leyva [email protected] (CNCU),c/o Arnaldo Coro [email protected],[email protected]

Webpage www.mcclinks.com/radiococomm.htm

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 300 in Cocodrilo

Languages Spanish

Distance from national capital 200 km, 40 minutes by air and1.5 hours by road to Havana

Distance from area capital 80 km, 1.5 hours to Nueva Gerona

Main economic activities Fishing, forestry, turtlepreservation and otherenvironmental pursuits

Other internet access Youth Computer Club in NuevaGerona, 80 km away

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Background and mission Owned and operated by the local community, theCocodrilo CMC was established as way to connect thisremote rural community, to the mainland of Cuba and

beyond. The radio was set up in 2002with support from UNESCO;telecentre facilities were added a yearlater. The main objective of the CMCis to enhance community developmentactivities through informationdissemination and the use ofcommunication tools, and to provide

a local source of entertainment.

Location and contextThe Cocodrilo CMC is located in a remotecommunity of the same name on Isla de la Juventud(island of youth) in Cuba. Facing the Caribbean Sea,Cocodrilo is a small community of just over 300people. It takes only five minutes to walk from oneend of the community to the other. Cocodrilo is a seacoastal community and fishing, turtle preservation,forestry and other environmental pursuits are the mainlocal occupations. Half the population is under theage of eighteen. Literacy rates are high. The maindevelopment impediments are the community’sisolation and limited infrastructure; for example, thereare only four telephones for 300 residents. The CMCprovides the only form of local media available in thecommunity. Radio Caribe, a government-run stationoperates from Nueva Gerona, the island’s capital.

Partners The Government of Cuba funded theconstruction of the radio building and continuesto provide essential support, including smalltechnical upgrades and repairs.

UNESCO supported the establishment of thecommunity radio in 2002, the telecentre in 2003,and also provided training through its global CMCprogramme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The National Network of Computer Clubs wasinstrumental in operationalising the CMC and

continues to provide materials, training support andtechnical expertise.

Income The centre is supported through governmentchannels and does not generate any income. Thestaff is entirely volunteer. The facilities and basicrunning costs are covered by the computer clubnetwork and the local government.

Human resourcesThe CMC is run by four volunteers: a full-timemanager/announcer who is supported by thecommunity electrician/local governmentrepresentative, the principal and a teacher from thelocal school. There is a high degree of involvementfrom the local community. After a trainingprogramme in information and multimedia skillsinvolving eight people, it is hoped that the numberof regular volunteers will increase.

Main focus of activities The CMC focuses primarily on social issues andproduces radio programmes on general health,HIV/AIDS, and education. There is also a strong focuson the environment, including the Cocodriloprogramme for turtle preservation, which rears andthen releases turtles back into the ocean. The CMChas become an important local medium forcommunity forums, discussion and debate. Ingeneral, the centre has been a major boost toparticipatory community organising anddevelopment. The computer facilities are usedprimarily for training and for computer-assistedlearning in the local school.

AchievementsBased on discussions facilitated through theCMC, Cocodrilo residents lobbied for anextension of electrical power, in part so that theycould have greater access to the facilities andprogramming. The daily electricity supply wentfrom three to six hours and at the time ofpublication the necessary work was almostcompleted to provide Cocodrilo with a constant,twenty-four hour supply.

Cocodrilo CMC/UNESCO

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Before the establishment of the CMC, residents feltdisconnected from the activities of Cuba and theregion. Though a small community, forums weredifficult to coordinate. The multimedia centrebrought a greater sense of social inclusion andparticipation to the residents.

Constraints and challengesThe CMC’s remoteness is a major constraint.Inaccessibility was a problem during facilityestablishment and continues to presentproblems for various types of servicing andcapacity building.

The lack of internet connectivity is a also majorconstraint. To date, Cocodrilo has had noconnection to the internet, which is an impedimentto the community’s full use of the CMC facility andregretable given the difference internet servicecould make to an isolated community. UNESCOis exploring the possibility of providing VSATconnectivity in conjunction with the government.

Developing sufficient local technical expertise toservice and maintain the CMC’s equipment is achallenge that must be met in order to secure theCMC’s technical sustainability. Repairs requiringoutside servicing take a long time.

Cocodrilo CMC/UNESCO Cocodrilo CMC/UNESCO



Staff 4 core volunteers



Number of PCs 2 multipurpose: training, digitalediting, administration

Telecentre Printer, scanner, CD writer, generator

Software Office applications; internet browsers,email; media players, CD/DVDwriting, digital audio editing


Radio 1 broadcast/production studio,2 portable digital recorders,2 cassette recorders


Frequency 97.1 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 17-20h; Monday/Wednesday/

Friday/Sunday 6-8h


ICT training Basic computing; intermediatecomputing: accounting, multimediaproduction, digital audio editing

Other training Makushi language instruction;environmental preservation,eco-tourism programme

Other services Internet access, email; eco-tourism:bird watching, mountain climbing,horse riding, fishing, nature trails

Radio programming Overview 3-5 hours daily: 60% general

interest, 40% music, mostly local

Bulletins Local news and community events(2-3 times daily)

Programmes Makushi culture, children’sprogrammes, music, poetry, storytelling,environment, health, education, publicservice announcements,interactive programmes

Languages Makushi, English

Digital content Bulletins News, weather; Environment & You

Learning tools CD-ROMs on effects of pollution,exploring cultural diversity, learningabout how to live in yourenvironment; also local poetry,stories and environmentalprogrammes

Languages Makushi, English

Other content Library Print and audio materials:

environment, culture, etc.

Annai

Name Paiwomak CMCLocation Southern GuyanaAddress Paiwomak, Annai, North Rupununi,

Region #9, Guyana Telephone (592) 22 73549 / 72218 Email c/o Virgil Harding

[email protected],c/o Vanda [email protected]

Webpage www.mcclinks.com/radiopaiwomakmm.htm

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 4,000 in the immediate area

Languages Mukushi, English

Distance from national capital 600 km, 16+ hours by roadto Georgetown

Main economic activities Forestry, migrant labour


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Background and missionThe Paiwomak CMC takes its name from the threemountain ranges in the North Rupununi district:Pakaraima, Iwokrama and Makarapan. RadioPaiwomak was Guyana's first hinterland communityradio station. The station was established in 2000 asa pilot project with support from UNESCO and theIwokrama Foundation and International Centre forConservation and Development. The foundation isnamed after the Iwokrama Mountains, a sacredspiritual site of the Makushi people, one of nineindigenous peoples in Guyana. Its mandate includesresearch, conservation and enterprise development.The CMC was established in 2005 with the addition ofa telecentre, supported by UNESCO and implementedthrough the North Rupununi District DevelopmentBoard (NRDDB), an autonomous community-basedorganisation established in 1996. The CMC reinforcesthe original environmental and development missionsof the radio, with a focus on the preservation andsustainable development of the forest reserves.

Location and contextThe area is part of the Iwokrama rainforest, which comprisesone million acres of tropical rain forest in the heartland ofGuyana. The Iwokrama Forest was legally established in1996 through an Act of Parliament, Guyana’s ‘gift to theworld’, a living laboratory for sustainable development andforest conservation practices. The area is populated byindigenous groups, including the Makushi, who are themajority, the Wapishana and the Arawak people.

There are approximately 4,000 people in the NorthRupununi area where the CMC is located. Socialproblems include alcoholism, lack of employment,poor medical facilities, poor communication andtransportation. The CMC is located at the multipurposecommunity centre of the Bina Hill Institute of theNRDDB in Annai, a small town in the flatlandsavannahs. It serves an audience of approximately4,000 inhabitants spread across some twenty-twovillages that have remained largely outside ofIwokrama Forest development process. The maineconomic activities are small-scale farming, fishing,craft making, and small retail shops.

The BBC, Voice of America, Voice of America’sCaribbean service and other international services can

be picked up on shortwave bands, but the localbroadcast service has not been available for someyears now. Brazilian and Venezuelan radio broadcastsare also available with very strong medium andshortwave signals. There are no local televisionstations in the district or the region. Stabroek News,the independent national newspaper and thegovernment newspaper’s supplement, HinterlandHighlights, are occasionally available.

PartnersThe CMC was established in partnership with theIwokrama Foundation under the umbrella ofNorth Rupununi District Development Board(NRDDB), a local community-based organisation,and Bina Hill Institute.

UNESCO provided funds for radio, computer andsolar power equipment as well as technicalassistance and hands-on training through its globalCMC programme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The radio operates under a license from and inpartnership with the National Communication Network,Guyana’s government broadcasting facility.

Other partners include the AUDUBON Society, andthe Canadian International Development Agency,both of which sponsor radio programmes.

IncomeThe CMC has a broad base of revenue and communitysupport. Income is generated from an internet café aswell as from sales of craft items and paid eco-tourismservices. The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs and localbusinesses also sponsor occasional programmes andpublic interest messages on the radio. Fundraisingactivities such as bingos, t-shirts sales and a donation boxalso bring in some funds. NRDDB provides volunteers,who are integral to the sustainability of the CMC.

Human resourcesThe CMC’s human resources are volunteer based. TheCMC has four core volunteers who manage the CMC’sactivities with support from other, casual volunteers.Core volunteers are considered local heroes for theirunpaid dedication to the CMC and its activities. Othersupport comes from staff of the Iwokrama Foundation.Most of the staff members are Amerindian.

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Main focus of activitiesProgrammes and activities at the CMC relate mainly tosustainable development of the rainforest, discouragingindiscriminate logging and hunting, the conversation of the

environment and the development andpromotion of eco-tourism. There areradio programmes to preserve andpromote the Makushi language andculture, as well as special initiativesincluding the Makushi Research Unit,which promotes teaching of the Makushilanguage and preserving and telling

Makushi stories, and the Junior Wildlife Club. One of thegoals of the CMC is to foster pride among indigenouspeoples; facilities and programmes are designed toencourage and facilitate people’s expression and dialogue,not only among their peers but also with governmentofficials. The radio is on air for six hours per day. The CMChas a strong educational support programme including amathematics radio programme for primary school childrenrun by the Ministry of Education as well as a programme ofregular broadcasts to local schools that covers the currentterm’s work.

Achievements Radio Paiwomak has been successful in its mandateto involve local communities and maximise theirbenefit from the programmes associated with theIwokrama Rainforest.

The CMC has been instrumental in supporting andextending the work of local development groups, inparticular NRDDB, and especially in carrying outsensitisation programmes, for instance on HIV/AIDS,

and in publicising local organisations’ news andannouncements, e.g. events, vacancies, etc.

The CMC, both the radio and the newer ICTfacilities, are a unique asset in teaching andkeeping alive the Makushi language.

The CMC has facilitated the creation of localcommunity organisations and initiatives, amongthem the Makushi Research Unit and Junior WildlifeClub, both geared towards conservation.

Over eighty people have been trained in computingand multimedia skills.

Constraints and challenges The absence of electricity is a major constraint,limiting the hours the CMC operates and posingchallenges for financial self-reliance due to the costof fuel. At present, the CMC relies on a combinationof solar and generator power to operate the centre.

The remoteness of the CMC from major economiccentres is also a constraint, having an impact inprocurement, delivery and maintenance of equipment.

Building sufficient local capacity to coordinate theCMC, produce quality content and technicallymaintain the facilities is also a challenge.

The mountainous nature of the area posesproblems for radio coverage. The CMC aims toraise the mast from twenty to sixty metres and installa solar powered relay on a strategic nearby hill.

Guyana’s current Broadcasting Act does not permitindependent radio broadcasting. Revised legislation,pending in the National Assembly, would increasescope for private and community broadcasting.

We have to prepare ouryounger folk, the nextgeneration for what's coming.We can't stop now, we'rehalfway, we and you, the donorpartners. We're just asking: Canyou walk the last mile with us? ”

“

Sydney Allicock, Trustee,Iwokrama Foundation, Guyana

Choy Arnaldo/UNESCO

Choy Arnaldo/UNESCO



Staff 5 staff, 15 volunteers

FacilitiesMedia in use FM radio; computers, internet, video

conferencing

Set-up Community radio linked to internetcafé through communitydevelopment agency

Number of PCs 9 public access/training, 1 server,1 audio-video production

Telecentre Digital camera: video, still; printers:1 colour, 1 b/w, CD writer

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email, chat, videoconferencing; digital audio editing

Connectivity ADSL, 512 kbps

Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, portable digital recorders


Frequency 96.1 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 24 hours

Telecentre Monday-Saturday, 9h30-18h

ICT training Basic computing: computer driver’slicense; intermediate computing: web

development, multimedia production,desktop publishing (including somedistance training programmes)

Other training Caregivers training (distancelearning); literacy training; vocationalskills, parenting

Other services Internet access, internet researchsupport for general public,document services, desktoppublishing, scanning

Radio programming Overview 24 hours daily: 50% local and

national economic, political andsocial issues, 10% news, 40% music,some promoting local artists

Bulletins News, public service announcements

Programmes Music, health, youth, peace andjustice, prisoner rehabilitation,programmes by NGOs, humanrights, crime and violence, inner-cityyouth programmes, current affairstalk shows

Languages English, Patois

Digital content Learning tools Links to distance and online learning

courses; educational CD-ROMs forchildren; CD-based computertraining programmes

Languages English

Three Miles,KingstonName Roots FM/Zinc Link Location Kingston, JamaicaAddress 1 Mahoe Drive,

Kingston 11, Jamaica Telephone (876) 923 6488Fax (876) 923 6000Email c/o Rosamund Brown

[email protected],c/o Hugh O’Reilly [email protected]

Webpage www.mustardseed.com/community_voice.htm

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 50,000 in the immediate area,

800,000 in Kingston

Languages English, Patois

Main economic activities Informal sector; trade,business, manufacturing

Other internet access Several private cybercafés in thecentre of Kingston, 5 km away

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Background and missionThe Roots multimedia facilities are made up of twoelements, Roots FM and the Zinc Link Internet Centre,which operate in the heart of inner-city Kingston

communities. Both are part ofMustard Seed Communities, anorganisation that focuses onproviding services to marginalisedinner-city groups: the homeless,disabled, abandoned children,teenage mothers and unsupervisedyouth. Mustard Seed’s primary

objective is promoting the enrichment andempowerment of the spiritually, psychologically andfinancially poor that live in urban communities, to assistthem in leaving the cycles of frustration andhopelessness that dominate their lives. Zinc Link’smission is to bring the power of the internet to the inner-city community through a series of low cost internetcafés. The two facilities aim to empower inner-citycitizens, particularly youth, by providing need-basedcontent and relevant information and increasingpeople’s access to ICT skills, services and facilities. Theradio promotes a culture of peace, improvements ofhuman and social capital and the building of self-esteem, all of them contributing to the development oflocal communities.

Location and contextRoots FM and the Zinc Link Internet Centre are situatedin Three Miles, an inner-city area of Kingstoncharacterised by high rates of gang-related violenceand increasing incidence of HIV/AIDS. Thecommunities in the immediate area, White Wing,Bellrock, Niggers Lane and Cockburn Gardens, arelow income and the majority earn their livelihoods fromthe informal economy. There are high rates of earlyschool dropout, especially among males, and a seriouslack of opportunities. Young people in thesecommunities are especially vulnerable as they are oftendrawn into violence and themselves become negativeinfluences in their communities.

PartnersMustard Seed Communities was the main force inestablishing the CMC, bringing its knowledge andexperience of working with inner-city communities,

and continues to act as an umbrella organisation,providing essential programme inputs andfinancial support.

UNESCO supported the establishment of the radioin 1998, supported the addition of computer andinternet facilities in 2002 and continues to providecapacity building support as part of its globalCMC programme, funded by theSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Vision Consulting, a private company, is theprincipal donor and supporter of Zinc Link.

Other partners include the Irish Company, VisionInternational, the Environmental Foundation ofJamaica, USAID, DfID, Multicare Foundation, andCable & Wireless.

IncomeThe Roots CMC earns income from a range of sources,meeting eighty percent of its staffing and running costs;the balance is provided by Mustard Seed, its parentorganisation. Zinc Link earns income from a range ofpaid services, including training. The radio has its owncard, like commercial stations, and earns revenues fromadvertising. National and international developmentand other organisations such as DfID, UNAIDS,Multicare Foundation and Cable & Wireless alsosponsor specific programmes. Fundraising eventsfeaturing music, dance, comedy and prizes areorganised on a need basis.

Human resourcesThere are five paid staff who manage and coordinatethe separate day-to-day activities of the radio stationand the telecentre facility, which have also attracted acadre of fifteen active and dynamic young Jamaicans,male and female, who collaborate on a regular basisin programme development, radio production andbroadcasting and in the general operation of Rootsand Zinc Link. Mustard Seed Communities advises thestaff, provides technical assistance and is an importantsource of relevant community-related information andprogramme content. Multimedia initiatives, especiallythe radio, draw extensively on the human network andsocial capital developed during Mustard Seed

Choy Arnaldo/UNESCO

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Communities’ two-plus decades of active work ininner-city communities.

Main focus of activitiesUnique inner-city resources and media, Mustard Seed’smultimedia initiatives focus their activities andprogrammes on the day-to-day concerns of people inlocal communities, particularly youth. Music andreligious programmes, interviews and shows like YouthRoots and Make We Talk, spread the Roots vision of aculture of peace, raise awareness on important socialissues such as HIV/AIDS prevention, children’s learningand youth development, and mobilise residents toreclaim their community.

Zinc Link is a well-used community resource. The internetfacilities are especially useful for children, who make upover sixty percent of users, students and unemployedadults, who constitute roughly thirty-five percent, as wellas other learners. Community members are able toaccess certified online training courses, including thecomputer driver’s license, and distance educationprogrammes in childcare and parenting – urgentcommunity needs – via video conferencing technologies.CMC staff and members of related community-basedNGOs benefit from first-time training in ICT, multimedia,community development and management skills.

Both facilities have become important hubs of localactivity and contribute to much needed social healing

among some of Kingston’s inner-city communities. Theradio broadcasts are perceived as an essential serviceamong individuals and groups in the local community.Radio and internet are also a bridge to other parts ofKingston society, which are encouraged to participatein the community’s healing and development,including the purchase of community-made potteryand craft items.

AchievementsIt is well recognised locally that Roots FM hasmade real contributions in terms of communitysolidarity and mobilisation, in mitigating violenceand crime by promoting a sense of morality andethics, and in supporting education, self-help andself-esteem.

Each week, over 200 youth and preschoolers usethe Zinc Link facilities for homework, research andother information and recreation activities.

Zinc Link is also an important outlet forvocational training, both at the centre andthrough distance learning.

Constraints and challenges One of the principal challenges that Roots FMfaces is to expand its activities and reach out to awider audience without losing its inner-city focusand vision.

“ People come in my taxi in the morning, and of course,it's tuned to Roots FM. Is that a CD-ROM? they ask,because the sound is so clear and the programmes areso well done. No, I say, that's Roots FM. Roots discussesall issues and all sides. When a discussion is verygood, we even have a new term: That's very rootical.Junior, a local taxi driver ”


Start date Radio 1997; multimediacentre 2005

Staff 3 core volunteers

FacilitiesMedia in use FM radio; computers


Number of PCs 1 public access, 1 administration

Telecentre 2 CD writers, 1 printer, 1 wirelessphone, solar and dieselpower generators

Software Office applications; digitalaudio editing

Connectivity None (VSAT expected by theend of 2005)

Radio 1 broadcast/production studio;portable cassette anddigital recorders


Frequency 104.1 FM



ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications; contentproduction: radio and digital

Other services Eco-tourism, craft sales


national socio-economic andpolitical issues, 10% news,60% music

Bulletins Local news, weather and communityannouncements

Programmes Women’s issues, HIV/AIDS prevention,health and child care, craft work,community spirit and cooperation,music, indigenous stories

Languages Saramaccan

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs: English language

lessons, eco-tourism; DVDs;encyclopaedias

Languages English, Saramaccan

Guensi

Name Muye CMC

Location Central Suriname

Address Slangeshoustraat 36,Guensi, Suriname

Telephone c/o Nadia Raveles (597) 883 5116,c/o Ritha Linga (597) 883 5274

Email c/o Nadia [email protected]

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 200 in Guensi; 10,000 more

spread over 60 small villagesalong the river

Languages Saramaccan

Distance from national capital 200 km, 4.5 hours by road and1.5 hours by river to Paramaribo

Main economic activities Fishing, subsistence farming;handicraft production; mining

Other internet access 200 km away in Paramaribo

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Background and missionThe community radio and multimedia centre both grewout of Koni ku Libi, ‘a local women’s association, whosename means live wise to survive’. Formed by communitymembers in the early 1990s with the support of UNICEF,Koni ku Libi aims to improve local living standards byimproving women’s organising around health issues likeHIV/AIDS and child care, strengthening positive culturalvalues and increasing community spirit and cooperation.UNESCO supported the group to establish a communityradio station in 1997 and a multimedia centre in 2005in order to reinforce their activities, expand services andextend them to neighbouring areas.

Location and contextGuensi is a small, remote village on the SaramaccaRiver, some 200 kilometres south of Paramaribo, thecapital of Suriname. The village is largely inhabited bydescendants of Maroons who escaped from Dutchplantations in the 18th century. Villagers’ African rootsare still present in many facets of their culture: fromlanguage to facial scarification, designs used on rice-sifting plates to their methods of pounding rice and thestyles of weaving their hair. The culture has a rich oraltradition of story telling and singing.

The village has approximately 200 residents; close toforty percent are children under age twelve. Literacylevels are very low, around forty percent. There is onlyone all-age school that services all sixty villages alongthe river. Secondary schooling is not available locallyand there is minimal government support for attendingschool in the capital. Ninety percent of residents haveonly primary level education. Subsistence farming is themain economic activity. There is some small-scale craftproduction, like carving calabash (gourd) and textileembroidery. High rates of male urban migration exact aheavy toll on women. Although the area has significantnatural resources, predominantly bauxite, gold andtimber, there is very limited benefit for the localcommunity. There has been some development of eco-tourism; a small number of tourists, mostly from theNetherlands, visit and stay in village cottages.

PartnersUNICEF was instrumental in the establishment ofKoni ku Libi and supported early childhood trainingthrough the radio.

UNESCO supported the establishment of radioand multimedia facilities as well as mediatraining through its global CMC programme withfunding from the Swiss Agency for Developmentand Cooperation.

TELESUR, the NationalTelecomunication Agency, hasassisted the development of theCMC through the NationalProgramme for Integrated RuralDevelopment, particularly withtraining for young telecentre usersin basic computing skills.

Assistance with training was also provided by RadioToco, a community radio in Trinidad.

Income The most significant aspect of the CMC’s sustainability isthe voluntary participation of the local community inrunning and managing the CMC in conjunction with Koniku Libi. With no paid staff, the operational costs are low.There has been continual support from TELESUR, theNational Telecommunication Agency, which absorbs someof the operating costs. The CMC earns minimal incomefrom tourists who use the facilities and purchase craft items.

Human resourcesThe CMC is run by members of Koni Ku Libi andindividuals from the community entirely on a voluntarybasis. The radio is staffed entirely by women. Threevolunteer staff and handful of regular volunteers areresponsible for different technical and maintenance tasksto manage the radio. TELESUR also provides technicalsupport and general assistance when necessary.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC’s activities are focused on improving livingstandards and empowering women through the use ofradio and new ICTs. The radio is clearly operated as adevelopmental tool, sharing information and ideasamong neighbouring villages. Radio programming isfocused primary on supporting education, raisingawareness of social issues, and facilitating conflictresolution. The station broadcasts programmes to buildbridges between children’s formal and informaleducation. It has also played an effective role in

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providing single and married youth with essentialinformation about HIV/AIDS. With a strong presence inthe community, Radio Muye has been able to bringdisagreements and differences within and betweencommunities into a shared community space,contributing to the successful resolution of conflict.

With the addition of computer and other digital tools,training community members in basic computing skillsand multimedia content production are new priorities.The CMC recently hosted a workshop for twenty-threecommunity members. Along with generatinginnovative ideas for the running of the CMC, theworkshop also increased the community’s sense ofownership, an important aspect of its sustainability.The CMC also provides services and entertainment fortourists, including playing local music, telling localstories and selling crafts, all of which help to supportlocal tourism.

Achievements Radio Muye was the first community radio stationto be established in the Caribbean and its survivaland success has inspired other community radiosin the region.

Radio Muye is the only access Guensi andneighbouring communities have to electronic orlocal media. The station functions as a localinformation network for the villagers along theriver, facilitating area-wide discussions andencouraging positive social change alongsidesharing important messages and information.

Constraints and challengesThe absence of an electricity supply is a majorconstraint for the regular and reliable use oftechnologies. It impacts the number of hours theCMC operates and poses a financial burden interms of fuel costs for local power generation.

Internet connectivity is a major challenge. AlthoughTELESUR has expanded its infrastructure, it is notsufficient to provide internet. There are plans tohave VSAT connectivity in place by the end of 2005.

The lack of marketing capacity and the absence of anyspecialised programmes to support the development ofeco-tourism has hampered the potential benefits of thisactivity, which has been identified as an importantincome generator for the CMC and local communities.

“ Radio is our means of talking to eachother. If we fight and the radio says fightingis bad, we think about that, at least westop fighting long enough to think about itand discuss it. Then we don't fight anymore. Becauseeverybody knows about it! Radio is also good for ourkids – they listen and prepare their exams. Teachers alsolisten and prepare their lessons; together they both learn.A Guensi villager ”

Choy Arnaldo/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Non-profit foundation

Start date Radio station 1997; telecentre 2002

Staff 5 full-time, 2 part-time, 8 volunteers


CD-ROMs; website; video

Set-up Telecentre and radio co-located withother projects of local developmentfoundation

Number of PCs 8 public access/training,2 radio production, 1 server

Telecentre Digital camera, video recorder;modem, webcam; printer,photocopier; fax, telephone

Software Office applications; internetbrowsers, email, chat; digital audioediting, multimedia production


Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, portable cassette anddigital recorders


Frequency 106.7 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 24 hours


ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet skills;intermediate computing: internetsearching, web design

Other training Distance learning, peer group skills

Other services Internet/email access,scanning/printing, fax


national economic, political andsocial issues; 50% music, somepromoting local artists

Bulletins Community activities (3 daily),news (6 daily), weather (2 daily)

Programmes Parenting, early childhood education,HIV/AIDS prevention, job motivation,youth issues, eco-tourism, music,cooking, sports

Languages English

Digital content Learning tools Indexed websites; CD-ROMs: literacy

skills, general knowledge;encyclopaedias, dictionaries;archived radio programmes

Bulletins News, weather

Languages English

Toco

Name Toco Multimedia CentreLocation Northeast TrinidadAddress Victoria Pritchard Resource

Center, Galera Road, Toco, TrinidadTelephone (868) 670 0068Fax (868) 670 1369 Email [email protected], c/o Vera

Edwards [email protected],c/o Linda Hinds [email protected]

Website http://radiotoco.saintindustries.com

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 4,000 in the immediate area;

another 5,500 in the Tocoregion; broadcast area includesother parts of Trinidad as wellas Tobago

Languages English

Distance from national capital 100 km / 2.5 hours by roadfrom Port-of-Spain

Main economic activities Eco-tourism, agriculture, fishing

Other internet access 100 km away in Port-of-Spain

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Background and missionRadio Toco was established in 1997 through the effortsof the Trinidad and Tobago Citizen’ Agenda Networkand the Toco Foundation, with support from UNESCO’s

Women Speaking to Womenprogramme. The CMC operates underthe umbrella of the Toco Foundation,set up in 1994 as a vehicle to alleviatepoverty and social inequalities and topromote sustainable livelihoods andprotect the area’s biodiversity. Thefoundation runs a variety of services

and programmes in areas ranging from agriculture andtourism to parenting and youth sexuality. The main focusof the radio is on raising awareness and empowermentof the local community, particularly women. As anextension of the radio’s mandate and building upon thefoundation’s work with computer training and distancelearning, UNESCO supported the addition of telecentrefacilities in 2002.

Location and contextToco is located in the northeast corner of Trinidad,bounded by the Caribbean Sea to the north and theAtlantic Ocean to the east. The population of Tocovillage is about 4,000 people with another 5,500 livingin surrounding rural areas. Covering northeast Trinidadand the nearby island of Tobago, Radio Toco has a totalpotential listenership of 100,000. Relatively isolated anddistant from major economic areas of Trinidad, Toco’seconomic growth and social development lag behindother areas of the country. Rates of unemployment andilliteracy are well above the national average. The area’smain economic activities are centred on agriculture,fishing and tourism. The lack of local job opportunities iscontributing to growing migration to the cities, especiallyamong Toco’s youth. Some national radio and televisionservices, as well as newspapers, are available from Port-of-Spain, the country’s capital; Radio Tamarind, a stationbased in Tobago is also available. A local survey done in2004 estimated that Radio Toco commands a highpercentage of local listenership.

PartnersAs the umbrella for the CMC, the Toco Foundationis central to its stability and day-to-day operations.The radio studio and multimedia centre are

housed within foundation facilities, which nowinclude an agricultural centre, conference roomsand accommodations.

UNESCO supported the establishment of the radiothrough the Women Speaking to Womenprogramme. Multimedia facilities and initialtraining were provided through the global CMCprogramme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

Support has also been received from the JBFernandes Memorial Trust, the Netherlands Embassyand UNDP for initial establishment and theacquisition of a new transmitter.

IncomeThe CMC’s relationship with the Toco Foundation allowsit to minimise costs, for example the space for both theradio and the telecentre is provided by the foundationand there is a strong crossover in terms of humanresources, both paid and volunteer staff. The CMC earnsrevenue from computer training courses, internet accessand telecentre services like fax, scanning, printing andphotocopying as well as sales of radio advertising tocompanies and small community businesses. It alsobenefits from regular fundraising events.

Human resources As in other areas of operations, the CMC enjoys asymbiotic relationship with the Toco Foundation in termsof human resources, particularly participation bycommunity volunteers. The CMC employs five full-timeand five part-time staff who are primarily responsible forday-to-day operations of the radio and multimediacentre. Women make up over seventy percent of thestaff. There are eight volunteers who assist with theproduction of radio programmes and generaloperations. Staff and volunteers have benefited throughongoing training programmes in different media andcomputing skills.

Main focus of activitiesThere is strong programme linkage and a synergeticrelationship between the CMC and Toco Foundation.Both the radio and the multimedia centre are essentialtools in achieving the foundation’s development goals.

Choy Arnaldo/UNESCO

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The CMC is focused primarily on disseminatinginformation in response to community needs. The radiohas programmes on parenting and early childhoodeducation, public health issues, including HIV/AIDS, aswell as job motivation and entrepreneurship, aimedparticularly at the area’s youth. The multimedia centreprovides access to distance learning materials and otherdigital content, from the internet as well as archived radioand video programmes and a library of CD-ROMs. RadioToco provides local farmers with relevant marketinformation and skills to increase the sales of theiragricultural products and improve their living standards.The radio in particular plays a strong role in promotingwomen’s visibility and rights and tackling gender issues,including the need for women, especially young women,to have a stronger say in their sexual relationships.

The CMC provides unique access to skills training in theToco area, from radio and multimedia content productionto basic and intermediate computing. A number ofindividuals trained at the CMC have gone on to findemployment in commercial media. The CMC alsoprovides essential access to important services for thecommunity-at-large, including telephone, fax and internet.

AchievementsThe first and still a leading community radio station inTrinidad and Tobago, the station is seen as a modelfor community radio in other parts of the Caribbean.

Radio Toco was the awarded the IPDC-UNESCOPrize for Rural Communication for 2003. Thestation was recognised as an outstandingmedium for information sharing and exchangeamongst the rural communities of northeastTrinidad and for its pivotal position inpromoting sustainable local development inthe Toco community.

The radio station is run primarily by women, whomake up over seventy percent of the staff. Women’sstrong representation is evident in on-airprogramming, ongoing participation of women inthe community and in terms of developmentimpact, particularly the empowerment of womenand with respect to social issues involved inparenting, health, gender roles, etc.

Both the radio and the foundation are proactive intheir promotion of HIV/AIDS awareness and it isworth noting that the Toco region has the lowestHIV/AIDS rates in Trinidad and Tobago.

Constraints and challengesFinancial self-reliance and sustainability are majorchallenges in a poor community. The Toco regionis a relatively small market to rely on foradvertising and other forms of income are smalland often unpredictable.

People here see ITas a way out of the

woods: IT meansjobs, IT means

money, IT meanspeople can moveahead – even out

here in the ruralzones. ”

“

Roger St. Hilaire, Co-manager,Toco Multimedia Centre

Choy Arnaldo/UNESCO

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eNRICH

eNRICH is a simple, easily customisable content management software developed for use in local multimedia andICT centres and networks.

eNRICH was conceived and designed as a ready-to-use solution to enable local groups to more easily authenticate,organise and share information content for members of their local communities and provide access to newcommunication tools.

The eNRICH concept is based directly onUNESCO's experience in grassroots ICTinitiatives in South Asia and other parts of theworld. Analysis points to the need not only foraccess to information, like market prices,health resources and educational materials, butalso for tools that will help grassroots groupsand individual users to create, organise andshare relevant information content andknowledge resources.

eNRICH is intended to be a simple, customisableportal for communities to use in managing andsharing information content. The softwareenables local groups to organise and animateinformation resources and to share content withother points within a network of sites. Users browse content offline or, where connectivity allows, online. The softwaresupports multiple languages and media.

eNRICH's information content is managed through a structure of subject categories - for example agriculture, health,etc - and content types - such as news, Q&A, knowledge, etc. The main portal window is divided into a series ofsmaller portlets that present specific information content and services. The structure is customisable according to theneeds and interests of a given community. Content can be uploaded and made available as text, image, audio orvideo from a local computer or through links to the internet.

The eNRICH database and interface can be hosted online, on a local area network or in a standalone computerenvironment. eNRICH's facilities include content folders, bulletin boards, photo galleries as well as messagingbetween users and opinion polls. Content generated at one site can be shared with other sites within a larger network.

Commissioned and conceptualised by UNESCO, the eNRICH software was developed by the National InformaticsCentre (NIC) of the Government of India. Open eNRICH version 4, a collaboration between UNESCO, the OpenKnowledge Network (OKN) of OneWorld and NIC, is designed using open source technologies and is scheduled forrelease as an open source project in 2005.

For more information please visit http://enrich.nic.in or contact Ian Pringle [email protected]

Ian Pringle/UNESCO

Solutions for local content management and sharing

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EthnographicAction Research Monitoring and evaluation are essential ingredients of any undertaking; they are most effective when they are integratedright from the start into a dynamic process of design, implementation and ongoing programme development.

Understanding the roles and relevance of information and communication technologies and media in differentcommunities requires an in-depth understanding of communities themselves and their respective'communicative ecologies'.

Within any environment there are differentpeople, groups, media and other tools,activities and relationships involved in the day-to-day communication and information life ofa community. None of these elements work inisolation; instead they form part of a system ofcommunication: the 'communicative ecology'.

What kinds of communication andinformation activities do or would people liketo carry out? What communications resourcesare available to them – media content,technologies, and skills? How do theyunderstand the way these resources can beused? Who do they communicate with, andwhy? By researching these and otherquestions and gradually building anunderstanding of the local communicativeecologies we work in, it is easier to assess theimpacts and possibilities of a particular medium, and how information and communications fit into the other things thatpeople are doing.

To build this understanding of local environments and how ICTs and media can play positive roles in fighting poverty,UNESCO worked with a series of partners to develop an integrated and applied research approach: ethnographicaction research (EAR). The methodology was developed by anthropologists and sociologists from the QueenslandUniversity of Technology and London School of Economics alongside programme specialists from UNESCO and itspartners, local researchers and members of the communities in which the network's initiatives operate.

The EAR methodology combines two research approaches: ethnography and action research. Ethnography is aresearch approach that has traditionally been used to understand different cultures. Action research is used ininterventions to bring about new activities through new and better understandings of situations.

Instead of focusing on individual ICTs and their 'impacts', an ethnographic research approach looks at the wholestructure of communication and information in peoples' way of life. Action research helps media workers to integrateinsights and findings into ongoing planning and programme development.

Maartje Op de Coul

An integrated approach to applied research and participatory evaluation

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In South Asia, where EAR was first piloted, the main drivers of the approach are trained local researchers, who liveand work on-site in communities using local media and ICTs. Local researchers are supported by a regionalresearch team, online and through site visits. More than researchers, these individuals are intimately and integrallyinvolved in day-to-day activities of their local media/ICT initiatives and more just broadly in their communities,exploring and understanding dynamics, relationships, problems and potential solutions in relation to thecommunity's needs and aspirations.

Through the four stages of the research process: planning, doing, observing and reflecting, researchers develop asound knowledge of circumstances, needs and capacities of the community and through cooperative processes usethis knowledge to further develop local ICT programmes and activities, continuously changing, adapting andresponding to local circumstances, needs and interests.

Field experiences, research findings and analyses are archived and shared across the entire network of media/ICTinterventions and researchers through an interactive research website, email, electronic forums, reports, publications,seminars and workshops.

The EAR approach uses a range of tools and methods for regular and integrated research and analysis. Among thekey tools are the following:

Participant observation and research field-notes Diaries and journals kept by staff, volunteers, community membersIndividual and group interviews: structured and informal, brief and in-depth Participatory rural appraisals and other evaluation techniques Resource, organisational and conceptual mapping Questionnaires and survey toolsFeedback forms and mechanisms

Research is an open-ended and on-going process. Researchers constantly innovate different means of exploring andanalysing social networks and norms, information needs, economic aspirations, etc, of the community and developa larger understanding of if and how ICTs are useful tools for the poor and for intermediary agencies working toreduce poverty.

Developed in South Asia, the EAR approach is now being used by UNESCO in Mali, in partnership with the OpenKnowledge Network and the Jamana Multimedia Cooperative; in Indonesia by the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme and in a new network in Nepal in cooperation with Equal Access. English and French language trainingmodules are in development as part of the Multimedia Training Kit.

For more information, please contact Jo Tacchi [email protected] or Ian Pringle [email protected]

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Start date Telecentre 2003, media productionfacility 2005


FacilitiesMedia in use Computers, internet; video

production, cable TV; audioproduction; narrowcasting

Set-up Telecentre co-located with mediaproduction facility

Number of PCs 5 public access/training,1 audio-video production; 1 server

Telecentre Printer/scanner/fax unit; 2 portableUSB drives, 2 webcams; 1 DVDwriter, 2 CD writers

Software Office applications, Bangla fonts;internet browsers, email, chat;desktop publishing, graphic design;digital editing: video, audio, image

Connectivity Dedicated cable, 64 kbps

Video/radio 1 audio-video production studio (inconstruction at time of publication);digital cameras: 2 video, 1 still;2 portable audio recorders

ServicesTelecentre Daily 9-18h

Cablecast Occasional

Narrowcast Weekly, 2 sessions

ICT training Basic computing: office applications,internet skills; basic multimedia: digitalediting, design applications;participatory video production;community media skills (for volunteers)

Other services Internet access, scanning/printing,copying, desktop publishing,videography

Media production Programmes Local features: adolescent rights,

local culture, disabilities

Languages Bangla

Digital content Materials Health related CD-ROMs, archived

video features, downloaded websites;locally produced/packagedmultimedia on health, education,micro-enterprise

Languages Bangla, English

Other content Library Bangla and English books

Posters/flyers Wide range of developmental textsand graphics, especially health; alsomicro-enterprise, education, etc.

Sitakund

Name Youth CMC

Location Southeast Bangladesh

Address YPSA programme office,College Road, Sitakund-4310,Chittagong District, Bangladesh

Telephone (880) 30 285 6279;(880) 176 842 745 (mobile)


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 350,000 in the sub-district

Languages Bangla

Distance from national capital 200 km, 6+ hours by road to Dhaka

Distance from district headquarters 37 km, 1.5 hours by roadto Chittagong

Main economic activities Subsistence agriculture(vegetables), agricultural labour,fishing; jute cultivation; industry:ship-breaking, steel rolling

Other internet access 37 km away in Chittagong

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Background and missionThe Youth CMC in Sitakund is run by Young Power in SocialAction (YPSA), a NGO established in 1985, InternationalYouth Year. The telecentre was established by YPSA in 2003

through a special UNESCO crosscuttingtheme initiative on ICT innovations forpoverty reduction; the facility wastransformed into a CMC in 2005, withthe addition of multimedia facilitiesfunded by UNESCO.

YPSA’s mission is to support thesustainable socio-economic development of thecommunities it works with, particularly poor andvulnerable segments of the local population, andespecially youth and women. Through its ongoingdevelopment programmes and the organisation’s recentexperience with a community telecentre, YPSA identifiedcommunity media as tool to support awareness raisingand information sharing, formal and non-formaleducation, and strengthening grassroots organisationsand their linkages to relevant local and external resources.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in the municipal centre of SitakundSub-district of the Chittagong district of Bangladesh. Thetown is thirty-seven kilometres from Chittagongmunicipality, an important port and the second largest cityof the country. The Sitakund sub-district is bordered by hillsto the east and the Bay of Bengal to the west. It is home toone of the largest ship-breaking industries in Asia, a largeecological park and sacred Hindu pilgrimage sites.

The total population of the sub-district is about350,000. It is a multi-religious and multiculturalregion, with indigenous people living in the hills andfisher communities by the sea. In the plains in-between, majority Muslim and minority Hindu andBuddhist communities co-exist. Agriculture is acentral source of livelihood, however many,including the majority of indigenous people do nothave land of their own. Sitakund has limitedinfrastructure in areas like communication, primaryeducation and health. Eighty-five percent of totalvillages and sixty-five percent of total households ofSitakund have access to the electricity grid. Theoverall literacy rate is forty-one percent. Only fifty-

five percent of children have access to education.Very few children from the indigenous community goto school. This deprivation has led to higher thanaverage rates of illiteracy and unemployment.

PartnersYPSA established the original telecentre andcontinues provide an organisational umbrella andcontinuity for the CMC.

UNESCO supported the establishment of thetelecentre in 2003 and media production facilitiesand capacity building beginning in 2005, the latterthrough the global CMC programme, funded by theSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, aswell as UNESCO’s International Programme for theDevelopment of Communication.

The CMC benefits from YPSA’s strong local networkand collaborates with a range of YPSA projects andprogrammes as well as local schools andcommunity-based organisations.

IncomeThe CMC earns around twenty percent of its currentoperating cost from the following services: computertraining, video shooting and editing, CD writing,printing and document services. The remaining eightypercent is provided by YPSA, largely through projectsand support from UNESCO during the establishmentphase. With regularised and expanding programmes,the CMC is aiming to achieve one hundred percent self-reliance in 2006.

Human resourcesThe CMC has two full-time, paid community resourcepersons who coordinate most of the CMC operations,including a considerable amount of content productionand all of the media training and maintenance. There isalso one part-time computer trainer who is paid fromtraining revenues. There are about twenty-five regularvolunteers, all youths and adolescents of Sitakund;about sixty-five percent are girls/women.

The CMC benefits greatly through the support andcontributions of YPSA staff, in areas including videotraining and production and community mobilisation,particularly marginalised groups like people withdisabilities, and religious and ethnic minorities. The CMC

Sitakund CMC/UNESCO

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also benefits through the contributions of internationalvolunteers, especially in the training of staff and volunteersin content development. An average of twenty people visitthe CMC everyday to participate in media programming,use computers, internet and attend training.

Main focus of activitiesStill relatively new at the time of publication, the CMC’smain focus has been on establishment: buildinginfrastructure and production systems, developing thenecessary human resources and evolving a sustainableorganisational model. The CMC has been working todevelop the capacity of a group of local youth andadolescents to lead the day-to-day management andadministration of the CMC, as well as to drive majorareas of content production. Some twenty-five volunteershave participated in trainings related to communitymedia, radio and video production, programmecoordination and management. The CMC continues torun regular computer training programmes through thetelecentre facility. Over 300 people were trained in 2004and 2005, about seventy-five percent in basic computingand the remainder in the advanced curriculum.

In addition to training and support to YPSA’sdevelopment programmes, the CMC has initiatedregular video and audio production and started pilotcablecasting. Locally created content is also narrowcast,a format in which video and audio programmes areplayed back during small group meetings in thecommunity and then used as the basis of discussions;feedback is solicited, recorded and incorporated intofuture programmes.

The CMC is working to integrate technologies andsocial strategies that will benefit marginalised groupsfrom the local area, for example the Digital AccessibleInformation System (DAISY) and JAWS software forpeople with disabilities, and grassroots ‘reflect circles’for the rural poor. Strategies to generate income andmove towards increased independence and self-reliance are priorities.

AchievementsThe CMC is one of the first local media facilities ofits kind in Bangladesh. Though still in its early days atthe time of publication, the centre has begun regular

media production for local distribution on cablenetworks and through narrowcasting in small groups.

The telecentre that preceded the CMC was asignificant opportunity for the area’s youth: to learnnew and marketable skills and to access new typesof knowledge resources, all in a relatively opencommunity space, free of gender or other biases.

Over 325 local youth have been trained incomputer and multimedia skills in the context ofYPSA’s local community development network.

The introduction of ICTs, starting with computersand now comprising internet, CD-ROMs, othertypes of digital content, and audio-videoproduction has increased YPSA capacity to usecommunication as tool in their local developmentefforts. In late 2004, YPSA established an ICT4Dunit to further develop its use of media and newinformation and communication technologieswithin all aspects its development work.

Constraints and challengesThe absence of policy or regulatory frameworksconcerning community radio in Bangladesh is amajor constraint. At present, communityorganisations are ineligible for broadcast licenses.

The poverty of the area is a major constraint todeveloping a self-reliant, sustainable operation.

Power outages, load shedding and low voltage area serious problem that limits the scope andreliability of services.

The general conservativeness of the localcommunity is another challenge, evident in thereluctance to try new ideas and allow participation,especially of girls.

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Sitakund CMC/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Government broadcasterStart date Telecentre 1996, multimedia

facilities 2003Staff 7 full-time

FacilitiesMedia in use Computers, internet;

TV, radio productionSet-up Telecentre co-located with media

production facility/regional bureauof national broadcaster

Number of PCs 5 public access/training,1 audio-video production

Telecentre Printer, scanner, fax, photocopier,TV, VHS deck, generator

Software Office applications, internetbrowsers, email, chat; desktoppublishing; digital editing: video,audio, image

Connectivity Lease-line, 64 kbpsVideo/radio 1 audio-video production studio,

1 digital video editing suite; 1 digitalvideo camera, 3 portable digitalaudio recorders

ServicesTelecentre Daily 9-18h Radio/TV Daily news items; 2 weekly television

programmes, 2 weekly radioprogrammes to Thimphu/BBSnational service

National radio 7-22h dailyNational TV 18-22h daily; rebroadcast 6-10h the

following morningICT training Basic computing: office applications,

internet skills; basic multimedia:

digital editing, content generation;radio and ICT skills (for local schools)

Other services Internet access, scanning/printing,photocopy, desktop publishing

Media productionProgrammes Local features: news, cultural events,

development storiesNational: news, culture;Internet on the Radio

Languages Dzongkha (programmes and news),English (news)

Digital contentMaterials Health related CD-ROMs;

encyclopaedias; indexes of websites,downloaded websites; archived videofeatures, radio programme archives

Languages English, Dzongkha

National radio/televisionRadio 15 hours daily: 30% news;

55% developmental programming;15% music

Bulletins News, weatherProgrammes Farming, health, business, education;

religious; folk songsLanguages Dzongkha, Lhotsam, Sharchhop,

English Television 4 hours daily: 33% news,

35% developmental programs,32% music/advertisements/announcements

Bulletins News, weatherProgrammes News, farming, health, education,

folk songsLanguages Dzongkha, English

Jakar

Name Jakar CMC

Location Central Bhutan

Address BBS Regional Bureau,Jakar, Bumthang District,Bhutan

Phone/fax (975) 3 631 449

Email c/o Phurba [email protected], c/o Kinley Bidha [email protected]

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 2,000 in Jakar town, another

10,000 in surrounding areas

Languages Dzongkha, English

Distance from national capital 260 km, 10 hours by roadto Thimphu

Main economic activities Subsistence farming: cereals,dairy; fruit, bee keeping, animalhusbandry

Other internet access 2 internet cafés in Jakar town

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Background and missionA multipurpose community telecentre was established inJakar in 1996 with support from the InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU). The project had a slowstart-up and low usage due to various problems inimplementation and integration in the local area. In2002, UNESCO agreed to support the BhutanBroadcasting Service (BBS) to assume ownership of thecentre as part of a new regional multimedia productioncentre. The CMC was fully established in 2003 with theaddition of digital audio-video facilities. The mission is toprovide rural populations with access to new skills andfacilities, from computers and internet to printers,scanners and copiers, and to a range of informationresources. The multimedia centre was established toexpand the variety of content on the national radio andtelevision services by creating a localised productionbureau. The CMC also provides the local Bumthangcommunity with a facility in which to record music andother cultural forms and to produce multimedia.

Location and contextRich in arts, culture and history, Jakar today is theheadquarters of Bumthang District. Near to thegeographic centre of Bhutan, Bumthang encompassesfour major valleys. Located at an altitude of 2,760metres and situated on the country’s only east-westhighway, Jakar is the largest town between Thimphu inthe west and Trashigang in the east.

The main sources of livelihood in the valleys aresubsistence agriculture and yak and sheep rearing inhigher altitudes. The area is also famous for honeyproduction, cheese, apples and apricots as well as yathrawool. While Bhutan’s economic indicators are among thelowest in the world, the vast majority of rural farmers owntheir land, housing is of generally good quality and whilethere is certainly malnutrition, there is no famine.

Bhutanese electronic media are limited to the BBSnational radio service, available on shortwave and FMin many of the twenty district headquarters, and a dailytelevision service, which is broadcast in Thimphu anddistributed to local cable operators in other parts of thecountry. Satellite and cable operations are increasing innumber and penetration, but mostly in larger towns.There is one national newspaper published in Thimphu.

PartnersThe Bhutan Broadcasting System Corporation is themain vehicle for the CMC, providing staff andmaintaining the facilities.

The International Telecommunica-tions Union supported theestablishment of the telecentre inpartnership with Bhutan Telecom.

UNESCO supported theestablishment of multimediaproduction facilities and capacity building throughits global CMC programme, funded by the SwissAgency for Development and Cooperation.

Bhutan Telecom provides the Jakar CMC with itsdedicated lease-line.

IncomeThe CMC generates some limited income from telecentreservices, primarily internet access and photocopying.There has been discussion about paid computer training,however to date training has been provided free of cost.The staff and overhead costs are borne by BBS and thelease-line is provided directly by Bhutan Telecom.

Human resourcesThe CMC has seven full-time staff: a technician, twoproducers, a cameraperson, an office assistant, driver anda security guard. The office assistant is largely responsiblefor the operations of the telecentre facilities. The technicianand producer both assist with training, but are primarilyfocused on producing materials for the national radio andTV services. There are a handful of volunteers from the localcommunity and a small network of school radio clubs;however for the most part programming is done exclusivelyby BBS staff. There is a steady stream of users to the CMC.Email and online chat are popular among the area’s youth.

Main focus of activitiesThe multimedia facilities are in daily use as an audio-video production studio, creating content andprogrammes for BBS in Thimphu and providing basicICT service to the local community. Computer traininghas been taken mostly by youth in the area, some wholive at a considerable distance from Jakar itself. Likewise

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the majority of computer and internet users are youngpeople, among whom chat, email and browsing areincreasingly popular. Located just off Jakar’s main roadand the country’s largest and longest highway, the CMCis situated at a major crossroads and national transporthub and therefore draws residents and a small numberof tourists passing through the market. As a regionalbureau for all of Central Bhutan, the Jakar CMC staffcover a large area, gathering news and producingstories for a range of BBS programmes.

AchievementsThe CMC’s productions have dramatically changedBhutan’s national radio and television services byintroducing locally produced content from thecountry’s districts and significantly expanding thescope of coverage, both geographically and culturally.

The CMC is the only facility of its kind in Jakar,providing a unique opportunity for the localcommunity and for people passing through Jakar to

learn new skills, get exposure to new technologiesand access ICTs at low or even no cost.

Constraints and challengesBhutan has yet to allow for any non-governmentor any local broadcast media, which has meantthat the CMC’s productions are limited to thenational service. A media law, which wasbeing drafted at the time of publication, promisesto consider a greater role for independent media.

The distance of the CMC from Thimphu orother major markets poses considerable problems interms of equipment acquisition and maintenance.

Bhutan is relatively isolated, sparsely populated andrural areas are tradition bound. The introduction ofnew ICTs has been a slow process; the generalcommunity’s awareness of the potential benefits ofICTs in terms of livelihoods or day-to-day life eventsis growing, but still very limited.

Ian Pringle/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Government broadcasterStart date 2005Staff 5 full-time, 1 part-time

FacilitiesMedia in use Computers, internet, CD-ROMs;

TV/radio productionSet-up Telecentre co-located with media

production facility/regional bureauof national broadcaster

Number of PCs 5 public access/training,1 audio-video production

Telecentre Printer, scanner, fax, photocopier,TV, VHS deck

Software Office applications; desktoppublishing; media players, digitalediting: video, audio, image

Connectivity None on site (access availablethrough the college)

Video/radio 1 audio-video production studio,1 digital video editing suite; 1 digitalvideo camera, 1 portable digitalaudio recorder

ServicesTelecentre Daily 9-18hRadio/TV Daily news items, 2 weekly television

programmes, 2 weekly radioprogrammes to Thimphu/BBSnational service

National radio 7-22h dailyNational TV 18-22h daily; rebroadcast 6-10h the

following morningICT training Basic computing: office applications;

basic multimedia: digital editing,

multimedia content creation; radio skills(for campus students and teachers)

Other services Scanning/printing, photocopying,desktop publishing

Media productionProgrammes Local features: news, cultural events,

development storiesNational: news, culture; Internet onthe Radio

Languages Dzongkha (programmes and news),English (news)

Digital content Materials Health related CD-ROMs;

encyclopaedias; downloadedwebsites; archived video features,radio programme archives

Languages English, Dzongkha

National radio/television Radio 15 hours daily: 30% news;

55% developmental programming;15% music

Bulletins News, weatherProgrammes Farming, health, business, education;

religious; folk songsLanguages Dzongkha, Lhotsam, Sharchhop,

English Television 4 hours daily: 33% news, 35%

developmental programs, 32%music/advertisements/announcements

Bulletins News, weatherProgrammes News, farming, health, education,

folk songsLanguages Dzongkha, English

Kanglung

Name Kanglung CMC

Location Eastern Bhutan

Address c/o BBS Regional Bureau,Kanglung, Trashigang District,Bhutan

Phone/fax (975) 4 535 138

Email c/o Dorji [email protected]

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 5,000 in Kanglung sub-district,

including Sherubtse College, andsurrounding areas

Languages Dzongkha, English Distance from national capital 580 km, 20+ hours by road

to ThimphuDistance from district headquarters 25 km, 1 hour by road to TrashigangMain economic activities Subsistence agriculture, animal

husbandry, college employment,small business, forestry

Other internet access 1 private internet café in Kanglung

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Background and missionThe community multimedia centre was established inKanglung in 2005 as part of the Bhutan BroadcastService in cooperation with Sherubtse College and withthe support of UNESCO. The mission of the CMC is to

provide university students and ruralcommunities with access to new skillsand facilities – computers, internet,printers, scanners and copiers – and toinformation. The CMC was set up inKanglung to tap the potential of thecollege students for multimedia

production and to meet the needs of the collegecommunity. The main objective of the multimediaproduction centre is to expand the variety ofprogramming and information available on Bhutan’snational radio and television services by producinglocalised content from the eastern region of the country.

Location and contextKanglung is home to Sherubtse College, RoyalUniversity of Bhutan, and over 850 students of the arts,commerce and sciences. The campus is situated on aridge and plateau at an altitude of 2500 metres.Kanglung is twenty-five kilometres from Trashigang, thedistrict headquarters and not far from the zoneheadquarters at Yonphula. Trashigang, home to thecountry’s second largest urban centre, is also the mostdensely populated district in Bhutan.

Kanglung sub-district consists of seven villages of justover 500 households and covers an area of somesixty-three square kilometers. The area has two juniorhigh schools and one community primary school withover 1,500 students. Around 400 households haveelectricity supply and over seventy percent of thepopulation has access to piped drinking water supply.There are 120 telephone connections, mostly inKanglung town. Kanglung’s main livelihood activitiesare animal husbandry and agriculture: maize, wheatand paddy are the main cereals and potato is grownfor cash income. The college is an integral part of thelocal economy, providing jobs and a unique marketfor local produce and businesses.

Bhutanese electronic media are limited to the BBSnational radio service, available on short wave and FM

in an expanding number of locations, although not inTrashigang, and a daily television service, which isbroadcast in Thimphu and distributed to local cableoperators in other parts of the country. Satellite andcable operations are increasing in number andpenetration, but mostly in larger towns. There is onenational newspaper published in Thimphu.

PartnersThe Kanglung CMC was established by the BhutanBroadcasting Service Corporation in cooperationwith Sherubtse College of the University of Bhutan,which provided the building and allows the CMCaccess to its internet connection for sendingmaterials to Thimphu.

UNESCO supported the establishment of thetelecentre and multimedia production facilities aswell as training of CMC staff through its globalCMC programme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

IncomeThe CMC generates some limited income fromphotocopying, computer access and providingmultimedia services to students and the localcommunity. The staff and overhead costs are borne byBBS and the internet connection is provided bySherubtse College. Sherubtse College provides thebuilding at a low rent and encourages voluntary inputsfrom students and teachers.

Human resourcesThe CMC has five full-time staff: a technician, twoproducers, a driver and a security officer. There isalso a part-time office assistant, who is largelyresponsible for the running of the telecentre facilities.The technician and producer both assist withtraining, but are primarily focused on producingmaterials for the national radio and TV services. TheCMC benefits by its location on the Sherubtsecampus – with over 850 students, there is a steadyflow of students who use the telecentre to access thecomputer facilities and for multimedia production. Anumber of teachers and students have becomeinvolved with radio and television production on avoluntary basis.

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Main focus of activitiesThe multimedia facilities are in daily use as an audio-video production studio, creating content andprogrammes for BBS in Thimphu and providing basicICT service to the local community. As a regionalbureau for all of Eastern Bhutan, the Kanglung CMCcovers a large area, gathering news and producingstories for a range of BBS programmes. Learning newskills and contributing to multimedia productions, thestudents have become extremely interested in radioand television.

AchievementsThe CMC’s productions have dramaticallychanged Bhutan’s national radio and televisionservices by introducing locally produced contentfrom the country’s districts and significantlyexpanding the scope of coverage, bothgeographically and culturally.

The CMC is the only facility of its kind, not onlyin Kanglung but also in Trashigang district,providing a unique opportunity for local

communities to learn ICT skills and accessfacilities at low cost.

Constraints and challengesBhutan has yet to allow for non-governmental or localbroadcast media, which has meant that the CMC’smedia productions are limited to the national servicein terms of dissemination. A media law, which wasbeing drafted at the time of publication, promises toconsider a greater role for independent media.

The distance of the CMC from Thimphu or othermajor markets poses considerable problems interms of equipment acquisition and maintenance aswell as capacity building.

Bhutan is relatively isolated, sparsely populatedand rural areas are tradition bound. Theintroduction of new ICTs has been a slowprocess; the general community’s awareness ofpotential benefits of ICTs in terms of livelihoodsand day-to-day life events is growing, but stillvery limited.

Ian Pringle/UNESCO

OrganisationOwnership Non-profit societyStart date Audio production centre 2001,

cable radio/telecentre facility 2003Staff 4 full-time, 15 volunteers

FacilitiesMedia in use Cable FM radio; cable TV,

cassette/loudspeaker narrowcasting,computers, internet, CD-ROMs

Set-up Cable FM radio and telecentreco-located with developmentresource centre

Number of PCs Main CMC: 8 public access/training;1 audio-video production; 1 serverSatellite centres: 3 publicaccess/training

Telecentre Digital camera: 1 video, 1 still;printer/scanner unit; 12 KVAgenerator

Software Office applications, accounting,paint/drawing, Kannada Unicodefonts; internet browsers; C+/C++programming; digital editing: audio,video, image; content management

Connectivity Dial-up (wireless-in-local-loop),100 kbps (inconsistent)

Radio 1 production/broadcast studio,3 cassette and 5 digital portablerecorders, cable FM modulator

ServicesCablecast Daily 19-20h30Telecentre Daily 8-21h ICT training Basic computing: office applications,

internet, content managementsystems; radio production

(for volunteers); community radiotraining (for other organisations)

Other training Wide range of training forcommunity groups

Other services Audio programme production (fordistribution on cassette); scanning/printing, photocopying; photoprinting

Radio programming Overview 1.5 hours daily: 10% bulletins, 60%

music, 25% local affairs, 5% PSAsand promotion

Bulletins Bus/rail timings, market pricesProgrammes Health, education, awareness,

agriculture, local news, self-affinitygroups; letters; devotional,cinema music

Languages Kannada, Telegu, Tamil, Urdu

Digital content Bulletins Bus timings, market pricesFormats Downloaded websites; educational

CD-ROMs; locally generated contentTopics Government schemes and

information; science, health (AIDS,diarrhoea, malaria, etc), localmedicines, indigenous knowledge,general knowledge

Languages English, Kannada

Other content Resource centre Development information,

government schemes, local events,local contact information

Library Newspapers; books: novels, textbooks, reference materials

Languages English, Kannada, Telegu, Tamil, Hindi

Budikote

Name Namma Dhwani

Location Southern India

Address Jagruthi Resource Centre building,Budikote, Kolar District,Karnataka State, India

Telephone (91) 81 5325 8917


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 6,000 in Budikote; 15,000 in surrounding

villages and other target areasLanguages Kannada, Telegu, Tamil, UrduDistance from state capital 85 km, 2.5 hours by road

from BangaloreDistance from district headquarters 30 km, 45 minutes by road to KolarMain economic activities Subsistence farming; agriculture

(vegetables) and agricultural labour;sericulture

Other internet access Private cybercafés in sub-districtheadquarters, 13 km away

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Background and missionNamma Dhwani developed in response to the lack ofawareness and information media in the Budikote areaand through the collaboration of two facilitatingorganisations: VOICES, a social changecommunications group, and MYRADA, an organisationspecialising in community-based approaches todevelopment with a strong focus on grassroots groups.Namma Dhwani means ‘our voice’ in the local Kannadalanguage.The Namma Dhwani audio production facilitywas established in 2001, with support from UNESCO,following discussions with community stakeholders andinitial capacity building. UNESCO also supported theestablishment of cable FM and telecentre facilities in2003. Combining radio and ICT applications,community multimedia has been identified as a meansfor the community to raise awareness, shareinformation, and strengthen grassroots organisationsand their linkages to important institutions (banks,government departments, etc).

Location and contextBudikote is a large village about eighty-fivekilometres east of Bangalore, India’s IT capital. It islocated in Kolar District of Karnataka State in SouthIndia, bordering the neighbouring states of AndhraPradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Kolar districtheadquarters are thirty kilometers away. The nearestmunicipality is in Bangarpet, the sub-districtheadquaters, thirteen kilometers away. Budikote isthe largest village in the immediate area and is thepanchayat (local government) headquarters for thesurrounding eight villages. The area has beensuffering from a long-standing drought, which hasexacerbated poverty. The overall literacy rate isapproximately forty-five percent, comprising aneighty percent literacy rate for males and a twentypercent rate for females. Forty percent of householdsin Budikote have televisions; fifty-six percent haveradios, sixty-four percent of which were purchasedthrough Namma Dhwani after the cable FM servicebegan. In smaller, more remote villages, there arefewer televisions and radios.

PartnersMYRADA and its local development programmeshave been instrumental in the development of

Namma Dhwani. MYRADA paid for theconstruction of the Namma Dhwani premises in2001 and continues to provide space free ofcost. MYRADA has also purchased computerand loudspeaker equipment for the expansion ofthe network.

VOICES has been supporting Namma Dhwanisince its inception in 2000, particularly in theareas of capacity building, research, programmeand technical guidance and building bridges tocivil society.

UNESCO supported the establishment of the audioproduction facility in 2001 through theInternational Programme for the Development ofCommunication and telecentre facilities in early2003 through a special crosscutting themeinitiative on ICT innovations for poverty reduction.Ongoing capacity building and facility upgradeshave been supported by the global CMCprogramme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The Canadian Centre for International Studies andCooperation (CECI) assisted Namma Dhwani withtraining, programme development and smallequipment purchases between 2001 and 2004.Action Aid supported the purchase of additionalloud speakers systems for two neighbouring villages.

Namma Dhwani collaborates with a wide range oflocal government agencies and other developmentoffices, civil society and community-basedorganisations. Women’s self-affinity groups andcommunity watershed management groups are atthe centre of Namma Dhwani’s governance andoperational structures.

IncomeThe CMC earns sixty-five percent of its current operatingcosts from the following services: computer training –forty-five percent, community radio training – thirty-fivepercent, audio programme sales – fifteen percent,advertising – five percent. The remaining thirty-fivepercent is contributed from MYRADA and VOICES, inpart through research and project-based support from

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UNESCO and other agencies. The contributions ofvolunteers are a significant aspect of the CMC’soperations, totalling at least sixty person-hours per week.

Human resourcesThe CMC has four full-time, paidcommunity resource persons, whocoordinate most of the CMCoperations including a considerableamount of programme production andall of the computer training. There areabout fifteen regular volunteers, mostly

youth from Budikote; about forty percent arewomen/girls. The CMC benefits greatly through thesupport and contributions of a VOICES-appointed actionresearcher (part of a parallel UNESCO project) and twostaff persons of the Jagruthi Resource Centre (located inthe same building). The CMC is managed by acommittee of representatives of local self-affinity groups,an important source of community ownership. Anaverage of forty people visit the CMC everyday toparticipate in media programming, use computers,internet and other telecentre services and to simply spendtime and socialise.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC’s activities are focused around its mainobjective: to share information as a stimulator fordevelopment. The facilities are in use daily for radioprogramme and digital content production. Both radioand digital content are based on ongoing assessment oflocal needs and interests through dedicatedethnographic action research and through a highdegree of interactivity with the local community, in largepart through the network of self-affinity groups, which isexplicitly linked to the CMC in terms of management,volunteerism and listenership. The CMC cablecasts alive programme every evening to listeners in Budikoteand three nearby villages. By networking content amongsatellite centres and making creative use of cassettenarrowcasting and the use of loud speakers, NammaDhwani reaches a relatively large audience, includingvillages that have traditionally been highly marginalised,in socio-economic and geographic terms, as well as intheir access to media and information. The integrationof new ICTs has been gradual. Alongside computertraining, Namma Dhwani, working closely with the

Jagruthi Resource Centre, has now created a significantamount of digital content, which, like audioprogramming, is shared among resource centres indifferent villages and organised using the eNRICHcontent management system.

AchievementsAlthough it does not have a license to broadcast,with a live daily programme service, a regularlistening audience and a tangible base ofownership in the local community, NammaDhwani is effectively one of the first communityradios in India.

Namma Dhwani has succeeded in its goal ofraising community awareness through local contentproduction and the use of localised, adaptedmedia. The CMC has produced content for radio,cassette and loudspeaker narrowcasting, onlinedigital media and for print. In 2005, NammaDhwani won the Keith Yeoman Award for its workwith local content.

Namma Dhwani played an effective role in recentlocal government elections, both in terms ofcovering issues prior to voting and the counting andnotification process. Namma Dhwani’s electionprogramming increased local interest andparticipation as well as making the voting processsignificantly more transparent. The CMC now plansto increase its focus on local governance.

Prior to the use of cable FM, in 2002, NammaDhwani created an innovative radio programmein conjunction with the local government school.The studio was linked to the grade ten classroomusing cable and speaker boxes. Students workedwith Namma Dhwani staff and volunteers toidentify topics and programme a weekly time slotin which students effectively took their classthrough the radio.

Constraints and challengesNamma Dhwani’s greatest constraint is the absenceof policy or regulatory frameworks concerningcommunity radio in India. Although a communityradio policy has been on successive governments’

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agenda for nearly ten years, community organisationsare still ineligible for broadcast licenses.

Power outages, load shedding and low voltage areserious problems, especially given NammaDhwani’s use of cable FM (which requires powerfor transmission).

The absence of reliable internet connectivity hasbeen a major constraint, particularly as an absentsource of revenue. Though only eighty-five

kilometres from India’s IT capital and only thirteenkilometres from the sub-district headquarters,Budikote’s telecom infrastructure does not supportreliable connectivity. Recent success using awireless-in-local-loop connection is animprovement, but service is still inconsistent.

Sustainability and self-reliance are ongoingchallenges. Namma Dhwani struggles to coverits operating costs and to maintain its cadreof volunteers.

Local media, local contentOne of Namma Dhwani’s most significant accomplishments has been in the production of local content that directlymeets community needs. The small scale of the CMC allows a direct link between listeners, users and producers,community members and their local radio and telecentre. The chart illustrates the importance of awareness andeducation in the work of the CMC.

Managed and programmed by therepresentatives of grassroots organisations,especially women’s self-affinity groups andcommunity volunteers, Namma Dhwani hasso far produced more than 1000 radioprogrammes on locally relevant topics. Everyevening, listeners tune into a ninety-minute‘radio cablecast’ available on cable FMthrough the local cable TV network. Workingclosely with its sister organisation, theJagruthi Resource Centre (RC), a facility co-located with the CMC that focuses on localdevelopment, Namma Dhwani has also created an impressive amount of digital content that is accessed by local usersthrough the centre’s local computer network using eNRICH, a computer-based content management system.

One example of Namma Dhwani’s local content is a description of how a locally available plant could controlinsects. While Bhavani, a worker at the resource centre and Namma Dhwani volunteer, was at a women's groupmeeting, an elder member shared some indigenous knowledge with her: if an aloe vera plant is hung upside downfrom the ceiling, it’s flowing sap attracts and traps the insects and flies that flood the area during the summer.Bhavani tested it in the Jagruthi building and that summer the RC was free from all troublesome insects. Recognisingthe value of this type of locally originating and appropriate information, Namma Dhwani documented the solution,including it as a short radio feature in the daily cablecast and storing the audio clip alongside a multimedia featureon the local database section of eNRICH. Namma Dhwani’s experience with the aloe vera plant demonstrates howa local community can solve local problems using local knowledge and also how technologies like radio, cable andcomputers can combine to make an effective local information network.

OrganisationOwnership Local government


Staff 10 full-time, 3 part-time,80+ volunteers


website


Number of PCs 6 public access/training, 1 server,1 radio production

Telecentre Digital cameras: video, still; printer,scanner, fax, portable USB drives,CD writers

Software Office applications, Nepali Unicode,paint/drawing; internet browsers,email, chat; digital audio editing


Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, telephone hybrid, 8 portabledigital recorders


Frequency 106.9 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 5h30-10h, 12-15h, 17-21h30


ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet skills;basic multimedia: audio recordingand production

Other training Regular training to community youthsin social mobilisation

Other services Internet access, scanning/printing

Radio programming Overview 12 hours daily: 45%

community/public affairs, 55% musicand entertainment programmes

Bulletins Community activities, Sangiko Awaj(voice of friends)

Programmes Local activities, farmers, women,children’s features, health, educational,folk songs and current affairs

Languages Nepali, Magari and Newari

Digital content Learning tools Archived audio programmes,

indexed websites

Languages Nepali, English

Website Information about the radio

Madanpokhara

Name Madanpokhara CMC

Location Western Nepal

Address Madanpokhara 9,Palpa District, Nepal

Telephone (977) 75 520 655 / 521 405


Website www.community-radio-madanpokhara.org

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 8,000 in Madanpokhara village,

300,000 in Palpa DistrictLanguages Nepali, Magari and NewariDistance from national capital 290 km, 8+ hours by road to KathmanduDistance from district headquarters 9 km, 20 minutes by road to TansenMain economic activities Subsistence farming; agriculture: rice,

vegetables, coffee; bee keeping, animalhusbandry: poultry, livestock; somelocal industry, educational institutions

Other internet access Private cybercafé and CMC in Tansen,9 km away

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Background and missionCommunity Radio Madanpokhara (CRM) was licensed in1999 and went on air in April 2000, the first village radioin hills region of Nepal. Madanpokhara VillageDevelopment Committee (VDC) established the stationwith support from UNESCO, Palpa District DevelopmentCommittee (DDC), and individuals and groups from thelocal community. The main goal of the station is tocontribute to local development by promoting publicawareness and dialogue, knowledge sharing, communityparticipation and local culture and positive entertainment.Telecentre facilities, added in late 2004 with support fromUNESCO, aim to expand the community’s access toinformation resources and communication tools, bothdirectly through public access and training, and indirectlythrough integration with the radio.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in Madanpokhara, a village areaof some 8,000 people in Palpa District in the hills ofWestern Nepal. The CMC facilities are situated on thehillside of the large, fertile Madi Valley, one and a halfkilometres from the main highway that joins Palpa toadjacent districts, and the western plains to the centralhill region. With relatively high literacy rates, aboveaverage development indicators, strong educationalinstitutions and a history of innovation in fields likeagriculture and forestry, Madanpokhara is often referredto as ‘a model rural village’. Madanpokhara andsurrounding villages, while more developed than manyother parts of Nepal, are still poor and rely primarily onsubsistence agriculture for livelihood. The area is hometo rich folk culture and a diverse ethnic make-up.Agriculture forms the backbone of the economy, thoughthe district is also well known for education. Migrationof labour, especially to India, is common.

The national television service is available throughterrestrial broadcast from Tansen, the districtheadquarters. Radio Nepal is available on medium wave,however reception is poor. Though close to the districtheadquarters, telecom services in villages are poor andcable television networks are small and few in number. In2004, two commercial FM stations and anothercommunity radio in Tansen began broadcasting. Nationaland regional newspapers are available. Networked newsprogrammes were available through satellite from

Kathmandu, however most news broadcasting wassuspended in early 2005 due to political developments.

PartnersThe main local drivers of the radiohave been the MadanpokharaVDC and Palpa DDC along withlocal groups, especially forest usergroups and women’s associations.

UNESCO’s InternationalProgramme for the Developmentof Communication supported the establishmentphase of the radio in 2000 with equipment andtraining, as well as additional equipment in 2003.UNESCO also supported the establishment oftelecentre and multimedia facilities in 2004 andcapacity building through 2005 through its globalCMC programme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The Nepal Forum for Environmental Journalistsassisted CRM with essential training in audio andprogramme production during the station’sestablishment period. Media Services Internationalassisted CRM with its license application andcontinues to assist with strategic planning.

In early 2003, DANIDA (Denmark) providedadditional audio equipment. MS Nepal (Denmark)and Helvetas (Switzerland) support organisationaldevelopment and strengthening the network oflisteners’ clubs. PANOS South Asia has supported thestation with training, equipment and exposure visits.

The radio receives syndicated programmes andother support through Kathmandu-basedproduction houses Equal Access, RadioSagarmatha, Communication Corner and AntennaFoundation. Save the Children, Norway, andCentre for Victims of Torture (CVICT) havesupported related programmes.

IncomeThe CMC earns roughly fifty percent of its currentoperating costs from training, internet access, telephoneand fax services. The remaining fifty percent is

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contributed from the radio, in part through its ownresources and in part through establishment supportfrom UNESCO. The CMC’s sustainability plan aims toachieve one hundred self-financing for expanded CMCoperations by the end of 2006.

Human resourcesIn addition to management, the radio has a well-established production and programme team: fivepaid producers, twenty-eight community reporters, tencommunity volunteers and over forty programmevolunteers. The telecentre has two full-time paidcoordinators who are responsible for establishing andoperationalising the different components of theCMC, from training to the digital library. Media andICT training is done by one part-time instructor who ispaid from training revenues. Eight former computertrainees were selected to support the operation andrunning of the telecentre as volunteers. There are fourteachers from different schools volunteering andsupporting the CMC’s educational programme,established in August 2005.

Main focus of activitiesThe radio is on air daily with twelve hours ofprogramming, from local community affairs to folkmusic shows to syndicated programmes fromKathmandu. There is a strong focus on local livelihoodconcerns, from forestry and agriculture to micro-enterprise. The establishment of the CMC has increasedthe station’s digital production and use of internet as asource of information. In addition to communityparticipation as guests and listeners, the radio has awell developed network of listeners’ groups throughoutthe valley, each with a community reporter. The telcentretrains approximately fifty youths from Madanpokharaand adjoining villages every few months. A digitallibrary comprised of archived radio programmes, videofeatures and other digital content is in ongoingdevelopment. With new skills and facilities in place, theCMC plans to combine media in the introduction of anePostal service, linking remote areas of the district toemail at the CMC, as well as for radio browsing. InAugust 2005, the CMC launched a new educationalprogramme using both the radio and new media tools.With the majority of young people failing their school-leaving exams, the programme aims to improve localstudents’ performance over the next three years. The

CMC also plans to begin special services for the blindand visually impaired in conjunction with a local schoolfor the blind.

Achievements Community Radio Madanpokhara was one of thefirst radio services of its kind in South Asia: thestation is not only based in a rural village area, butrelies primarily on volunteers and community andcivil society support for its ongoing programmingand operations. The station has secured its ownspace, expanded its programme service to twelvehours per day and now operates one of thecountry’s first village telecentres.

The station has a wide network of listeners’ groupsand other vehicles of community involvement andsupport. Community cultural events have beeninstrumental in building local ownership,participation and raising funds.

The CMC has already trained over one hundredlocal youths, and has begun integrating ICTs intoprogramme production and distribution witheducational materials archived into the computernetworks. The CMC has also started to plan newICT-based services, like ePost.

Constraints and challengesIn additional to a general feeling of insecurity andlimits on freedom of movement (curfews, strikes,etc), the conflict between the government andMaoist insurgents has slowed potentialdevelopments with respect to reform ofbroadcasting policy and regulation, includingrecognition of community radio as a distinctivesector. In February 2005, media freedom wasfurther restricted requiring the radio to suspend‘news’ broadcasts for some time.

Financial self-reliance is an ongoing challenge for theCMC, especially given the current political situationand the increasing number of local radio services.

The combination of a lack of technical expertiseand an expanding facility is a challenge in termsof maintaining reliable services and introducingnew initiatives.

OrganisationOwnership Cooperative


Staff 3 full-time, 2 part-time,10+ volunteers; 20+ radio staff


internet; website

Set-up One main telecentre facility,co-located with community radiostation; one satellite facility

Number of PCs Main CMC: 7 public access/training,1 server, 1 in-studio

Satellite facility: 5 publicaccess/training

Telecentre Main CMC: digital cameras:1 video, 1 still; printer, scanner,fax, 2 portable USB drives

Satellite facility: printer, scanner,fax, portable USB drive; telephone

Software Office applications, paint/drawing;Nepali Unicode; internet browsers,email, chat; text-to-speech; digitalediting: audio, image

Connectivity Main CMC: dedicated wireless, 64kbps

Satellite facility: dial-up, 33 kbps

Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, telephone hybrid; 6 portabledigital and cassette audio recorders


Frequency 96.8 FM


Telecentre Daily 6-18h, Saturday 10-18h

ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet skills;specialised computing for sight andhearing impaired; basic multimedia:audio recording and production,radio programming and production(for volunteers)

Other services Internet access, scanning/printing

Radio programming Overview 17 hours daily: 40% community

activities, 25% youth features,30% music entertainmentprogrammes, 5% advertising

Bulletins Community activities

Programmes Youth features, community-basednews, health, sports; Radio Browsingthe Internet

Languages Nepali, Bhojpuri, Magari,Gurung, Newari

Digital content Materials Index of websites; archived audio

programmes; encyclopaedias

Languages English, Nepali

Website Information on media services andthe cooperative; audio programmes,including radio browsing

Rupandehi

Name Lumbini CMC


Address Manigram, Anandavan VDC,Rupandehi District, Nepal

Telephone (977) 71 561 003 / 562 012

Fax (977) 71 561 545


Website www.radiolumbini.org

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 700,000 in Rupandehi District; approximately

300,000 more in adjacent districts within thelistening area

Languages Nepali, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Newari, MagariDistance from national capital 250 km, 6+ hours by road to KathmanduDistance from zone/district 15 km, 15 minutes by road to Butwalheadquarters and BhairahawaMain economic activities Subsistence farming; agriculture (rice, vegetables),

animal husbandry (poultry, livestock); some localindustry; educational/training institutions

Other internet access Private cybercafés in zone and districtheadquarters as well as in some village marketareas (including Manigram and Buddhanagar)

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Background and missionRadio Lumbini went on air in 2000 as an initiative ofthe Lumbini Information and CommunicationCooperative with locally raised funds. UNESCO

supported the establishment of theCMC in 2004 by adding a telecentrefacility. The cooperative is made up ofsome 150 shareholders from a rangeof socio-economic and occupationalbackgrounds and aims to berepresentative of the local community.The cooperative identified community

multimedia - the combination of an existing radio andnew ICT applications - as a way to expand local accessto information resources, to mediate global knowledgenetworks for local listeners, and lay the foundations ofICT skills among local youth. The cooperative’s centralgoal is to contribute to the development of the localarea by promoting equality, human rights and localculture, creating awareness, sharing knowledge andoffering non-commercial entertainment.

Location and contextThe Lumbini CMC is located in Manigram, a smallmarket area under the Anandavan villagedevelopment committee (VDC), the local governmentadministrative body. The CMC facilities are situated ona main highway, thirty-five kilometres from Lumbini,the historical birthplace of Buddha, and approximatelyfifteen kilometres from both Butwal, the headquartersof Lumbini Zone, and Bhairahawa, Rupandehi Districtheadquarters, which in turn is about two kilometresfrom the Indian border. There are approximately130,000 households in Rupandehi district and 2,000households in Anandavan VDC. Just over half ofresidents in Rupandehi district are literate, againstmore than two thirds in Anandavan VDC.

The area is home to a rich culture and history and has adiverse ethnic make-up. The CMC’s first satellite facility(one of several planned) is located in Buddhanagar, asmall hamlet of inexpensive tourist hotels adjacent to theLumbini historical site, the birthplace of Buddha. In spiteof major developments to do with the location’sdesignation as a world heritage site, the surroundingarea is extremely poor and residents rely largely onagricultural labour for subsistence.

Rupandehi is an agricultural area in the fertile Gangeticplain at the base of the Himalayan foothills. With a keyborder crossing to India, an airport and highwaysleading east, west and northwards into the mountains,Rupandehi’s main cities are situated at well connectedcrossroads that have brought a relatively high degree ofmobility, migration and industry to the area and withthem, commerce and educational facilities.

Though Radio Lumbini was the first to go on air (2000),the local radio scene has since expanded. There arenow two commercial FM stations in Butwal and anothercommunity radio in Bhairawaha. The district’s moreurbanised areas are well connected in terms of telecom,internet and cable TV networks (for example, Manigramhas a cybercafé and three computer institutes); howeverthe vast majority of rural villages in Rupandehi andadjacent districts, as in most of Nepal, have no reliabletelephone service and most are without electricity.National radio and television services as well asnational and local newspapers are available.

PartnersLumbini Information and Communication Cooperativeis the main organisational vehicle for the radio and thetelecentre facilities. Radio Lumbini went on air in 2000on the strength of local funds and capacity.

The Community Radio Support Centre (CRSC) ofthe Nepal Forum for Environmental Journalistsassisted Lumbini with its license application andwith essential training in audio and programmeproduction during the station’s establishment.Supported by the Communication AssistanceFoundation (Netherlands), CRSC also assistedLumbini to purchase property.

In early 2001, DANIDA provided basic audioequipment: portable minidisc recorders/microphones; cassette/CD studio components;generator, and air conditioner. The World Associationof Christian Communication assisted Radio Lumbiniwith training on radio production and digital audio.

MS Nepal (Denmark) supports the station inorganisational development and strengthening thenetwork of listeners’ clubs.


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UNESCO’s International Programme for theDevelopment of Communication (IPDC) providedaudio equipment in 2002 and a new transmitter in2003. The organisation also supported theestablishment of the multimedia facility in early 2004through its global CMC programme, funded by theSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

IncomeThe CMC earns roughly fifty percent of its currentoperating cost from training (seventy percent) andinternet access (thirty percent). The remaining fiftypercent is contributed from Lumbini Information andCommunication Cooperative, in part through its ownresources and in part through establishment supportfrom UNESCO. In a remote area without anycommunity telecentre services, the Buddhanagarsatellite CMC facility managed to nearly meet itsoperating expenses in its three-month start-up period,entirely from training and document services. TheCMC’s sustainability plan aims to achieve one hundredpercent self-reliance for expanded CMC operations bythe end of 2006.

Human resourcesThe CMC has a paid coordinator who is primarilyresponsible for establishing and operationalising thedifferent components of the CMC. Each of the two CMCfacilities has a full-time, paid action researcher, whocoordinates most of the CMC operations and conductsethnographic action research as part of a parallelUNESCO initiative. Media and ICT training is done bypart-time instructors who are paid from trainingrevenues. The CMC provides a small honorarium to sixformer trainees, essentially volunteers whose travelexpenses and mid-day meal costs are covered.

Main focus of activitiesAlongside well established radio broadcasting, theCMC’s main activities are providing access to computersand internet. Between April 2004 and May 2005, over220 youths learned computer and internet skills. Makingthe CMC work for traditionally marginalised andunderrepresented groups is a high priority andspecialised programmes are developed to meet theneeds of marginalised groups like the blind and visuallyimpaired. A major aim is to link ICTs with radio

programming and network of local listeners’ groups. ICTskills of the radio staff and use of digital production andinternet-based research have increased substantiallysince the introduction of CMC facilities. The radiobrowsing format is used to link radio to the internet in aninnovative way: presenters browse the world wide weblive on the radio with guest experts, describing andvisualising the internet for listeners, much like a sportstelecast. In mid-2005, the CMC conducted training inUnicode and Nepali language computing as a lead intothe use of a local-language version of Open eNRICH, acontent management/sharing solution.

Achievements Radio Lumbini was one of the first independentradios to go on air in South Asia in a rural area. Thestation was set up entirely with local funds raisedthrough the establishment of the cooperative.Lumbini was one of the first radios in Nepal tointegrate new ICTs, adding telecentre facilities tocreate a CMC in 2004.

The Lumbini CMC was among the first radioservices in Nepal to broadcast school examinationresults using internet to search information and thenbroadcasting the results on the radio.

As part of a regional UNESCO competition, theCMC organised a local photo competition in whichforty-six participants, most first-time photographers,captured images of world heritage at the Lumbinihistorical site, the birthplace of Buddha. All theparticipants were awarded UNESCO certificates.

A satellite ICT centre was established at the LumbiniWorld Heritage site in April 2005. The centreprovides access and training to the localcommunity, including youth tour guides, as part ofa programme to promote sustainable tourism inWorld Heritage zones.

In May 2005, fifteen speech and hearing impairedtrainees began a three-month course on basiccomputing and internet training and onceappropriate keyboards are in place, the CMC plansto launch a three-month basic computing andinternet training for the blind and visually impaired.

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Constraints and challengesOne major constraint on the growth of the CMCis the political situation in Nepal, where generalfeelings of insecurity, curfews and strikes limitfreedom of movement. The conflict between thegovernment and Maoist insurgents hasslowed potential developments with respect toreform of broadcasting policy and regulation,including recognition of community radio as adistinctive sector. In February 2005, thegovernment imposed limits on freedom ofexpression and assembly, news broadcasting andmobile telephony.

Finding a balance between its social mission and theneed to generate income to ensure sustainability is amajor challenge. For example, the CMC hasidentified people with disabilities as a target group,however as they are amongst the poorest in the localcommunity, their ability to pay for services isminimal. The CMC’s plan is to use paid services tosubsidise inclusion of the extreme poor.

Building awareness of ICTs and their potential tocontribute to positive development among the ruralpoor is a prerequisite to building community usageand marketing paid services.


OrganisationOwnership Non-profit society

Start date TV production 1992, telecentre 2003


FacilitiesMedia in use Cable TV; video, radio production;

computers, internet; website, includingonline version of local newspaper

Set-up Telecentre co-located withcommunity cable TV

Number of PCs 10 public access/training, 5 audio-video production, 1 server

Telecentre Printer/scanner unit, 2 portable USBdrives, 1 webcam, CD/DVD writer,2 televisions

Software Office applications, Nepali Unicode,paint/drawing; internet browsers,email; media players, digital editing:video, still, image


Video/TV/radio 1 audio-video production studio;digital cameras: 4 video, 1 still;2 portable digital audio recorders

Cable coverage 2500 households ondedicated channel

ServicesBroadcast Daily 7-20h30


ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet skills;

basic multimedia: video recording/production, script writing, audiorecording/production; intermediatemultimedia: TV feature production

Other services Internet access, scanning/printing,desktop publishing; videography andVCD production (especiallyweddings), TV advertising production

TV programming Overview 13.5 hours daily: 5% magazine,

20% local cultural, 20% folk music,55% pop music

Bulletins Community activities (twice weekly)

Programmes The Local Programme: magazineformat featuring youth socio-culturalfeatures), TV Browsing the Internet

Languages 95% Nepali, 3% Hindi, 2% English

Digital content Materials Locally produced video features;

archived radio programmes;miscellaneous websites/CD-ROMs

Website Online version of local weeklynewspaper Gaaule Deurali

Historical and tourism information,including photo gallery; profiles oflocal media

Languages English, Nepali

Other content Videos Archived local features

and programmes

Tansen

Name Tansen CMC


Address Mini-Market, Tansen,Palpa District, Nepal

Telephone (977) 75 521 621

Fax (977) 75 520 996


Website www.tansenpalpa.net

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 20,000 in 4,000 households in Tansen

municipality; approximately 6,000 inadjacent villages

Languages Nepali, Newari, Magari

Distance from national capital 300 km, 8+ hours by road to Kathmandu

Distance from zone capital 35 km, 1 hour by road to Butwal

Main economic activities Small retail trade, education;subsistence farming; agriculture:rice, vegetables, coffee

Other internet access 1 internet café in Tansen

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Background and missionCable TV started in Tansen in the early 1990s with theemergence of satellite and cable technology in SouthAsia. In Tansen, video production and cable distributiongrew in response to the absence of either Nepalilanguage or local content programming available viasatellite. UNESCO supported the addition of atelecentre in 2003. Communication for DevelopmentPalpa, the NGO that established the cable TV and runsthe CMC, promotes the use of local media for cultural,social and economic development. The CMC’s specificobjective is to fight poverty by empowering local youth,especially from poor and marginalised families, byimparting new media and ICT skills and providingopportunities for expression and initiative. As it hasgrown, the CMC has taken on the more general role ofa local community TV station and telecentre withinvolvement of local housewives, campus students,teachers and local government officers.

Location and context Tansen is a hill town some 300 kilometres by road westof Kathmandu. Perched on the rim of a fertile valley,Tansen is about thirty kilometres into the Himalayanfoothills and sixty kilometres from Nepal’s border withIndia. The headquarters of Palpa District in WesternNepal, Tansen is five kilometres from a major highwayand is the gateway to several adjacent districts.

Palpa District is well known for its traditional textiles andbrasswork, agricultural innovations, including coffeefarming, and like the rest of Nepal’s Western Region,folk music. Like many hill towns in the Himalayan belt,Tansen is increasingly isolated from the plains wheregrowth, trade and mobility are higher. Palpa also facesthe pressures of migrating labour and instability due toongoing conflict between Nepal’s government andMaoist insurgents. There are few local job or businessopportunities through which young people can hope tomake a decent living and the situation is worse for thepoor, women and people from marginalised castes.

Tansen has an unusually wide range of local media fora relatively small and isolated hill town. Tansen’s mediamix includes three local FM radios in the town itself (allestablished in mid-2004), one more from nearbyMadanpokhara village, as well as a weekly community-

oriented paper, two cable networks, a local televisionproducer and the CMC. In 2004, an internet café wasestablished by the local arm of a national ISP.

PartnersThe CMC is a local initiative that has developed outof existing community media. Communication forDevelopment Palpa has been the main vehicle for theCMC, providing facilities, skilled staff and mentors aswell as an organisational umbrella.

In the mid-1990s, the Asia Foundation providedbasic video editing equipment.

The Canadian Centre for International Studies andCooperation (CECI) assisted CDP with training,website development and small funds forequipment between 1999 and 2001, including thepurchase of the organisation’s first computer.

UNESCO supported the establishment of amultimedia facility (computer network and basicdigital production facilities) in early 2003through a special crosscutting theme initiativeon ICT innovations for poverty reduction andcontinues to provide support to new initiativesand research through its global CMCprogramme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

Rural Development Palpa, another local media group,partnered with the CMC in 2004 to create an onlineversion of their weekly newspaper, Gaaule Deurali.

IncomeThe CMC earns eighty-five percent of its current operatingcost from the following services: training – forty percent,videography – thirty percent, internet access – ten percent,video programme sales – five percent and advertising –five percent. The remaining fifteen percent is contributedfrom Communication for Development Palpa, largelythrough support from UNESCO. The most significantinputs to the CMC are the contributions of volunteers.

Human resourcesThe CMC has two full-time paid staff who coordinatemost of the CMC operations, conduct training as

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well as ethnographic action research (part of aparallel UNESCO project). Media and ICT trainingand mentoring is done by four part-time staff. TheCMC provides a small honourarium to seven formerstudents who function as part-time programmers.There are about twenty-five regular youth volunteers,all former students – about sixty percent arewomen/girls. At any given time there are forty peopleparticipating in training programmes; another tenvisit the telecentre everyday to use the internet andother services.

Main focus of activitiesThe CMC’s main activities are training andproduction. In 2003-4, over 200 youth learnedcomputer and video production skills at the CMC,and some twelve percent continued as volunteers.Since 2004, the CMC has been running paidcomputer courses for housewives and for teachersand government officers. Mentored by the CMC’strainers, youth volunteers produce two hours oforiginal weekly programming cablecast by one of twolocal cable operators to some 1200 households aspart of a dedicated local channel with a thirteen andhalf hour daily service. A handful of volunteers arealso involved in offering paid video services (mostlyshooting and editing wedding footage) for which theysplit the fees with the CMC. The CMC manages awebsite with general interest and tourist informationabout Tansen, an extensive photo gallery as well as anonline edition of a local community-oriented weeklynewspaper. Inspired by its sister format for radio, theCMC started an innovative TV Browsing programmein 2004. The programme aims to take the internetinto people’s homes in order to stimulate interest andraise awareness of new ICTs while simultaneouslysharing, interpreting and contextualising informationand content.

Achievements In June 2005, CDP’s director was recognised by theRoyal Nepal Academy of Science and Technologyfor the CMC’s innovations in cost-effective, localinformation and communications programmes.

With a dedicated channel, daily programming andhigh level of local participation, the Tansen CMC

is arguably one of Nepal’s first communitytelevision stations.

Locally maintained and focused, with an onlineversion of a local news weekly,the tansenpalpa.net websiteis among the first of its kind inthe country.

The CMC emphasises theparticipation of girls, achieving aroughly 65:35 ratio with boys,and has proactively recruited youth from poorfamilies and marginalised caste groups.Approximately fifteen percent of youth trained in thefirst year were from so-called low and untouchablecaste groups.

The CMC’s mixture of ICT and media skills in itstraining curriculum has been successful not only inenabling local youth, many with limited educationalbackgrounds, to produce features for television, buta number of participants have found employmentand been able to generate income based on theirnew skills.

Constraints and challengesIn additional to a general feeling of insecurity andlimits on freedom of movement (curfews, strikes,etc), the conflict between the government andMaoist insurgents in Nepal has slowed potentialdevelopments with respect to reform ofbroadcasting policy and regulation, includingrecognition of community radio as a distinctivesector and licensing of terrestrial televisionbroadcasters. In February 2005, media freedomwas further restricted. The CMC suspendedbroadcasts for some time, however at the time ofpublication had actually expanded its services.

Although connectivity has been improvinggradually, with speed increasing, reliabilityimproving and costs coming down, access tothe internet in Tansen is still slow andexpensive compared to the capital and towns in theplains, limiting the CMC’s ability to generateincome and function as an information bridge.


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Profile: Som and Manoj HitangaSom and Manoj Hitanga are cousins from a trade-basedcaste of shoemakers, which because of its associationwith feet and animal hides has traditionally beenconsidered as untouchable. Born and raised in Tansen,Som is twenty-two years old; Manoj twenty-one.Recruited in the first batch of CMC trainees in 2003, Somand Manoj are two of the CMC’s most promisingmembers. They quickly mastered the computing andvideo production skills taught in the CMC’s introductorycurriculum and have gone on to learn advanced digitalvideo and multimedia production applications. Manojspecialises in editing, while Som excels with the videocamera. They are regular contributors to the weeklyfeatures and other segments of The Local Programmeand since Som took over the community activitiesbulletin, townspeople regularly come to knock on thedoor of his home to inform him of local happenings andrequest him to cover their events. About a year after theygot involved with the CMC, the owner of the Taj CityCable Network in India recruited and offered both Somand Manoj jobs to help start up a local cable programmein Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, a North Indian statebordering Western Nepal. Although they went toGorakhpur, they returned back to Tansen after less thana week because they didn’t like being in a big Indian city

in the plains. Both Somand Manoj now receivea small stipend to helpthem devote more timeto the CMC and theyearn extra incomeby shooting andediting wedding videos.Although the CMC staffwere initially worried thatpeople’s perceptions oftheir caste status mightpresent problems forthem, especially inthe context of religiouswedding ceremonies, ithas so far not beenan issue.



OrganisationOwnership Government broadcaster/

community-based organisation


Staff 5 volunteers; 18+ radioproduction staff


internet, CD-ROMs

Set-up Telecentre co-located withregional radio station

Number of PCs 7 public access/training,2 production, 1 server

Telecentre Printer/scanner

Software Office applications, paint/drawing;database; web design,technical design

Connectivity None

Radio 1 production studio; 1 broadcaststudio, 5+ portable cassetterecorders


Frequency 102.4 FM



ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications; intermediatecomputing: internet and email, webdesign, technical design; computingfor kids; computer hardware

Other services Desktop publishing, scanning,printing, CD writing


42% public/community affairs,18% music, 15% entertainment,15% advertising/messages; one hourfrom SLBC national service

Bulletins News (3 local bulletins per day)

Programmes Agriculture, peace, povertyalleviation and development-relatedissues; entertainment programs;sponsored programmes on gender,child rights, peace andgovernance-related issues

Languages Sinhala

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs; encyclopaedias;

downloaded websites

Languages English, Sinhala

Anuradhapura

Name Rajarata CMC

Location North Central Sri Lanka

Address c/o Rajarata Sevaya, SLBC, Anuradhapura, North Central Province, Sri Lanka

Telephone (94) 25 222 4806 / 0387,(94) 776 625 195

Fax (94) 25 222 2787


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 56,000 in Anuradhapura city;

over 1 million in the province

Languages Tamil, Sinhala

Distance from national capital 200 km, 6 hours by roadto Colombo

Main economic activities Small-scale farming, retail trades,tourism, fresh water fishing

Other internet access 3 internet cafés inAnuradhapura, dial-up access inthe post office

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Background and missionRajarata Sevaya was established in 1979, the first ofthree regional services of the Sri Lanka BroadcastingCorporation (SLBC). The service grew to be one of themost popular in the country. SLBC’s mandate is publicservice broadcasting and providing information andeducational and entertainment programmes to a broadspectrum of listeners in the country. Although thecorporation’s regional and community services enjoy adegree of editorial autonomy, SLBC is generallyconsidered to be a state broadcaster, in part due itsdirect control by the government’s media ministry.Reaching a predominantly rural broadcast area,Rajarata has a strong focus on agriculturalprogramming. UNESCO supported the addition of thetelecentre facility in 2004 in order to increase theinformation resources at the disposal of Rajarata staffand programmers, to boost community participation inthe station and to offer low-cost access to the localpublic sector and poor and marginalised segments ofthe population.

Location and contextThe CMC is located in the centre of Anuradhapura townin the North Central Province. The station’s powerfultransmission system covers a large territory across muchof north central Sri Lanka. The population of the NorthCentral province is predominantly Sinhala speaking, butthere is a sizeable Muslim and a small Tamil populationas well. The population of Anuradhapura city is about56,000 with another roughly 580,000 in the district.The literacy rate is slightly over ninety percent and overseventy-six percent in the five to nineteen age groupattend school. Agriculture is the area’s main source oflivelihood. A historically rich area, Anuradhapura ishome to ancient cities and temples, unique stupas andhuge rock sculptures, especially significant for SinhaleseBuddhists, making it a popular and important nationaltourist destination. The Anuradhapura area also bordersthe conflict zone in the country’s north and east, and istherefore of strategic importance.

Aside from Rajarata and a small community radioservice in nearby Mahailluppalama, there are no otherlocal media available in this part of the country. Thereare no local newspapers or other electronic media.National newspapers and commercial and state radio

and television services are widely available. There arenumerous private internet access points as well as ainnovative community-oriented ICT initiative calledHorizon Lanka.

Partners The radio service is owned and operated by SLBC.Facility improvements have been supported byUNESCO, among other agencies.

The CMC was established through UNESCO withmajor funds provided by Belgium and withcrossover support from the global CMCprogramme funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The CMC is operated by the Rajarata Informationand Communication Technology (RICT) society, aregistered community-based organisation, whichmaintains its own bank accounts, executive andvolunteer coordinators.

Rajarata has collaborated with a wide range ofnational and local governmental and civil societyorganisations, including the National PeaceCouncil, the Prabodhini Network, Sri Lanka NatureForum and others.

Income The CMC generates limited funds through training andbasic services: desktop publishing, scanning, printing,and CD writing. With little direct overhead, this income,largely from training, covers seventy-five percent of theCMC’s basic operating costs, including a stipend paidto core volunteers (about USD 15/month), publicity,stationary and telephone costs as well as investment infurniture for the facility. SLBC bears the majority of therunning costs. Rajarata Sevaya, the regional service,earns income from advertising sales, which are remittedto the corporation in Colombo.

Human resourcesThe CMC operates on the basis of voluntary inputs froma small group of dedicated and talented volunteers.They run the centre, provide training and conductresearch as part of a parallel UNESCO programme.The RICT society consists of thirty active members and

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more than 150 associate members. The CMC isconnected with all layers of the community consisting ofprofessionals, teachers, students, and school leavers.Their assistance and volunteer service is tappedwhenever it is required by the CMC. Rajarata Sevaya isrun by a staff of forty-five, including eighteen radioproducers and technicians.

Main focus of activitiesThe main day-to-day activities are radio production,broadcasting, training and basic ICT services. As aregional service, Rajarata has a degree of autonomyand runs a wide variety of programmes. Alongsidenews and entertainment, Rajarata runs public affairsand development programmes; the station has along history of agricultural broadcasting. With apotential listenership of several million the stationhas been involved in a range of activities, includinga peace exhibition in Anuradhapura in 2003 andradio programmes to raise awareness of issuesfrom small arms to bio-diversity and culture.The station is also well known for music recordingand programming.

The CMC offers a wide range of training programmes,including hardware, web and technical design,introductory computer programming, email and internet(for which the CMC staff take students to internet cafés)as well as courses designed for children. Alongsideregular training in a variety of computer skills, the CMC

has been active in researching local poverty and thepotential applications of ICTs and media in theAnuradhapura area.

AchievementsAt one time, as a result of high quality andcreative programming, from farm radio to musicrecording and broadcasting, Rajarata was knownas one of the most popular regional radio servicesin the country.

The CMC volunteers have undertaken an in-depth study with the 250 inhabitants ofPaladikulama, a very poor village close toAnuradhapura, which suffers from lack ofirrigated water supply. Their goal is to apply ICTsto contribute to reducing Paladikulama’s socialproblems and poverty.

Constraints and challengesSri Lanka’s many years of conflict have had widereaching effects on media and tourism, one of themainstays of the local economy.

Lack of clarity concerning the ownership andmission of the CMC continues to hamper strategicplanning, ultimately limiting the CMC’s potential.To date, the CMC has no connectivity, largely aresult of limited local decision-making authority(rather than lack of funds).

“ Due to its strong focus on local issues, the Rajarata servicehas been quite popular among the listeners from all overthe country. With the introduction of private FM channels,listenership seems to have decreased, however with arelatively high standard of programmes and goodbroadcast quality, if the station continues to address current,local issues it will keep its loyal community of listeners.Deepal Sooriyaarachchi, CMC member ”

OrganisationOwnership Government/community-based

organisation




CD-ROMs

Set-up Telecentre co-located withlocal radio

Number of PCs 8 public access/training,2 production, 1 server

Telecentre Scanner, printers, CD writers

Software Office applications; internetbrowsing, email; digital audio editing


Radio 1 production studio, 1 broadcaststudio, portable cassette recorders

Transmitter 300 watts (not at capacity),range 10 km

Frequency 95.8 FM


Telecentre Monday-Friday 9-17h, Saturday9-19h, Sunday closed

ICT training Basic computing: office applications,desktop publishing; intermediatecomputing: design applications,internet searching; digital audioediting and radio production(for staff and volunteers)

Other services Printing, scanning; secretarialservices and desktop publishing

Radio programming Overview 3 hours daily: 30% agriculture,

15% education, 40%music/entertainment,10% children’s programming,5% news

Bulletins Local news (daily)

Programmes Local agriculture, general education,music, children’s programming

Languages 95% Sinhala, 5% Tamil

Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs: health, general

knowledge; encyclopaedias; indexedwebsites; digitised print materials:health, local agriculture

Languages English, Sinhala

Girandurukotte

Name Girandurukotte CMC

Location South Central Sri Lanka

Address Girandurukotte CommunityRadio-SLBC, Badulla District,Uva Province,Sri Lanka

Telephone (94) 27 225 4491


AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 30,000 in Girandurukotte,

another 37,000 insurrounding areas

Languages Sinhala, Tamil

Distance from national capital 210 km, 6.5 hours by roadto Colombo

Distance from provincial capital 50 km, 1 hour by road to Badulla

Main economic activities Agriculture: rice, vegetables

Other internet access Badulla 50 km away

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Background and missionAs with other Mahaweli community radios,Girandurakotte was initially established as an informationand resettlement service for communities affected by thedamming and development of the Mahaweli River forpower generation and irrigation works. A massive projectinvolving a series of dams along one of the country’slargest rivers, many households were relocated toagricultural areas in neighbouring provinces and theMahaweli Community Radio initiative was developed tosupport their resettlement and reintegration.

The first of the Mahaweli community radios,Girandurukotte went on air in 1985 with the objectiveto support Mahaweli settlers through a range ofagricultural and community development programming.The radio station is located within the premises ofGirandurukotte Agriculture Training Centre, whichserves to strengthen the station’s focus on farming.Supported by UNESCO, the telecentre was added in2003 in order to provide local access to newinformation and communication technologies.

Location and context The CMC is located in the town of Girandurukotte, inUva Province. Situated in the ‘low country dry zone’sector, it is a rural, agricultural area made up of smalllandholdings with farmers mostly cultivating rice andvegetables. Considered the least developed among SriLanka’s provinces, farmers in Uva are generally poor,often with limited education.

Aside from Girandurukotte and Uva community radioservices, there are no other local media available in thispart of the country. There are no local newspapers orother electronic media. National newspapers andcommercial and state radio and television services arewidely available.

PartnersThe Mahaweli Authority and Sri Lanka BroadcastingCorporation developed the production and laterbroadcasting infrastructure with support fromDANIDA and UNESCO; the radio service is ownedand operated by SLBC. The space is providedthrough the agricultural training facility, which ispart of the Mahaweli Authority.

The CMC was established with support fromUNESCO with funds for equipment andtraining provided by Belgium. UNESCO’s globalCMC programme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation, is supporting asmall sustainability project.

The CMC is operated by the GirandurukotteInformation Technology Club, a registeredcommunity-based organisation, which maintains itsown bank accounts, executive and volunteer staff.

The CMC collaborates with a wide range of localorganisations, especially the agricultural trainingcentre, local government officers and departments.

IncomeThe telecentre earns income through training courses inbasic computing skills and through desktop publishing,scanning and printing services as well as throughinternet access. Revenues are sufficient to coveroperating costs, including printer cartridges, CDs andstipends to trainers and core volunteers, as well as localexpenses associated with the radio that are not coveredby SLBC. The radio runs advertising and, as with otherSLBC stations, remits it to the corporation, which in turnprovides for staff and basic running costs.

Human resourcesThe CMC has seven paid staff: a station controller, whooversees the entire operation, one producer, onetechnician and a driver; the radio also has three ‘relief’announcers, who produce programmes in cooperationwith community participants and some twenty-fiveregular volunteers. The telecentre has ten regularvolunteers who essentially run the centre in cooperationwith SLBC staff. The CMC’s two computer trainers arepaid a small wage from the training revenues.Girandurukotte CMC’s IT club has some sixty membersfrom the local community.

Main focus of activitiesThe radio is on air daily for three hours featuring arange of programmes, largely to do with agriculture, butalso including general interest, music and other culturalprogrammes. Children’s programming is also animportant element of the broadcast schedule. There is a

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daily ten-minute local news bulletin. In addition toaccess by members of the local community to both newICT facilities and skills, the addition of the telecentre hasalso had a significant impact on radio programmingwith more and more productions being edited digitallyand more use of computers for programme research.The radio introduced ‘radio browsing’ programmes in2004. The public access computers are in use everydayfor training courses.

AchievementsGirandurukotte was the first community radioservice in Sri Lanka. Although the radio’s facilitiesare past their prime, like its sister station inMahailluppalama, the addition of the CMC hasfacilitated a rejuvenation of the radio in terms ofcommunity participation and activity.

In its first two years of operation, the CMC providedtraining in computing skills to over 120 local people,many from poor families and isolated communities.

Constraints and challengesThe radio equipment, especially the transmissionsystem, needs to be upgraded. At present the radioruns at fifty percent of its capacity at most, whichlimits its reach, impact and revenues.

The CMC needs to expand its facilities with digitalcameras and a photocopier.

Lack of clarity concerning the future of the radio andlimited local decision-making authority concerninginfrastructure and services limits the ability of theCMC to make decisions and plan new activities.

Ian Pringle/UNESCO

Background and mission Kandurata Sevaya, the Kandy regional service of the SriLanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) started in 1982,the last of the three regional services to go on air. Like theother regional services, Kandurata’s mission is to providelocally originating public service programming – in

Kandurata’s case, to Kandy and the surrounding districts ofNuwara Eliya and Matale and to feed regional news to thenational service. UNESCO supported the addition of thetelecentre facility in 2004 in order to increase theinformation resources at the disposal of Kandurata staff andprogrammers, to boost community participation in the

OrganisationOwnership Government

broadcaster/community-basedorganisation


Staff 3 volunteer staff; 18+ radioproduction staff


Set-up Telecentre co-located with regionalradio

Number of PCs 4 public access/training, 1 radioproduction, 2 administration

Telecentre Printer/scanner

Software Office applications, paint/drawing;media players, digital audio editing

Connectivity None

Radio 1 production studio, 1 broadcaststudio, 5+ portable cassetterecorders

Transmitter 1000 watts, 50-80 km range

Frequency 89.7 FM, 89.3 FM


Telecentre Tuesdays and Fridays 8-18h

ICT training Basic computing

Other services Desktop publishing, scanning,printing


entertainment; 15% news; 45%community/public affairs; 5%advertising; 18-20h is in Tamil;1 hour a week is from SLBCnational service in Colombo

Bulletins 3 news bulletins(morning, noon, afternoon)

Programmes Public service: health, agriculture,entertainment


Digital content Learning tools Encyclopaedias, dictionaries

Languages English

Kandy

Name Kandurata CMC

Location Central Sri Lanka

Address c/o Kandurata Sevaya, SLBC,Kandy, Central Province, Sri Lanka

Telephone (94) 81 223 4871

Phone/fax (94) 81 223 4312

Email c/o Muthiah [email protected]

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 75,000 in Kandy city, 25,000

in surrounding areas and over1 million in the district



Main economic activities Tourism, tea, small industry,small farming

Other internet access Many internet cafés in Kandy

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station and to offer low-cost access to the local public sectorand poor and marginalised segments of the population.

Location and contextAn historic centre and contemporary provincial capital,Kandy is one of the country’s larger cities and a hub fortourism and tea cultivation and processing in the centralhighlands. The city lies just below the geographic centreof the country, about 115 kilometres east of Colombo,Sri Lanka’s capital. The city surrounds a picturesque lakeamidst small hills. Livelihoods are centred on agriculturein rural areas and tourism and retail business in urbanareas of Kandy. The city is also a centre for teaprocessing and a market for the area’s other key cashcrops: cultivated spices and cocoa.

The CMC is located in the centre of Kandy, 200 metres fromthe main market area. There are many commercial internetcafés and one reputed, twice-weekly local newspaper,Kandy News. Six commercial radio channels and a range ofnational newspapers are also available from Colombo.

Partners SLBC provides the main organisational umbrella forthe CMC through the regional radio service. SLBCalso provides the facility, the basic utilities andcontinuity in terms of basic staff support.

The provincial government provided the radio withtwo computers in 2003, one of which is used foradministration and one for news writing, editingand broadcast continuity.

UNESCO supported the introduction of the CMCwith funds from Belgium and the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation as part of the globalCMC programme, providing additional computerequipment and providing training as well as helpingto establish the Kandy Information TechnologySociety, a community-based CMC club to run thefacility in cooperation with SLBC radio staff.

Kandurata Seveya and the CMC cooperate andcollaborate with a wide range of government andcivil society groups.

IncomeThe radio is fully funded by SLBC; however the stationdoes earn notable income through advertising sales,which are remitted to SLBC. The CMC generates some

income, primarily from training, and with no realoverhead, this is sufficient to cover the centre’soperational costs.

Human resourcesThe telecentre is staffed entirely by volunteers, includingits computer trainers. The radio has a staff of forty-five,with eighteen radio producers. A handful of the radioproducers use the CMC facilities for digital editing. Withmore than twenty members, the Kandurata InformationCommunication Society is run by an elected executivecomprising a president, secretary and treasurer.Volunteers staff the computer facility and conducttraining for city residents and officers from governmentand public institutions like the provincial library.

Main focus of activitiesAlongside the regional radio service, the main focus ofthe CMC has been on training. Local youth can take abasic course free of cost and the centre charges a smallfee for civil servants and library staff for basic computingskills. The regional radio service is on air for thirteenand a half hours a day. Following the introduction of thetelecentre facilities, there has been a significant increasein the use of digital editing. With the help of a CMCvolunteer, the station also runs ‘radio browsing’programmes using popular encyclopaedia CD-ROMsand presents basic information about computers,internet and email.

AchievementsThe Kandy CMC has been run entirely on volunteerpower, from its secretary and president to the trainers.

To date, the CMC has trained more than fifty localyouth and a dozen public employees in basiccomputer skills.

Constraints and challengesThe ownership status of the CMC and the extent ofdecision-making authority of the CMC club areunclear, which has hampered the furtherdevelopment of the centre. The CMC has beenunable to secure internet connectivity or launchany major programmes, in spite of efforts by theCMC club. Immediately prior to publication, thetelecentre facility was closed, although SLBC staff,both locally and in Colombo, have committed toreopening and revitalising the facility.




Staff 8 full-time, 9 part-time,15+ volunteer


Set-up Telecentre co-located with localFM radio

Number of PCs 5 public access/training,2 administration/radio production,1 server

Telecentre Digital still camera; photocopier,printer, scanner

Software Office applications; contentmanagement system; graphic andmultimedia design; digital editing:audio, image

Connectivity None (planned for late 2005)

Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, remote broadcasting unit,2 portable minidisc recorders


Frequency 98.4 FM

ServicesBroadcast Monday-Friday 4h55-11h,

16h30-20h; Saturday/Sunday 4h55-13h, 16h30-20h

Telecentre Daily 8h-17h

ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications; intermediatecomputing: graphic design, webdesign, audio editing; radioprogramming and production

Other training Conversational English

Other services CD/DVD writing and cassetterecording; photocopying, printing,scanning

Radio programming Overview 9.5 hours daily: 60% commercial:

55% music, 15% talkback, 10%advertising, 10% news, 10% religious;40% community: 70% communityaffairs, 15% music, 15% news

Bulletins Weather, local and internationalnews, current affairs, obituaries, localmarket prices

Programmes Health, agriculture, education, religion,environment, human rights, women’sissues, children, culture, literature


Digital content Bulletins Weather, market prices, e-

government, digital stories,podcasting

Learning tools Large library of e-books and e-learning software

Languages Sinhala, Tamil, English

Other content Newspapers

Kothmale

Name Kothmale CMC

Location Central Sri Lanka

Address Riverside, Mawathura,Central Province,Sri Lanka

Telephone (94) 81 235 0422 / 235 0421


Website www.kothmale.org

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 4,000 in the immediate vicinity,

200,000 in surrounding areas



Distance from provincial capital 45 km, 1 hour by road to Kandy

Main economic activities Tea, small industry, smallfarming, tourism

Other internet access Private internet cafés in nearbytowns and in Kandy

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Background and missionKothmale Community Radio was initially established, in1989, as an information and resettlement service forcommunities affected by the damming and development of

the Mahaweli River for power generationand irrigation works. Many householdswere relocated to agricultural areas inneighbouring provinces and theMahaweli Community Radio initiativewas intended to support theirresettlement and reintegration. Initiallyweekly broadcasts on regional Sri Lanka

Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) stations, the Mahaweliservices eventually became radio stations in their own rightand now make up SLBC’s community service. Kothmalehas grown to incorporate not only daily radio broadcasts,but also telecentre and training facilities. The aim of CMC,established with the support of UNESCO and otherpartners in 1999, is to meet the information needs of localcommunities and to provide a forum for discussion of localissues. The multimedia centre provides access to computerfacilities, digital resources and training. The aim is toprovide affordable access to a range of new technologiesand information, while offering subsidised services to themost disadvantaged within the community-at-large.

Location and contextKothmale is located in the central hill region of Sri Lanka.The surrounding countryside is green and mountainous,scattered with small farms, rice paddies and teaplantations. Vegetable farming, jaggery (palm sugar)cultivation, yogurt production, tea plantations and thetextile industry provide the majority of the area’s income.Historically home to some of Sri Lanka’s rulers, many relicsand buildings remain. The area is well known today for thedam and hydroelectric power station, which provides overten percent of Sri Lanka’s electricity supply. The CMCserves a population of roughly 200,000 people in somesixty villages (average population 400) and three ruraltowns: Nawalapitiya (population 64,000), Gampola(56,000) and Hatton (54,000). There are no other localmedia, however the area is served well by nationalcommercial and state radio, television and newspapers.

PartnersThe Mahaweli Authority and Sri Lanka BroadcastingCorporation developed the production and laterbroadcasting infrastructure with support from

DANIDA and UNESCO; the station continues tofunction as part of SLBC.

A variety of local community groups, temples andschools provide assistance, feedback and input tothe CMC’s activities.

UNESCO financed equipment during the late1980s and again in the late 1990s, the latter aspart of adding telecentre and multimedia facilities.

The pilot CMC was initially a collaboration betweenthe Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications andMedia, Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation,Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and theUniversity of Colombo; however most of partnersdid not stay involved past the pilot phase. UNESCOprovided funds for the CMC pilot and somesubsequent support for equipment upgrades.

The Kothmale Internet Listeners Club wasestablished in 2005 to run the CMC inconjunction with SLBC. The club received smallsupport from UNESCO’s global CMCprogramme funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

In 2005, PanAsia ICT Research and DevelopmentScheme began support for a ‘wireless network’ pilot.

Income The radio exists under the umbrella of SLBC, whichprovides the building, utilities, transport and salaries.Revenue generated from radio advertising and otherradio-related activities goes to SLBC. The CMC haslargely been funded by international organisations andmoney collected from its activities is managed by theKothmale Community Internet Listeners Club on a not-for-profit basis.

Human resourcesThe radio is staffed through SLBC: a station controlleroversees the various activities of the centre and isassisted by two technicians, a technical operator, a part-time secretary, an accountant and four helpers. SLBCalso provides a part-time salary to nine ‘relief ’announcers and producers. There are some fifteenregular community volunteers.

Tanya Notley

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Main focus of activitiesRadio broadcasting has been the main focus of the centresince its inception and this is still the case today. Some sixtypercent of the station’s programming is ‘commercial’, inthat it is intended to generate income. Under communityprogramming, the station broadcasts a variety ofprogrammes covering topics from human rights andwomen and children’s issues to a show entitledInternational Cultural Belief Systems and others calledWorld Leaders and Social Movements and Law andChange. After a period of neglect following the pilot, theCMC’s computer and multimedia facilities along with thewebsite are being updated. The CMC continues to offertraining programmes, mostly to young people, and accessto a range of digital content on the local network and CD-ROM. Given the cost of connectivity and the CMC’s limitedindependence, access to internet has been ‘on again, offagain’. Though likely to be restored soon, at the time ofpublishing the connection was off. With a sizeable space,the centre has been the focal point and meeting place forvarious community groups. Though it is somewhat ‘off thebeaten track’, the facilities have been used for artexhibitions, seminars and special training. Internships arealso offered to students and visiting researchers.

AchievementsKothmale originated ‘radio browsing’, a format thatbrings the internet to radio listeners through aninnovative combination of technologies; the formathas since been replicated by other radiobroadcasters and media outlets.

Driven by local staff and community volunteers, theCMC has produced a wide range of content for avariety of media: print, online and radio.

Over 600 students have graduated from computer-training programmes; thousands more havelearned about new technologies and picked upinternet-sourced information through the radio.

The CMC has significantly expanded the localcommunity’s access to information. Among the manyby-products of this expanded access to knowledgeresources is Green Lanka, a local environmentalgroup, whose establishment was realised through theinformation and networking facilities made possiblethrough the facilities of the CMC.

Constraints and challengesLocated in a rural area, the centre has irregularpower and water supply and telephone connection.The telecom infrastructure does not supportdial-up connectivity.

The centre itself is geographically isolated, whichposes problems for staff and users, who must spendsignificant time and or money in travel.

Lack of autonomy, especially in areas not directlyrelated to the radio, is an ongoing challenge; thecentre struggles to finance internet access,equipment maintenance and hosting costs for thewebsite, and to provide inclusive community-basedmanagement for the CMC in cooperation with agovernment broadcaster.

Managing human resources, with a combination ofpaid, part-time and volunteer staff also presentschallenges, specifically issues of continuity andretention of volunteers.

Kothmale CMC/UNESCOTanya Notley

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Would you pleaseintroduce yourself I am a rural person whostarted life as ateacher doing chemistryin a rural area. Ihave tried to applythese same teachingmethodologies to myradio broadcasting.After my teaching careerI studied Sinhaleseand Anthropology at a

Bachelors degree level and got myself qualified in Law.I am now a practicing lawyer. My free time is devoted togathering rural information, visiting historical sites,collecting stories and readily thinking out loud.

What was the inspiration for the original format ofthe radio browsing programme?At its inception nobody knew how to grasp, arrangeand present internet information, although we had hadsome experience in radio broadcasting. Thus we hadbeen extracting information from other media sourcessuch as newspapers, magazines and books for ournormal radio programmes.

I was always trying to present information with acultural tinge as ours is a community radio gearedtowards rural folk in our area. We would broadcaststories, local history and folk idioms. My experiencewas that in order to grasp the listeners’ attention andmake the information more digestible we would oftenhave to sweet coat it somehow. The internet and itsconnotations of new and exciting technologies was anappropriate enticement.

These short broadcasts were later woven into a coherentradio browsing program with the able assistance of Mr.Wijesinghe and my colleague Martin Telkarage.

What impact do you think the ‘radio browsing’programme has had on your community?Well it’s like opening a large window to an open valleywhere you can look at the panorama of things up to thehorizon. The internet radio browsing has not only bridgedthe so called digital divide but it has also narrowed thebeliefs, attitudes and traditions between ethnic andreligious groups in our community. The English languageskills attained by operators are also notable.

Where would you like to see the future of communityradio and the community multimedia centres?I think the internet will eventually become common inevery household just like the radio. With thedevelopment of two-way communication the communityradio stations will become more like intimate friends totheir listeners. Visiting their homes and exchangingideas, information and pleasantries as their friend andrelatives do in their day-to-day lives.

With this increased accessibility and theimprovements of digital broadcasting the communitycentres will be able to present diverse ways ofteaching their listeners and subscribers. Thecommunity radio centres will become a hub ofinformation in the near future.

The whole country and the world outside will beinterconnected, bridging the present information gapbetween the developed and developing sectorsthroughout the world.

What do you think communities such as Kothmalecan offer to the global internet community?Well Kothmale is the pioneer in this field. Withpioneers like Sunil Wijesinghe, Bradman Jayaweeraand Palitha Kaluarachichi and also with the able Mr.Telkarage we have been able to capture the minds ofthe listener in our area. Furthermore we have been theinspiration for other community radio centres toventure into radio browsing.

Do you have any advice for people planning toembark on a similar programme?Rural folks are simple at heart and more or lessunpolluted in their minds. Please cater to their needswith care. Always peruse, sift, digest and contextualiseinformation before you give it out.

Have you considered reintroducing your radiobrowsing programme when Kothmale receivesinternet connectivity later this year?Yes of course! I have collected so much backgroundmaterial and am very keen to resume my endeavours.

You must draw immense satisfaction that this pilotprogramme has now expanded to many nationsand countries around the globe.Yes indeed. We never thought that our small excursioninto the internet and airing over the radio would go thisfar and capture so much attention.

Interview with T.B. Abeykoon

Ben Grubb




Staff 3 full-time, 6+ volunteers

FacilitiesMedia in use Computers, CD-ROMs; FM radio

(off-air at time of publication)

Set-up Telecentre and local radio co-locatedwith development centre

Number of PCs 3 public access/training,1 production/broadcasting

Telecentre Scanner, printer

Software Office applications, paint/drawing;design, desktop publishing; mediaplayers, digital editing: audio, image

Connectivity None

Radio 1 production/broadcast studio,3 portable cassette recorders

Transmitter 300 watts FM, range 30 km

Frequency 98.4 FM

ServicesBroadcast Daily 17-20h (off-air at time

of publication)

Telecentre Monday-Friday 9-17h,Saturday 9-19h, Sunday closed

ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications; intermediatecomputing: design applications,photography applications, desktoppublishing; digital audio editing;radio production

Other services Printing, scanning

Radio programming Overview 3 hours daily: 40% agriculture, 5%

education, 40% music/entertainment,10% children’s programming, 5% news

Bulletins Local news

Programmes Agriculture, culture, traditional music,children’s programmes


Digital content Learning tools CD-ROMs; encyclopaedias;

downloaded websites

Languages English

Mahailluppalama

Name Mahailluppalama CMC

Location North Central Sri Lanka

Address Mahailluppalama CommunityRadio-SLBC, Mahailluppalama,North Central Province,Sri Lanka - 50270

Telephone (94) 25 224 9188 / 9371

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 35,000 families in the

Mahailluppalama area


Distance from national capital 230 km, 6.5 hours by roadto Colombo

Distance from provincial capital 50 km, 1+ hour by roadto Anuradhapura

Main economic activities Agriculture: paddy (rice),maize, onions, chilli

Other internet access 50 km away in Anuradhapura

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Background and missionAs with other Mahaweli community radios,Mahailluppalama was initially established as aninformation and resettlement service for communitiesaffected by the damming and development of theMahaweli River for power generation and irrigationworks. A massive project involving a series of damsalong one of the country’s largest rivers, manyhouseholds were relocated to agricultural areas inneighbouring provinces and the MahaweliCommunity Radio initiative was developed to supporttheir resettlement and reintegration. Initially weeklybroadcasts on the Rajarata regional service of SriLanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), theMahaweli broadcasts eventually became radiostations in their own right and now make up SLBC’scommunity service.

Mahailluppalama radio went on air in 1987 with theobjective to support Mahaweli settlers through a rangeof agricultural and community developmentprogramming. The radio station is located within thepremises of Mahailluppalama Agriculture TrainingCentre, which serves to strengthen the station’s focuson farming. The telecentre was added in 2004(operationalised in 2005) in order to provide localaccess to new information and communicationtechnologies. In mid-2005, the radio station went offair due to technical problems with the transmitter.Although it is expected to return to regular service,SLBC is on record as saying it wants to make majorchanges to its community radio services and at the timeof publication the Mahailluppalama community radioservice was not broadcasting.

Location and context The CMC is located in the village of Mahailluppalama,approximately fifty kilometres from Anuradhapura, thecapital of the North Central Province. Situated in thecountry’s ‘dry zone’, it is a rural, agricultural area madeup of small landholdings with farmers mostly cultivatingrice, maize, onions and chilli. Farmers are generallypoor, mostly literate, but frequently with limitededucation. Alongside the Agricultural Training Centre,there is also an integrated Agricultural Research Stationas well as the Mahailluppalama Field Crops Researchand Development Institute.

Aside from Mahailluppalama and Rajarata Sevaya, theregional SLBC service in nearby Anuradhapura, thereare no other local media available in this part of thecountry. There are no local newspapers or otherelectronic media. National newspapers andcommercial and state radio and television services arewidely available.

PartnersThe Mahaweli Authority and Sri LankaBroadcasting Corporation developed theproduction and later broadcasting infrastructurewith support from DANIDA and UNESCO; theradio service is owned and operated by SLBC. TheCMC facility’s space is provided through theagricultural complex, which is part of theMahaweli Authority.

The CMC was established through UNESCO withfunds for equipment and training provided byBelgium and the Swiss Agency for Developmentand Cooperation, through UNESCO’s global CMCprogramme, which was also supporting a smallsustainability project at the time of publication.

The CMC is operated by the MahailluppalamaCMC Club, a registered community-basedorganisation, which maintains its own bankaccounts, executive and volunteer coordinators.

Mahailluppalama collaborates with a wide range oflocal organisations, especially the agriculturaltraining centre, the research station and the fieldcrops institute.

IncomeThe CMC earns some income through training coursesin basic computing skills and through desktoppublishing, scanning and printing services. When it is onair, the radio runs advertising and, as with other SLBCstations, remits revenue to the corporation, which in turnprovides for staff and running costs.

Human resourcesThe CMC has four staff: a station controller, whooversees the radio and telecentre operations, two ‘relief’announcers, who produce programmes in cooperation

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with community participants and volunteers, and atechnician. The telecentre has six volunteers, four girlsand two boys, all in their early twenties, who arehandling the training courses. Mahailluppalama has aCMC club with 120 members from the local community.

Main focus of activitiesWhen the transmitter is functioning, the radio is on airdaily for three hours featuring a range of programmes,largely to do with agriculture, but also including generalinterest, music and other cultural programmes. There isa daily ten-minute local news bulletin, with stories fed byvolunteer reporters. There is one weekly fifteen-minuteprogramme produced in the Tamil language, also by avolunteer. The coming of computers has also had asignificant impact on radio programming with more andmore productions being edited digitally. The publicaccess computers are in use everyday for trainingcourses; one course is in Tamil, the rest in Sinhala.

AchievementsDespite its current status, Mahailluppalama wasconsidered one of the more successful communityradios due to the local focus of its programmingand a high degree of local participation in therunning of the radio and now the CMC.

The existence of the radio and even more so theaddition of the multimedia facilities is a majoraccomplishment for the Mahailluppalama

community since information or communicationfacilities of any type are a rarity in rural areasof Sri Lanka.

The CMC is perceived as an exceptionally usefultool in an area without any computer training orother new technology facilities. Local families areparticularly grateful to have the opportunity to sendtheir children for computer training.

Constraints and challengesThe radio transmission equipment needs to beupgraded in order for the station to run a reliableservice. At the time of publication, the radio wasnot broadcasting due to problems with theequipment and questions pending about thefuture of community-level broadcasting at SLBC;resulting uncertainty about the ownership of theCMC is a significant constraint that limits theability of the CMC to make decisions and plannew activities.

The CMC needs more computers in order to meetthe community’s training demands, particularlyamong young people from poor families.

To date, the CMC has no connectivity, due in partto lack of funds, but also as a result of limited localdecision-making authority concerning infrastructureand services with financial implications.

OrganisationOwnership Provincial government/government

broadcaster/community-basedorganisations

Start date Radio 2002, telecentres 2003

Staff 2 full-time, 13+ radio producers,40 volunteers


Set-up Two telecentre facilities, oneco-located with FM radio station

Number of PCs Bandarawela centre: 8 public access,1 server, 6 radio, 2 broadcasting;Buttala centre: 8 public access,1 server

Telecentre Bandarawela centre:2 printer/scanners, 6 CD writersButtala centre: 2 printer/scanners, 2 CD writers

Software Office applications, paint/drawing;internet browsers, email, chat; digitalaudio editing


Radio 1 broadcast studio, 1 productionstudio, 12 portable digital recorders;2 mobile broadcasting units


Frequency 87.6 FM

ServicesBroadcast Monday-Friday 5h30-11h, 15-19h

(Sinhala) 19-00h (Tamil);Saturday 5h30-00h (Tamil);Sunday 5h30-00h (Sinhala)

Telecentres Daily 8-18h

ICT training Basic computing: operating systems,office applications, internet skills;intermediate computing: desktoppublishing, internet searching

Other services Desktop publishing, scanning,printing; CD burning; internet access


community/public affairs,20% education, 15% news,20% entertainment; 5% advertising

Programmes Daily news magazine, local knowledgesocieties, good governance


Digital content Learning tools Lists of internet websites, including

links to government departments;CD-ROMs and PDFs on basicscience, Uva specific agriculture

Languages English, Sinhala, Tamil

Name Bandarawela/Buttala CMC

Location Southern Sri Lanka

Address Uva Community Radio,Kebillewela North, Bandarawela,Uva Province, Sri Lanka

Telephone (94) 57 223 2484

Phone/fax (94) 57 222 3793

Email c/o Ajith [email protected]

AREA AT A GLANCEPopulation 47,000 in Buttala district; 7,300 in

Bandarawela town another 44,000 insurrounding rural areas and 8,800 on teaestates; over 1 million in Uva Province

Languages Sinhala, TamilDistance from national capital 200/250 km, 6/8 hours by road to ColomboDistance from provincial capital 50/70 km, 1.5/2 hours by road to BadullaMain economic activities Small-scale farming: rice, vegetables; small

business, tea and tourism in BandarawelaOther internet access Internet cafés in Bandarawela, none

in Buttala

Uva

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Background and mission Uva Community Radio was established through theinitiative of UNDP in cooperation with the UvaProvincial Council (UPC) in order to facilitate increasedcommunity involvement in planning, implementing andevaluating its poverty reduction programmes,especially agricultural development. UPC runs thestation in conjunction with the Sri Lanka BroadcastingCorporation, which holds the license. Telecentrefacilities were added to expand use of information andcommunication technologies by both radio staff onbehalf of listeners and directly by members of the localcommunity. With the provincial council as a partnerand a province-wide network, the CMCs weredesigned to improve public services and facilitateinformation flows, particularly in regards todevelopment and governance. The telecentre facilitiesare operated in collaboration with local InformationTechnology Societies.

Location and contextThe CMC has two main facilities: a telecentre co-located with radio studios in Bandarawela, and asatellite telecentre located in Buttala, about fiftykilometres away by road. Approximately 200 km fromColombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, Bandarawela is situatedat the southern end of the country’s central hills. At analtitude of 1200 metres, Bandarawela is ideal locationfor FM broadcasting and the station’s signal reachesparts of adjacent provinces and a diverse listenership ofover one million.

Uva Province is one of the poorest and least developedareas of Sri Lanka. It is geographically diverse, from hillyareas like Bandarawela, known for tea cultivation andboth domestic and international tourism, to ‘dry zone’flatland areas like Buttala, where small-scaleagriculture, especially paddy (rice), is the predominantsource of livelihood. Both Buttala and Bandarawela arerelatively large towns and the CMCs have becomeincreasingly important facilities for local governmentofficers, teachers and health professionals.

Uva is served by state radio and television services,commercial radios whose programming originates inColombo and by national newspapers. The Uva andGirandurukotte Community Radio services are theprovince’s only local media.

PartnersUva Community Radio was established throughUNDP’s Area Based Growth and Equity Programmewith technical assistance from UNESCO and inpartnership the Uva Provincial Council, which alsoprovides the space for both of the CMC facilities. Asthe only licensable entity, SLBC holds the broadcastlicense and provides the station with a controller(manager) and a technician.

UNESCO established the CMC facilities inBandarawela and Buttala and provided trainingand internet connectivity with support from Belgium.Additional ICT equipment to be linked to the mainfacilities were provided through UNESCO’s globalCMC programme, funded by the Swiss Agency forDevelopment and Cooperation.

The telecentre facilities are run by local community-based Information Technology Societies, whichmaintain their own bank accounts, membership andexecutives, and recruit, train and coordinate volunteers.

A wide range of local government departments, NGOsand community groups collaborate with the CMC.

Income The telecentre facilities generate income primarily byoffering training in basic computer skills and internet accessto local community groups and individuals. These revenuesare enough to cover the day-to-day operations andstipends for the trainers, with more substantial overhead –space, electricity costs, etc - borne by UPC. The radiostation generates income from programme sponsorshipsand advertising sales, which are remitted to UPC, whichcovers local staff salaries and running costs. SLBC providesone management/editorial staff and one technician.

Human resourcesThe radio is overseen jointly by a station controller,appointed by SLBC, and an executive director,appointed by UPC. Technical matters are attended to byan SLBC technician. Radio programming is done by ateam of fifteen to eighteen radio producers, generallyyoung people recruited from Uva Province itself, withroughly equal numbers of men and women, and Tamiland Sinhala speakers. The Buttala telecentre facility islargely run by local volunteers, several of whom receive

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“ Jointly run by the SLBC and the Uva Provincial Council, the Uvacommunity radio station is the most independent and influentialcommunity station in the country thus far. While carrying theirown news bulletins in addition to linking up with the SLBCmorning news, the station also broadcasts programmes onissues deemed sensitive, such as questioning actions of bothgovernment as well as opposition politicians and trade unionists. ”A Study of Media in Sri Lanka: A Report by the Centre for PolicyAlternatives and International Media Support (April 2005)

a small stipend for training and for taking charge of thefacility in the absence of any full-time paid staff.

Main focus of activitiesThe main focus of activities is on radioproduction and basic computer training.The radio offers a remarkable range ofprogrammes in both Sinhala and Tamillanguages, including live ‘remote’broadcasts from different areas of theprovince. The addition of new facilitiesthrough the CMC has dramatically

increased the radio’s information resources, including newonline databases established by the government and parallelcivil society groups, and engaged new segments of localcommunities, especially youth. Although long delayed, theCMC aims to establish a network of mini-ICT centres in theprovince, which will facilitate content sharing and localproduction. The telecentre facilities are busy throughout theday, alternating between internet access and training courses.

AchievementsUva Community Radio’s establishment was abreakthrough in Sri Lanka in that the ownership of thestation was foreseen to rest with the community itselfthrough the network of grassroots ‘knowledgesocieties’. In its first year of broadcasting, the station setnew standards of critical, people- and development-oriented journalism, with challenging andeven controversial programmes, an impressivepercentage of Tamil language broadcastingand a high degree of community involvement. Thoughfaced by numerous challenges, the CMC continues tooffer a unique service and has enormous potential.

From its digital production facilities to its networkedtelecentre facilities, the Uva CMC is amongthe most technologically advanced radio stations inthe country.

The CMC has been a major asset to localbusinesses and civil society organisations,particularly in Buttala and other remote areas; thegroups have not only increased their computingcapacity, but now have access to low-cost ICTfacilities, which saves time and money.

The telecentre facilities, which are managed bycommunity-based organisations, have evolvedtransparent and accountable structures with localdecision-making and strategic planning that hassustained the centres to date.

Constraints and challengesThe greatest constraint faced by the Uva CMC isthe complex partnership structure of the radio andthe predominant roles played by state andpolitical institutions.

Building and maintaining the trust of localcommunities, achieving social, organisational andfinancial sustainability, are all significant challenges.

Internet connectivity in rural areas is expensive.Until the time of publication, internet connectivitycosts had been borne by UNESCO, however by late2005, the CMC will need to face the challenge ofcontinuing internet services while still providingaffordable access.

Ian Pringle/UNESCO

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