Did you realize that the WNBA is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) member of the United Nations? You can learn more about our role here. Our representatives to the UN want to share their experiences at UN panels and workshops with other members of the WNBA. Read on to learn more about the recent panelCommunity Media Broadcasters: Building Capacities for Amplifying Voices of Rural Women.
Women in isolated, poor and/or conflict areas of the world are finding ways to connect through community radio. On March 23 at UN headquarters, a panel on enabling their voices, presented in partnership with the International Association of Women in Radio and Television, attracted a lively international group of over 100 to learn and share, 95% of whom were women
Moderator Marcia Ward, as radio producer for the UN Mission in Rwanda, first created community radio during the 1990s genocide to allow people to find displaced children. Today, in part because of strong community radio, Rwanda is one of the safest places in Africa.
Birgitte Jallov
Image courtesy of EMPOWERHOUSE
Ward was joined by Birgitte Jallov, co-founder of Denmark’s Women’s Community Radio Station, who has worked with community radio in 70 countries; Archana Kapoor, filmmaker, news magazine publisher and founder of SMART, who runs a community radio station in Mewat, India; Sheila Katzman, media and women’s rights specialist, who set up UN Peace Radio in Sierra Leone; and Grace Uddin, journalist, who is with Radyo ni Juan Network of community radio stations on Mindanao, an island under martial law in the Philippines.
Citing examples from Mozambique to Mexico, Jallov explained how radio produced and owned by rural communities empowers women, giving them platforms for discussion. This results in improved healthcare for women and children, less violence against women and more respect, plus self-respect from gaining livelihood and standing where they are hosts and producers.
Sheila Katzman
Image courtesy of IAWRT
Katzman set up community radio in Sierra Leone after terrible conflict. Abuse of women was rampant, even to cutting them open to see the unborn child’s sex. Factions were wary of each other and the UN, so she played only music for three months. When even the rebels were listening, messages were added. Soon it became a two-way source. People could call in to ask where to get water or bury their dead, or announce that a conscripted child had been found.
Uddin related how the current Philippine regime has created 600,000 internal refugees. Community leaders, teachers and journalists—women among them—are being arrested or murdered on trumped-up charges. On the second largest island, Mindanao, under martial law, community radio—often broadcast from mobile units—provides training and psycho-social exercises in writing and reporting. Often female hosts receive threats and must find different ways home each night.
SMART’s immunization campaign
Image courtesy of SMART
In India, dialects change every 50 kilometers. Only 8 percent of households have TV and women are often not given access. Community radio allows local voices to be heard, particularly women’s where there have been only men’s. Women are being brought into broadcast positions even if they haven’t been trained. But in poverty areas, Kapoor explained, they need to justify being away from home, so they must be paid even a small per diem.
After the panel, attendees were invited to participate in mock radio workshops. My group’s topic was sex education for young girls, which elicited laughter along with earnest talk. As the final “caller,” I observed that older callers wanted to give advice, while younger ones just wanted information so they could make their own decisions.
—Marilyn Berkman, WNBA DPI-NGO Representative to the UN
