Community Media/CCMW/Materials/CR priorities

Financial Sustainability

Discussions of financial sustainabilty are important as processes of sharing best practices and possiblities for the continuity of community radio. This is significant because community radio is clearly different from commercial radio. Community radio is less far-reaching in the sense of broadcasting to the entire population, and the idea of a market share may not necessarily be the first consideration for such projects. Yet community radio projects do have financial needs that must be met. The following measures for accessing funds were provided based on the experiences of Roots FM (Jamaica)[1]and Radio Toco (Trinidad).

1. National Public Education Messages – e.g. Health Education)
2. Fundraising events
3. Small grants from embassies, NGOs and public interest agencies
4. Focus-based donor agencies (UNDP, UNESCO l,UNICEF[2], DFIP, IPDC, COL, JBFT, IICA, NACC, Benard van Leer Foundation).
5. Announcements – births, deaths, entertainment and personal
6. Outside Broadcasts
7. Membership and fan clubs
8. Foundation support

Technology

Using Technology to expand the accessibility.

ICTs have provided industry, education and media with different modalities for effective information transfer. In this sense ICTs can broaden the scope of media; can present opportunities for multidimensional interaction; and also strengthen realtime interaction.

Our discussions focussed on using ICTs (specifically the Internet) to for webcasting and for field-based broadcasting.

Webcasting:

1. Reaching listeners beyond the physical confines of the broadcast through the Internet.
2. Encourage interaction with other multimedia materials that can act as support for educational outcomes (scaffolding).
3. Use specific software to webcast - M3W – for PC’s (Windows, Linux, Nicecast – for Mac
4. Host Webcast on your own website or by CIRP
5. Secure technical support from CIRP through mervin Jarman and other resource persons

Field-based Broadcasting

Human Resource Management

1. Community Radio managers should get all volunteers and other participants involved in creating a mission statement. A mission will clearly define the philosophy of the community radio project, as well as provide opportunities for equal participation for volunteers.
2. Community Radio managers should develop effective policy for volunteerism. (Please see KRUU FM Volunteer HandBook)
3. Community Radio organisers need to put together a management team that brings together different expertise, and for excellent management.
4. Community Radio organisers need to ensure accountability.
5. Community Radio organisers should invest in the community as a bank for human resources.