Community Media/Radio/Governance UNESCO Workshop/Outline

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Detailed workshop plan

Day 1

Introductory discussion - What about this workshop?

Points to share during discussion with radio station

• Design our own agenda as we go; I’ve brought ideas and materials and have an outline to suggest – let’s see how it fits with your needs and interests
• Ideally this workshop is driven (mostly) by you the participants based on your situation and needs; I’ll try to adapt and develop accordingly
• Objectives:
  • Share accepted community radio principles and practices
  • Start (continue) a process of organizational development (OD) as a community radio
  • To collectively agree on a set of ‘foundation documents’, including Basic principles, Codes of conduct, etc.
  • Share some participatory tools to assist in and make the ongoing OD process more interesting
  • We also want to do a simple radio show as part of this workshop, ideally one that shares what we’re doing here with your listeners and the community

Principles and practices of ‘community radio’

Day 2

Exercise Individual – What sort of radio is this? 30 min

All participants spend a few minutes thinking about their radio - Choose 5 different words to describe your radio station… Everybody write their words on post-its; writers say them and then put them up on the wall; we group and re-group these key words into ‘spheres’ so that we have a set of common word-groups/ideas (we’ll use these again as ‘reference points’ in future exercises and in approaching documents: e.g. mission, set of principles, etc)

Exercise Group work – Different types of radio 60 min

Let’s look briefly at radio in general in terms of what different types of radio there are. What are the main characteristics of each one?

Main characteristics:

1. Ownership: Actual and function (decision-making)
2. Staffing: Management, programming
3. Content: purpose
4. Funding
5. Stakeholders: People inside and out

What types of other radio (and media) are available in this locality (and or the state/country)? For example: state, commercial, and other local radio services. (If radio doesn’t present enough examples, then what about other types of media (e.g. TV, print, etc)?)

Let’s identify 3-4 radio/media (other than your radio) and divide into groups to identify their main characteristics. What is the main purpose of these radio services? Groups return and present the main characteristics.

Talk/discussion Types and examples 45 min

What sorts of radio are available in this community? Let’s discuss the main types: State, Commercial, etc. How do these characteristics relate to the purpose of the radio?

Let’s look at some other radios:

1. Public 1 – BBC or other example (again, group discussion)
2. Public 2 – Radio Sagarmatha (see profile)
3. Other types? Local private (with examples as much as possible)

Exercise Spectrogram 30 min

Participants ‘take a stand’ on an issue, physically placing themselves at one end of a spectrum of opinion framed by 100% agreement or disagreement with a statement

1. Radio should work towards only information programming
2. This community should only have one radio service

Exercise Group work – Your radio’s characteristics 1 45 min

How is your radio different from other radios or media? Work in small groups (same or different) to identify 3+ ways that your radio is different from other radio services. Groups present their ideas and put up the main points on the wall.

Talk/examples Whole group – Different types of radio 45 min

Let’s hear about some ‘community radios’ by looking at a series of profiles (descriptions and photographs) of other stations

1. Vancouver Coop Radio (Canada)
2. Radio Lumbini (Nepal)
3. CKUT (Canada)
4. Ranerou (Senegal)

Debrief on the day

• There are many different kinds of radio and many different “labels” to draw on
• Your radio needs to chart its own path

Day 3

Review – Key points from yesterday 30 min

• You have good idea of what your radio is and what makes it different, both as individuals and as a group; briefly, what are these?
• Examples:
  • People/dialogue/understanding; Information, development
  • Positive, entertainment; Professional
  • Purpose: to fill the information gap
  • Youth
  • Programming
  • Owner, interest
  • Other: gender
• Important to see your radio in context; there are other radios. What does the community need?
• Different types of radio: different names, but more important, different principles and practices
• Your radio needs to chart its own path

Brief on the day

• This morning we look at ‘community radio’
• After, we look at your radio and how to chart your own path

Talk/discuss Whole group – Principles of community radio 180 min

Heavy lifting: As a group, let’s review the list of community radio principles provided; each person reads out one ‘principle’ and then we

• Discuss in context of examples so far
• Decide on its relevance to your radio – Is it keeper or not? If yes, how do we formulate (this give us the key points to develop later as your radio’s own Set of principles (What we believe))

Mapping 60 min (interjected into A, above)

As a group, draw a map – geographic or not – of your community; try to include the following elements:* Staff, committees

• Listeners
• Non listeners
• NGOs
• Info sources
• Government
• Other groups

Day 4

Review – Key points from yesterday 30 min

E.g. Thinking about outside groups: team is important, but must consider, consult and respect listeners. How to active them, involve them? How to plan for advertising?

Ideas for discussion concerning the set of principles:

• Do these match what we said about your radio?
• Not always yes or no, but more or less among different key elements
• Are there others?
• Can we think about a Set of Principles for your radio?

Brief on the day

• Any ideas for a radio show?
• Elements for a plan to reach your vision
• Identifying different documents and policies you need

Exercise Spectrogram 30 min

A community radio must have a council to represent the community in decision-making

Exercise Group – Visioning your radio 60 min

What will your radio and its community be like in 2-3 years?

Each group to answer the question with 5 elements e.g. Our radio will have 50% information programming… 3 are specific to your radio and 2 are community e.g. Farmers will produce more and get better prices. The answers must be concrete, realistic and up to you (i.e. not the best)

Each reports back. What are the key common elements we draw out of this? Let’s write them up on the board or using the projector. Can we bring it together in a single statement…?

Group work – Identifying problems and needs (elements for a plan)

What do you think are key challenges (issues/problems/questions) (e.g. mobilization, a council, advertising, etc) for your radio? Think and discuss, then choose 5 key issues and put them on “post-its”; you need to be ready to explain them and to suggest at least 1 or 2 ways to tackle them. Examples:* Marketing

• Council/decision making
• Volunteers
• Signal

Developing tools for your radio

Day 5

Review – Key points from yesterday 30 min

• Vision, Problems and solutions: We come back to these…
• The idea so far is to looks at issues, for you to identify challenges and direction

Brief on the day 30 min

• Today, we try to bring these together into something tangible

First, let’s discuss the plan for our radio programme

• When: Time?
• Why: To find out needs;
• What: Theme? Questions? – What kind of radio does the local community need…? Specific inputs: Languages? Timing? Schedule? Type of programmes: music & info?
• How: Elements and make-up
• How: Languages?
• Assignments: Hosts…? Telephone poll…? (Lots of) vox-pop…? Promo…?

Talk/discussion – Documents to develop 60 min

Presentation on Foundation Documents

• What sort of docs are we talking about? (See the description of foundation docs, especially the rationale for each); there are docs and then a framework
• What docs exist at your radio now? E.g.
  • Mission
  • By-laws
  • Code
• What can we say about these? How were they developed? Are they enough?
• What else is there? See the list: What models do we have?
  • Mission, vision
  • Principles; 5 things
  • Code of practice/conduct
  • Election guidelines
  • Community council
  • Other? Advertising;

Over the next 3 days we try to sketch outline, create some documents and plan how to tackle the others.

Exercise Developing the basis for documents 90 min

Working individually, take 5 minutes and decide on at least 2 documents or policies that your radio needs. Write the 2 document titles on separate “stickies” with your name and bring them back.

We discuss your answers as you put them up on the wall one by one. We’ll then break into 3-4 groups based on your interests (as expressed in the stickies).

Take 15 minutes to discuss and review any documents sample or other resources available. What is the purpose of your document? Why do you need this tool? Prepare a 3-minute presentation to share with the others.

We’ll do ‘a marketplace of ideas’ with one person from your group presenting your ideas and the others rotating around the presenters. In 10 minutes or so all of you (minus the presenters) will be exposed to all the different ideas.

Let’s come back as a big group and discuss each one by turn, get feedback. Let’s start now to make a list of the sort of documents you foresee needing as a community radio organization.

Discussion

Let’s try to envision a whole ‘framework’, a set of documents and tools that your radio needs; let’s develop and organize the list we started. How can we start and continue this process?

Day 6/7

Review – Key points from yesterday 30 min

So far we have covered many areas – from principles to vision, identifying some problems and possible solutions.

Without going into so much detail, we’ve covered most of what would go into a set of foundation documents that would define and guide a community radio.

Yesterday we came up with a list of foundation docs and we explored three in more detail.

Brief on the day 30 min

Today and tomorrow, we continue with a set of foundation documents for your radio. Drawing in all our discussions and work to-date – all the loose ends from the words you associate with your radio (Day 1) to the sort of barriers and solutions you see (Day 4) – we start to assemble a set of documents for your radio.

• We’ll start by developing an outline of your radio’s documents
• We will develop 2-3 new documents based on what we perceive to be the priorities
• Some documents we have already started and we will either finish them or decide how and when to finish them
• For other documents in the outline, we will start with a headline and a few points and leave it for you to finish after the workshop
• We’ll include who is going to do what by when, and so the outline will also become a plan

E.g. Based on our discussions to date, what I suggest we work on are the following (each one has a model version translated into Russian that we can as the basis for adaptation)

• Policy guide (that encompasses all the docs we talked about)
• Principles of your radio (UNESCO)
• General codes of conduct (CBAA and Los Palos)
• Elections (Mozambique)
• Council (Los Palos)

Exercise/discussion Group 30 min

We will work as a group and rather quickly, documenting everything together using the projector. Can we get a first volunteer on the keyboard…

First let’s create a table of contents that will form that basis of the outline… We need a name for the outline document… Now, let’s put in all the documents we brainstormed yesterday. What else are we missing?

Exercise/discussion Group 120 min

OK, if we are all agreed, let’s start to develop a Statement of Principles for your radio… Let’s identify what we think are important. Keeping in mind the discussions and outputs from the workshop to date, we’ll go through the different elements of the Community Radio Principles culled from the UNESCO Community Radio Handbook.

Exercise/discussion Group 120 min

Next, let’s work together on the Code for conduct during elections.

Exercise/discussion Group 90 min

Now, let’s review the outline list of documents. What sorts of things can we ‘import,’ either from other documents (e.g. the Radiomost Mission Statement) and what can we bring in from our own work during the workshop (e.g. the elements of the Vision Statement, the new Basic Principles and the Elections Code).

For each heading, let’s think about how you are going to tackle the document, including who is going to work on and what their deadlines are. Are there things that these different working groups need to consider? Let’s put these into a separate plan of action…

Exercise/discussion Group As time permits

What are your other priorities? Let’s decide and work on at least one or two of those… Are there any other areas we should discuss?

Evaluation 45 min

We’ll do the evaluation as an oral exercise to avoid written translation. Everybody note down the following points. Take 10 minutes and respond to each one. Please be honest and I promise I won’t take anything personally. We’ll then put all your responses into a hat and you’ll each select one (not your own). Then we’ll go through one by one, inviting each of you to share the answers on the page you chose, noting any duplicate answers.

• Three things you learned

• Two things you liked

• Two things you disliked

• Two suggestions for me (as the trainer)

• Two suggestions for UNESCO (for future training)

• Two suggestions for Radiomost to follow-up on this training

My recommendations 15 min

I’d like to share my preliminary thoughts about what I’ve observed of your radio in the past week. I’ll be sharing these with UNESCO (and you) as part of my report so please feel free to give your feedback.