“NCRF/World Bank teams up to develop an Integrated Sustainability Model for community radio
“National Community Radio Forum/World Bank Institute Voice and Media Technical Assistance Activity to Build Capacity Among Community Sound Broadcasting Stations in the Limpopo Province of South Africa”
The National Community Radio Forum (NCRF) has secured the partnership of the World Bank Institute Voice and Media Technical Assistance Activity unit. The following information seeks to istations and stakeholders of the planned project to start on 5 May 2008 and end on 16 June 2008.
Partnership between the NCRF and WBI. There is a pressing need to strengthen the management and participatory nature of many of South Africa’s community radio stations. This Assistance Activity (AA) will launch a collaborative effort between NCRF and WBI to strategically develop the capacities of the community broadcasting sector in South Africa. NCRF has proposed, and WBI agrees, that a phased approach, which starts with a particular province, would be more appropriate than attempting to develop the capacities of South Africa’s entire community broadcasting sector, which would be too large a task to undertake at once. Accordingly, this program to strengthen community radio stations’ capacities and operations will be undertaken in a phased manner, starting with one province. Limpopo was chosen as the pilot site for its specific demographics and poverty profile.
WBI and NCRF recognize the need for a more holistic, integrated approach to strengthening the capacity of the community radio sector, particularly in poor regions of South Africa – an approach that mobilizes the communities, as well as local training institutions and NGOs, to build sustainable relationships with the community radio stations
Phases of this Activity Agreement. This AA will be carried out by NCRF and WBI in the following three concurrent parts (between May 1 and June 15): 1) development of Community Media Indexes (CMIs); 2) support for Limpopo community radio stations to develop Work Skills Plans (WSPs); and 3) initial training for Limpopo community radio stations. The interconnectivity of these three parts are as follows:
· Phase I: NCRF (with WBI participation and oversight) will take the lead in coordinating with local community broadcasting experts to develop CMIs, which will be comprised of a comprehensive resources and training needs assessment of a cross-section (up to five) provincial community radio stations in Limpopo;
· Phase II: NCRF will collaborate with WBI to select local community broadcasting skills development experts to develop WSPs for selected community radio stations in the Limpopo province, which will be informed by the CMIs interactively, and will be conducted in parallel to the CMI development, based on recognized gaps in needed skills for community radio stations in the Limpopo province; and
· Phase III: WBI and NCRF will thereafter use the CMIs and the relevant WSPs to support the first phase of training for between ten (10) and thirty (30) community radio practitioners (including management personnel) from selected stations in Limpopo. This phase will also allocate a five day training program in core management skills for the first week of June 2008. The participants will be assessed and moderated according to MAPPP- Seta standards.
WBI and NCRF’s development of the CMI’s and WSP’s will be participatory activities that engage the community radio stations in evaluating and strengthening the basis for their sustainability. The subsequent training will be nested in a broader set of capacity-building arrangements, including partnerships between community radio stations for mentoring and problem-solving. The training itself would be structured as an iterative program to support the management and operations of the stations, including training of new staff, and strengthening of the participation of the communities served.