Community Radio Social Impact Assessment - Removing Barriers, Increasing Effectiveness

"The growth of community radio is a story of people and communities striving to speak out and to be heard. Community radio has provided a means of empowerment and of self-reliance. It has enabled people to engage in dialogue about their conditions and their livelihoods. And it has contributed to the defence of cultural and linguistic diversity. It is a story in which the pursuit of social and development goals has been deeply entwined with the struggle for human and political rights and particularly the right to freedom of expression."

This evaluation report details a long-range participatory action research process launched in 2006 by the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), an international non-profit organisation that works to support and serve community radio broadcasters around the world. The research shared in this report was designed to identify the barriers that limit the potential positive impact of community radio (CR), and to explore ways to increase the effectiveness of community radio in achieving poverty reduction, development objectives, inclusiveness, and democracy building in local communities around the world. The purpose of this report is to share the evaluation process findings and contribute to increased debate about, and awareness of, the social impact that CR is having and can have.

As detailed here, the global assessment involved 927 CR stakeholders (AMARC members and partners, as well as participants from community radio stations, academicians, donors, and communication for development practitioners) from 96 countries. Those involved in the process drew upon information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as face-to-face interactions to monitor and assess the field. Specifically, they took part in in regional roundtables, a survey, an electronic forum, meetings of AMARC decision-making bodies, and the AMARC 9 World Conference held in Amman, Jordan (November 2006). An online publication of the outputs of the different phases of the process was designed to allow external analysts to review the building of consensus among participants.

The evaluation process highlighted the fact that communities have sought in the CR medium a means to express their own issues, concerns, cultures, and languages. According to AMARC, community ownership of the media and participation in programming have led to communication processes that can empower local actors to achieve poverty reduction, forward development objectives, and encourage inclusiveness, participation, peacebuilding, good governance, and accountability. Participants in the evaluation process affirmed that CR is a viable alternative to commercial and state-owned media, which - as they see it - often neglect representation of the economically poor and the marginalised (particularly women).

AMARC found that the lack of proper enabling legislation is the single most important barrier to increased effectiveness of the social impact that CR can have. Working around this barrier involves encouraging exchanges of experiences amongst practitioners (e.g., its network of more than 3,000 members from 110 countries) in order to strategise about how to better highlight the potential of CR social impact. In addition, the evaluation emphasises the need for appropriate tools and indicators to evaluate CR social impact that goes beyond information dissemination indicators or small project impact on individuals. Some specific experiences point to the need for further research on how to increase the effectiveness of CR. To do so, according to AMARC, the most important challenge is to embed participatory monitoring and evaluation (M&E) in and across the CR network.

Part IV of the report shares CR practitioner perspectives about such issues as the role that this medium played in helping to restore democracy in Nepal, and strategies for addressing discrimination against women in community media (as well as their role as producers of information in the Indonesia context). Perspectives and experiences from Eastern and Southern Africa are also included.

The next section explores and evaluates approaches for increasing the effectiveness of CR. In one chapter within this section, the AMARC Strategic Plan 2007-2010 is laid out; it involves objectives including advocacy and policy research, knowledge sharing and capacity building, content exchange and social action campaigns, gender equality and women's rights, and network development and communication. The appendices that follow this section include a bibliography, participants' recommendations on information resources, and a copy of the survey on the impact of CR.