Consolidation of Community Radio Movement (Phase II)
Following the peoples' movement for re-establishment of democracy in April 2006, Nepal has embarked on a sustained path to democracy respecting human rights, media freedom and free flow of information. Because of liberal government policy, more than four dozens community radios (CRs) were opened within the last eight months, reaching a total of 91, out of which 36 stations are already on air and 15 more stations will be on air by the end of October 2007. While professional training is a must for any fresh entrant in the media profession, the journalists of CRs are always constrained with resources and cannot afford to upgrade their journalistic standards. This proposal has been developed as a second phase of the IPDC-supported project of ACORAB, so that the newly opened CRs could benefit from it. Additionally, during its implementation, ACORAB has felt that CRs not only need capacity building but also institutional development programmes for their sustainability. The newly opened stations need also to be well-versed in the ethics and values of CRs. Accordingly, the COC that was prepared under the first phase of support by IPDC needs to be properly oriented among all new CRs for its effective implementation. The immediate objective is to consolidate community radio movement in Nepal through capacity building, institutional strengthening and enhancing values of community radio stations. The development objective is to enable community radios to promote a participatory, accountable and transparent governance system, thus paving the way to considerable opportunities for freedom of expression, pluralism, information sharing and communication.