1 Expanded version April 2013 - Unesco

Volunteerism has historically been viewed in some contexts as providing a service or making
a contribution to a non-profit organisation of choice, without any expectation of remuneration.
This model however is not all true in low income environments where it is not always feasible
for volunteers to operate without stipends or allowances. While most volunteers do not initially
expect to receive remuneration for services offered and initially regard their contributions as a
way to develop their own communities and/or to gain work experience, studies on the
feasibility of local correspondents had shown that this is hardly sustainable. Alternatives
pointed out from the surveys and trainings include the elaboration of a flexible set of incentive
schemes for correspondents according to the radio station’s means. These can cover a mix of
cash payments, airtime, mobile phones, recorders, availability of location for editorial work
and other benefits as appropriate and affordable. These arrangements need to be defined in a
clear policy taking into consideration the number of hours worked and skills level, and stations
need support in this process.
The need for training and educational material in local languages was highlighted in some of
the workshops. In Mafeteng Community Radio, it was suggested to have resources in
Sesotho, while in Tanzania most of the correspondents and local radio practitioners are more
conversant in Kiswahili than in English. This caused difficulties, especially when Englishspeaking
experts were involved in the training due to lack of Kiswahili-speaking trainers. The
language problems have established the need to always provide a local trainer who can
translate the training into Kiswahili. Taking this need into account, the Youth Radio Toolkit,
which is still under production, will also be published in Kiswahili.
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