Women's Empowerment and Good Governance Through - amarc

Best Experiences for an Action Research Process 6
Introduction
Participatory Action Research on Increasing the Effectiveness
of AMARC WIN in Giving Voice to Women (1)
Raising the awareness of women about political processes and opportunities in their
communities has been shown to lead to their greater involvement in democracy building.
This, in turn, can lead to both the empowerment of women and poverty reduction.
But if women – who suffer more from poverty than men in developing countries – lack
information on how community political processes work, they are poorly equipped to be able
to participate in the development of good governance. The articles gathered here reveal many
experiences of women accessing the media and how important it may become in building
good governance.
The women’s movement has long recognized the important role that media – community radio,
in particular – plays in shaping the values of society. As early as four decades ago, when
the introduction of transistors made it possible for people from lower income groups to acquire
radio units, women’s groups actively engaged this medium to address women’s issues, such
as sexuality, advocacy for women, and children in conflict. Over the years, women’s organizations
in many countries have used community radio to advance their issues through the
governance process, while others still have not learned about the power of this medium.
The action research “Women’s Empowerment and Good Governance through Community
Radio” seeks to enhance the use of community radio as a key communication vehicle that