Removing Barriers, Increasing Effectiveness - amarc

Part III Community Radio Social Impact. 28Chapter 6 Findings on Community Radio Social ImpactThe goal of the AMARC Community Radio Impact Evaluation: RemovingBarriers, Increasing Effectiveness was to understand the communicationprocesses facilitated by CR, to highlight the effects of CR as well as finding waysto increase the social impact of CR in achieving poverty reduction anddevelopment objectives in democracy building, inclusiveness, good governanceand accountability.An essential part of understanding of CR effects is the systematization of thesocial impact of Community Radio, the criteria for measuring that impact , theways to measure or to assess the influence of CR and the areas where CRmakes a difference. This evaluation process belongs to the larger objective ofcritical reflection on our work as a framework to reinforce CR relations with civilsociety movements and CR stakeholders to ensure their support and partnership.The participants in the evaluation process see the role of community radio not asa technical one, but rather ontological, we are evaluating the social impact ofcommunication processes. The evaluation of community radio needs to be seenas part of communication process of a political but not partisan nature. Theexistence of individuals in the public sphere depends on the access to media.The participants highlighted the need to incorporate the values and socialobjectives of the CR sector in the impact evaluation process. We are talking ofevaluating a communication process so, the indicators of what we are evaluatingneed not only to be of quantity or quality, they have also to be process and timerelated. We must create our own tools to measure the impact of community radioin order that the assessments clearly reflect what community radio is set to do.The participants considered necessary to consider specific evaluation contexts inmeasuring community radio social impact. Among others: the Capacity tomeasure social impact is not equally distributed everywhere, particularly in thecase of the Asia Pacific Region; The legal frameworks have a specific influenceon the impact of community radio; the level of articulation betweenlocal/national/regional and global citizenship agendas influences the evaluationof CR social impact.To increase CR impact there is a need to create the conditions for such animpact through a strategy for capacity building in radio language and28Part II, presents the key findings and documentation on the social impact of Community Radioworldwide formulated and used by CR stakeholders during the World Evaluation of Community Radio:Removing Barriers, Increasing Efficiency activities, including Regional Roundtables, Electronic ForumDiscussions, electronic Survey and AMARC 9 World Conference.AMARC Community Radio Social Impact Assessment 2007 Page 36 of 128