Removing Barriers, Increasing Effectiveness - amarc

national languages. “For several cultural and linguistic minorities, the communityradio is the only place where their language is spoken and their music beingheard and their culture is celebrated. Community radio a social impact inpreserving languages and cultural expressions, giving additional value to them,and leading to the amelioration of the self esteem of the community and to largerecognition people outside the community” Participant from Bolivia. For instancein one station there was a question on how to look after the children in the villagebetter? The children in the village seemed healthier and better looked after.There weren’t as many deaths as before. This outcome could be traced rightback to the messages and programmes that were broadcasted earlier on.Community Radio is effective in building citizenship. CR contributes throughcommunication processes to building citizenship and individual participation inthe public sphere. This can be measured by the recognition of individuals whoselives have been improved by community radio. The issue being not only to hear,but also to be heard and participate in political processes by having one’s point ofview recognized. “Only radio with the magic of sound can help the survival oflocal knowledge and reinforce solidarity in the communities, because it attractsthe listeners in their own language and can send their message as the people ofthe community is producing the programs, it builds ownership that a commercialmedia could have. This is very positive.” (Participant from Colombia.)Community Radio is effective in extending Communication Rights. The impact ofcommunity radio has been in extending the communication rights, including theright to be heard and not only to be informed. There is an impact from theexistence in itself of community radio, in the democratization of communicationand in the establishment of the public agenda by civil society organizations. Theright to the information is placed in political context and not only as a problem ofjournalists. There is need for more coordination with social movements toincrease the impact of CR if we want to counteract factual powers. An indicator ofthis is that governments have recognized AMARC as an interlocutor, when itcomes to community radio.Community Radio helps citizens to influence the local public agenda setting. Theimpact of community radio is stronger at the local level especially in makingpossible for citizens to participate in setting the public agenda. Community radiospropose a change against the belief that the world cannot be changed. This isbeing done by re-appropriating political spaces. Politics is not solely the right ofpoliticians. It is a dynamic and dialogic process of collective construction whichcan not be quantitatively measured but must be looked at qualitatively. Thispermits to recover the sense of politics and the democratization agenda: Politicsnot as the space of politicians but including citizens. Community media has a rolein the representation of civil society organizations and in building of a type ofpolitics that is collective, dynamic and in dialogue that can only be measured inquality and not in terms quantity. “Some general indicators of social impact ofcommunity radio can be seen in the increase of participation and collective actionAMARC Community Radio Social Impact Assessment 2007 Page 43 of 128