Removing Barriers, Increasing Effectiveness - amarc

ownership. Knowledge sharing on best experiences across regions as well asincreased use of new ICTs can make a difference.Community Radio is part of a political non-partisan communication process.Community radio is a social actor of the development process. Community radiocan initiate or accompany social change and carries responsibility to be effectivein facilitating civil society development and democratic processes. Theparticipation of community radio practitioners and stakeholders in social actionand social movements was indicated as an important challenge facingcommunity radio and a key factor in achieving increased social impact.Exclusion and marginalisation particularly of women The participants identifiedexclusion of women as a key social challenge that can be confronted bycommunity radio. Gender equality is a societal challenge that needs to be tackledif we want to achieve poverty reduction. Gender stereotypes carried by traditionalmedia are obstacles to women rights and empowerment. Community radio caneffectively facilitate women’s inclusion and the recognition and exercise ofwomen’s rights. CR can be a key factor in fighting exclusion and marginalisationthrough engendering community radio both in terms of content and access toradio management and technology use.Community Radio Networks and knowledge sharing are weak. Even thoughcommunity radio has become a global sector, interaction and exchange betweenregions is weak and systematic impact assessment is rare. A multifacetedchallenge for community radio is the need to strengthen its own networks andcommunications. There is need to embed appropriate assessment tools, todocument and disseminate good practice and to strengthen networkdevelopment through institutional capacity building and communications.Key findings on the Social Impact of Community RadioCommunity radio achievements are not properly highlighted and/ordisseminated. One general perspective arising from the evaluation process isthat in spite of a large body of evidence on community radio social impact, CRpractitioners and stakeholders have not taken the time and the efforts needed topresent systematically the achievements of community radio worldwide.Measurements of Community Radio Social Impact must be people centredCommunity Radio practitioners and stakeholders agree that measurement ofCommunity radio social impact should be people–centred and based on multidimensional understanding of poverty. In this perspective the key indicators ofcommunity radio social impact are related to voice, empowerment and localownership of communication processes.Quantity indicators don’t tell the whole story. Community Radio participantsinsisted on the fact that quantity indicators such as measurement of audience,number of hours of programming dedicated to an specific topic, number ofAMARC Community Radio Social Impact Assessment 2007 Page 8 of 128