Making Community Radio Sustainable: The real challenge

New Delhi, 17/05/2014: CEMCA in collaboration with Ideosync Media Combine is initiating a participatory research process to explore the parameters that impact the sustainability of Community Radio in the South Asia region. Under this research initiative, a select CR Stations from India, Bangladesh and Nepal will participate in a six-month long data collection plan using ethnographic action research framework. The Nepal part of the work has been generously supported by UNESCO, New Delhi office.

A Regional Workshop was organized by Ideosync in collaboration with CEMCA and UNESCO on May 16, 2014 at Hotel Lalit Vibe, Faridabad, NCR of Delhi  to discuss  articulate the components of sustainability for the study, and validate the research design and selection process of CR Stations with the help of Community Radio experts from India and Nepal. During the discussions Ms Jayalakshmi Chittoor, Ms Pinky Chandran, Dr Kanchan K Mallik and Mr Yadab Chapagain shared their experiences on the area of CR sustainability.

Dr. Sanjaya Mishra, Director, CEMCA delivered the opening remarks on CR sustainability and CEMCA’s work and elaborated CEMCA’s concept to assist community radio stations for sustainability. He elaborated on the possibility of taking this work further to develop a CR sustainability Index, and encouraged to conceptualize the research in such a way to not only help understand who is sustainable or not, but also to help prospective communities to think about sustainability before venturing into  CR engagement. Venu Arora and Leonea Fernandes explained the desk research findings and methodology of the project followed by a structured discussion facilitated by N. Ramakrishnan. Prof. Vinod Pavarala, Ashish Sen, Ramnath Bhat, Sumon Basnet, Ms Archana Kapoor, and representatives from a few CR stations participated in the discussion.