Researching on Community Radio Sustainability

New Delhi, 05/06/2014:  A Regional Workshop was organized by Ideosync Media Combine in collaboration with CEMCA and UNESCO on June 05, 2014 at Faridabad, NCR of Delhi for training of researchers on community radio (CR) sustainability. Eight CR stations from India, two from Bangladesh and two from Nepal were selected using purposive sampling methodology and based on recommendations from key CR networks of these countries to participate in the study and the workshop.

CEMCA in collaboration with Ideosync Media Combine initiated this participatory research process to explore the parameters that impact the sustainability of Community Radio in the South Asia region. The participatory research process aims to identify the good practices and strategies for achieving sustainability so that other stations could emulate such practices for effective and meaningful performance. The findings of this research will thus be presented at a dissemination workshop that comprises informed leader in the Community Media sector and CR practitioners.

The initiative undertook a desk research to study existing materials and international literature on ideas and understanding around sustainability of community radio with a special focus on South Asia. Ideosync Media Combine designed a participatory research methodology to work with selected CR Stations in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Leonea Fernandez explained the desk research findings and methodology of the project followed by a structured discussion facilitated by Venu Arora and N. Ramakrishnan. Apart from the selected eight CR stations of India, Radio Mahananda of Bangladesh and Radio Lumbini and Radio Menchhyayem of Nepal participated in this training workshop. Representative from Bangladesh NGO’s Network for Radio and Communication also attended the workshop.