Swedish Radio has been working now for a number of years with an interesting collaboration concerning a number of Community Radio Initiatives. It has culminated in four of the Community Radio Stations in the country receiving new studios and basic training for using the new equipment as well as journalistic and organizational basics.
But things are quite strange in this country. The radio station initiatives have been trying to get licenses to broadcast for many years now. And when the idea of this collaboration surfaced in 2009, the general opinion was that permission would be granted any day. Since then, four years have passed. So, now at least six stations in the country have quite an advanced organization and an ingenious catalogue of different ways to communicate with their parent communities, offering information, news and a platform for discussion and debate.
However, the prospects of receiving a license seem further away than ever, judging from the discussions we have had with the four Community Radio Stations which have received new studios. As a last coaching and mentoring activity I had the privilege of traveling in the country and visiting all four stations now in September 2013. They have made giant leaps in setting up communication platforms in their respective local contexts.
The guys at Kwelaz Community Radio in Kwekwe together with Tomas Lindblad from SR MDO
The methods include making CD records of programs done in the local environment, copying up to 500 CD’s and then distributing them throughout the community by a network of persons in the different wards.
Some of the stations copy their programs on to flash memory sticks, which are then handed out to the many drivers of combi buses which is the backbone of transport in the country. The drivers play the programs during the commute and report back to the radio station on reactions and suggestions when they return the program to get a newer one. At one station they use the method to let the drivers also choose their favorite music to put on the stick to personalize the program.
Sustainability is a crucial issue for community radio stations throughout the world, also in Zimbabwe. In one instance, in Kariba in the north of the country, the station has launched a fishing program with its own fishing boat, their own team of fishermen who receive a salary for fishing, and which also generates quite a substantial income for the station, which allows it to invest in equipment, and also to offer some remuneration for its management staff. Other ideas are being discussed…
