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Pro-people Media (English)
Empowering Rural People through
Communication
-Vinaya Kasajoo
In the rural areas of Nepal, schoolbooks
of the children, labels and wrappers of the commercial goods and
posters and pamphlets during election are the only printed paper
the people usually see. If knowledge is the fuel for development,
where is that fuel for the majority of the people of Nepal?
Although Nepal has experienced an information explosion
since the advent of democracy in 1990, its impact has barely been
felt outside the capital city, Kathmandu and some of the big towns.
Most of the rural areas have only limited access to books, newspapers
and the electronic media. As a result people are deprived of basic
information such as health, sanitation, environmental conservation,
population, control of AIDS, new technologies, income generation
activities and other important issues which are quite important
for the development of the people. Lack of information also restricts
the opportunity for rural people to play an active role in democracy.
The constitution has guaranteed various democratic
rights to the people including the right to information and freedom
of expression. But there is no practical means to exercise those
rights on the part of underprivileged people, most of whom live
in rural areas.
In the hill areas the traditional village-criers are
still there. Wells and waterspouts were the regular meeting places
of most of the villagers where they communicated every day. But
after the villages got tap water through polythene (hard plastic)
pipes their regular meetings were hindered. There is no easy way
to know what is happening in the local neighborhood.
Mass media in Nepal have not been able to play the
role of changing the life and mind of the people it should have
done. It has not been considered as an effective agent of development.
Most of the newspapers seem to be mouthpiece of political parties.
The government controlled electronic and print media and the newspapers
published from private sector also are targeted to the elite urban
readers. There is very little for the rural and only literate people.
Broadcasting fails to reach the majority of the rural poor. Massive
illiteracy prevents the print media from reaching the people. Limited
transport facilities and adverse geographical conditions restrict
the free flow of newspaper and radio transmission. Linguistic and
ethnic diversity also limits the usefulness of centralized mass
media.
Efforts to meet the challenge
One of the reasons why people are poor is because
they lack access to information about ideas and technologies, which
could improve their lives. Dissemination of information is the greatest
challenge for the development of the rural poor. To meet this challenge
some efforts have been started in Nepal during last five years.
Rural Development Palpa (RDP), a local non-governmental
organization has started a weekly rural newspaper Gaunle Deurali
in 1993 with the financial support from The Asia Foundation for
equipment and operational costs for three years.
Today RDP's eight professional staff working together
with community-based contributors, mostly barefoot journalists,
produce the newspaper, which is distributed in more than 25 districts
in Nepal. It has a modern computer-equipped newspaper office and
offset printing press in the remote hilly district of Palpa, 300
km. west of Kathmandu.
Gaunle Deurali is produced for and by the rural people
of the Middle Hills of Nepal, a unique geographical area sharing
many common problems and challenges along with rich cultural tradition
and ethnic diversity. A special focus point for Deurali is only
literate adult readers living in remote rural areas, who often have
no access to reading material after they learn to read in non-formal
education classes.
Objectives
Deurali aims to dignify rural life and empower rural
people through rural media, by focussing the following activities:
Give voice to the people and a provide a forum for the exchange
of information, opinions and experiences; encourage only literate
people to continue reading; involve people in development activities;
expose rural problems to government organizations and NGOs; support
the introduction of income-generation activities; inform rural people
about appropriate modern technologies; and exchange ideas about
improving indigenous technologies; strengthen democracy in rural
areas; raise awareness about environment conservation and sustainable
development and support the uplift of unprivileged people with main
focus on women.
Empowerment in Action
RDP's experience with rural newspaper has indicated
that when the problems and feelings of disregarded voiceless rural
people are printed they feel empowered. They realize they have a
place in their own community and the democratic decision-making
process. The feeling of self-respect and self-confidence is increased.
The result is even greater when rural people can produce
their own newspaper articles, respond to others views, and participate
in the production of the newspaper, with the support of training
courses and other activities such as Barefoot Journalism
Training.
Barefoot Journalists
RDP felt the need of a new breed of journalists who
are dedicated to change the fate of rural people and give voice
to the underprivileged. Deurali needed journalists in rural and
remote areas who could report the down to earth, the real people,
their problems and their aspirations. Development workers, schoolteachers,
students, farmers, health workers, housewives, members and staff
of Village Development Committee with a basic training of journalism
could do that..
RDP conducted the first such training in June-July,
1992. The performance of the first batch inspired RDP for producing
more barefoot journalists. And with the support of MS Nepal the
process of producing barefoot journalists through training programs
is continuing. It has become a main source of people's news and
views.
Community Broadcasting and Community
Audio Tower (CAT)
Since Nepal has a very low literacy rate print media
cannot play vital role in educating the people in comparison to
broadcast media. Sale and distribution of printed material has limited
scope due to the difficulty in transportation and low purchasing
power. Therefore community broadcasting can be very useful in the
remote areas of the country. In this situation Community Audio Tower
and Community Broadcasting Programs, if planned, managed and handled
properly, can serve the purpose of empowering and changing the rural
people.
Since the government has started issuing license for
private FM radio station, some of the development-oriented organizations
and Village Development Committees have visualized the community
broadcasting as an effective media for the empowerment/ development
of the mass. In this respect an audio tower can be a pre-broadcasting
exercise in the rural areas. It is a simple combination of microphone,
taperecorder, amplifier and loudspeakers. The loudspeakers are mounted
either on a pole or on a tall tree. Such systems have been successfully
conducted in other counters such as Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand
etc. In some villages of Nepal too such audio towers are under operation.
Objectives of the Community Broadcasting
Community Broadcasting encourages a high level of
participation of all the sectors in a community in the ownership,
operation and control of the media. The target is the community
as a whole including all the minorities, underprivileged class of
the people. It is run/ handled not by the professional journalists,
but by rural based barefoot journalists, farmers, mid level technicians
based in the village, local representatives of the people, village
development workers, local artists, school teachers and students
most of whom are volunteers. They decide what to broadcast how to
produce program and they make rules and regulations to operate it
efficiently.
Main features of the program are local news,
views/debate on issues of local and national interests, interviews
of local and outsider experts, highlighting local
talent, skill, technology and expertise, local advertisements, which
can generate small income and make the station sustainable, any
information which help to promote the life, dignity and happiness
of the community with main focus on health, nutrition, sanitation,
drinking water, conservation of natural resources, prevention of
AIDS and other diseases, family planning, human rights, democracy
etc.
Because Radio Broadcasting is the cheapest form of
mass communication it lends itself to 'grass roots' use by communities
of interest - geographical, cultural, political. Its potential is
to be run by and for local communities, special interests and followings.
Madi Valley Community Broadcasting Project is one of such pilot
projects in Nepal. It was started as a pre-broadcasting exercise
for the real broadcasting in the future. Seven sub committees and
one main committee operate it. All the members of the committee
are women. The are from different classes, castes and ethnic groups.
The result has been enthusiastic. Similar programs are being run
in other districts too and the number is increasing.
Gradually it is becoming clear that such community
level media projects can play an important role for the dissemination
of information in the rural area and the empowerment of the rural
people.
(Danish Translation of this article was published
in POLITICAN May,13(?), 1998. Special Supplimentary Issue on the
occasion of MS and PEN International conference (May 15-17) in Lousiana,
Copenhagen.)
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