This article is written by Machova Musanshi, member of the Zambian 'Media and ICT Network for Development' (MIND) and commissioned by IICD. MIND is the first ICT network in Africa, of journalists and other media practitioners, designed to share information, ideas and create articles on ICTs as well as other activities. The network also strives to work in partnership with other ICT stakeholders as much as possible, locally and internationally.

Community Radio
The impact of Community Radio Stations on communities
Challenges facing Community Radio Stations
Sustainability
Advantages of Community Radio
Legal Framework
The Future of Community Radio
Conclusion

The emerging of advanced information communication technologies (ICTs) such as computers, radios, mobile phones and TV sets can thus be seen as an answer to addressing some of these challenges that have continued to hinder development in rural communities. Since the liberalization of the Zambian economy and the subsequent liberalization of airwaves, more than 10 years ago, Zambia has witnessed an increase in Community Radio Stations being set up. These now spread across the eight provinces of the country except for North - Western province.

Although there is no clear definition as to what constitutes a community radio station, there are more than ten radio stations that have been branded under community radio, namely Radio Icengelo of Kitwe town on The Copperbelt province of Zambia, Radio Maria In Chipata, Eastern province of Zamba, Radio Chikuni in Monze, Southern Province, Radio Mazabuka in Mazabuka, Southern Province and Mosi-o-Tunya radio in Livingstone, The tourist town of Zambia in the South. Others are Radio Lundazi in Lundazi, Eastern Province, Yatsani Radio in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, Petauke Explores and Pasme in Petauke, Southern Province, Mpangwe, Radio Mukushi in Mukushi, central province and Radio Mano in Kasama Northern Province.

All these radio stations broadcast within the range of 50 to 150 Kilometers and evidently cover all the corners of the country which consists of a total population of about 11 million inhabitants However, some people have their own definitions of Community radio stations and have identified common grounds that they think make up a community radio station.

"To me a community radio is one that broadcasts to suit the needs of a particular community with the aim of fostering development through its programming. Ownership does not necessarily have to be by the community as long as the community has access to that media and issues are really taken from their needs" says Maumbi Mwendalubi, operations manager at Mosi-o-Tunya Radio Station, a community radio station based in Livingstone about 500 kilometers South of Zambia's capital city Lusaka. According to Mwendalubi, a community radio should also be affordable and diverse in that it's got to cater across all age groups, cultural and religious differences.

Kelvin Chibomba is Station Manager at Radio Mazabuka FM; another community radio station based in Southern province. "To me a community radio station first and foremost is demanded, set up and funded by the community" says Chibomba. According to Chibomba, It is the community which initiates the idea and they own it by funding it through community contribution. It must be non-profit whose interest is only to serve the community and addressing the concerns they are facing. "It must be community driven, Accessible, Accountable, Affordable, Available and Acceptable. If a radio station has these features, then you can safely say it is a community radio station" he says.

There is no doubt that since their introduction, community radio stations have played a vital role in the development of our country through their programmes. In Mazabuka for example, the community radio station has introduced a number of programmes that are already having an impact on the lives of the people. One such programme is the one called community focus groups. Through this programme, farmers and other interest groups are asked to identify key issues, which are later aired on radio. Government officials are also invited to respond to some concerns raised by the various community radio focus groups. With support from the donor community, the station has distributed small radio sets to about 40 villages and people are able to listen to government officials responding to concerns raised.

Another practical example is the setting up of literacy classes for women who were unable to read and write. The women complained through the radio that they were unable to read and write and wanted government to help them by opening literacy classes. Government through the district administration responded by setting up literacy classes for women in Ndeka Township in Mazabuka. There are now 32 women attending literacy classes in the area.

A similar project is currently being undertaken by PANOS Southern Africa called Development Through Radio (DTR). The aim of this project is to promote the use of radio as a vehicle for increasing women's access to relevant information, encouraging debate, and thereby strengthening democratic and development processes. The project also aims at providing a network for the exchange of information, expertise and resources between women in Zambia and to break down the sense of isolation felt by many marginalized communities and in particular rural women. The project was established in 1998 and there are currently 13 listening groups divided into three groups each of them with a radio cassette recorder. They meet at a local venue on a weekly basis to listening to their programmes at 13:30 hours and later record a programme.

Each week, listening groups of a particular community gather to listen to a programme based on issues that are relevant to them. Topics include the lack of clean and safe drinking water in villages and income-generating projects for women. The project coordinator then collects the recorded tapes on a weekly basis. The project producer from the national broadcaster, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) then arranges to record responses from relevant actors to the problems and issues of interest expressed by the clubs. Outside actors include government officials, health professionals, business executives, and local NGO's or international organizations. For example, an issue about safe and clean water would require someone from the Ministry of Energy and Water Development to respond.

Talking about the advantages of Radio Listening Clubs, Simon Mwila from ZNBC, who was also instrumental in establishing the project says, "Radio as a communication medium offers greater outreach than any medium." Mwila feels that the high cost of radio sets makes listening clubs a cost effective way of gaining radio access. "It's good because it involves people listening in groups, interacting, discussing and debating on everyday issues seen from their unique perspective," says Mwila. According to Mwila, Radio Listening Clubs empower people by creating awareness of how to exercise one's rights at the same time, breaking the sense of isolation often felt by rural people in many countries.

Another successful story of how community radio stations are helping the community is the one where farmers in Mazabuka are now able to receive their farming input on time because they are always in touch with government officials through the radio. Before the station was set up, farmers had little or no information about the availability of farming in-puts and were forced to travel to Lusaka to buy inputs. With the coming of foot and mouth disease in the area, through the radio, farmers are advised on how to look after their animals well.

Mazabuka being a transit point for those travelling either to Lusaka or Livingstone has attracted a lot of commercial sex workers and at one time, was leading with the highest levels of HIV infections in the country. As a way of contributing to the fight against AIDS, Radio Mazabuka has launch a lifestyle programme targeted at both youths and married couples. Mercy Kaboyi 25 of Spills Compound, who has benefited from the programme, testifies to how her marriage was saved from the deadly HIV/AIDS. "I had a problem with my husband. He used to sleep around with women, so I decided to write to the radio station, there is a lifestyle programme where they respond to people's problems. The programme was aired and my husband listened to it. He has since changed his behaviour, and no longer comes home late. I was prompted to report because I was scared he might infect me with the HIV virus if I left the problem like that," she said. Kaboyi further adds that, "The other programme I like listening to is on orphans, vulnerable children and widows. Before we had this radio station, we had a lot of property grabbing taking place. The Tonga culture is such that when a man dies, the family would come to take his properties. Through this programme, people have been educated to respect widows and where there is a will, to honour it."

Nasutu Nawa is a regular listener to Mosi-o-tunya Radio and admits that the community radio station is playing a big role in sensitizing people about the dangers of HIV and AIDS in Livingstone. "Radio Mosi-o-tunya is trying, they have introduced a programme called the Quest, they play music and later a competition about HIV and AIDS messages," she says. According to Nawa, she has seen change among youths with regards to their behaviour although she cannot entirely attribute that to the radio station. "There is change in the way people behave now, maybe it is because of the same programme because it is famous especially with the kind of music that they play," she says.

Like any project, community radio stations have their own challenges that make it difficult for them to operate effectively. "We would like to reach the entire Livingstone, but the biggest challenge we have is transport. Currently we only have one vehicle, which is not even in good working condition. Often time, we depend on companies to provide transport, although ethically that is not good, but we have no choice. The other problem is that we lack things like tape recorders, Internet and many other tools that would make our work much easier," says Mwendalubi of Mosi-o-tunya. The problems at Mosi-o-tunya radio are almost the same problem with other community radio stations. "Our team cannot reach all the areas due to lack of transport. We only have one vehicle, which has to be used by the people in accounts, marketing and the newsroom. Our appeal to donors is that if they can help us acquire another vehicle," says Chibomba of Mazabuka Community Radio.

Since most of the problems that community radio stations face are similar, it is important that a common solution is found that would address some of the challenges. One such solution is Micro-link being spearheaded by Radio Yatsani. Micro-link is the networking of selected radio stations through the Internet. Through this project, 19 local radio stations will be linked together and be able to access programmes from another station. Although most of them are Catholic stations, a few commercial stations like QFM, Breeze FM, Mazabuka radio, Liyambayi and Radio Phoenix will be connected. The Catholic stations include, Icengelo, Chikuni, Mosi-o-Tunya and Radio Maria. According to Sister Celine, all participating stations will receive a computer each that will be used to monitor other stations.

Just like the Internet, radio stations will be able to monitor programmes being transmitted or aired by another radio station that is connected to the network. If interested in any of the programmes, any of the stations connected could either record the programme or transmit it live as being transmitted. The advantage is that there will be sharing of information on key issues such as HIV/AIDS and many other issues. "If there is any big news here in Lusaka that affects the whole nation and a community radio station in the rural area comes across that information, they can transmit it there and then." she said.

Setting up a radio station is one thing, sustaining it is yet another thing. Unlike commercial radio stations that depend on commercial adverts, community radio stations depends entirely on community contribution. But how is this issue being address by some of the community radio stations? "To start with, this building was constructed by the community. They have continued to help us a lot. We are also trying to raise a bit from advertising, but that is not enough," says Mwendalubi. "The community is the backbone of this radio station, there is no question about that. Without them, we are nothing," adds Chibomba of Mazabuka. In the case of radio Mazabuka, management has targeted commercial farmers for sponsorship of community programmes. This is proving successful, as the station is now able to raise enough to sustain the operations of the station. "Some NGOs are also coming forward to sponsor programmes on HIV and AIDS, Human Rights and other issues." he says.

Although community radio is relatively a new idea in most African countries, its advantages surpass that of commercial and national broadcasters. This is because community radio is low cost, easy to operate, reaches all members of the community in their own languages and, as a local, grass-root media, it maximizes the potential for development to be drawn from sharing information, knowledge and skills within the community.

Although there has been a number of a radio stations set up in the country, the lack of a clear policy on community radio stations and ICT has been identified as a major obstacle. For example, the ICT policy has been in draft form for a long time now, and yet this is the document that is supposed to act as a guide to all those involved in the use and provision of ICT services.

As observed by Chibomba of Mazabuka Radio, the lack of a clear definition about what constitutes a community radio station can be traced to government's failure to come up with a policy on community radio stations. Though there are guidelines on how to apply for a radio station, they do not make any attempt to distinguish among 'community', 'commercial' and public broadcasting. Some might point to the 1996 Information and Media Policy paper issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services. While it does mention 'community radio', it does so in a brief manner, without any analysis of the context within which it can be carried on. No specific criteria are set, no definitions, no matter how problematic, are proffered; and certainly no attempt is made to treat the community media sector as an evolving discipline finding its place side by side with other more entrenched forms of mass communication.

It is apparent that the impact and future of broadcasting in Africa and Zambia in particular lies in community radio stations. The country will continue to witness more stations representing interest groups in society and so benefit from experiences of such radio stations.

It can therefore be said that community radio, if well utilized to empower communities, can be a good tool to stimulate development in our country. For a long time now, radio has exclusively been in the hands of media professionals, who usually don't seem to understand the problems that the communities face.

The sector has great potential to grow but it is bedevilled by a lot of problems. They range from policy ambivalence to financial incapacity. In some cases the involvement of the community is not clear but could be attributed to the newness of the concept. The earlier the policy both on ICTs and community radio station is put in place the better because they will also address issues such as definitions and acceptable quotas of local content in any community radio station and many other issues that surround ICTs. It would not be far fetched to suggest that a deeper, more inclusive process of consultation is undertaken in order for the policy framework to be comprehensive.