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Community
Radio Coordination ...
The Coordination Nucleus of the Community Radio "family" in Mozambique
held its inaugural meeting October the 2nd in Maputo, to start
discussions
The group also considers legal reform discussions on media legislation in general and on community radio in particular as another subject of major interest. The government, through the Information Office Cabinet (GABINFO) welcomed contributions from the Coordinnation Nucleus in a debate sheduled to start soon on possible law reforms concerning particularly community radio in Mozambique. In preparation of its first action plan, the Coordination Nucleus concentred on a series of practical questionnaires to be sent to all radio-partners with the objective of allowing a first, much reliable information on the prevailing panorama in terms of technological options and maintenance and repair capacity; the general academic and technical level of the staff, the financial resources availabl and/ or the existing capacity to fundraise. The national community radio seminar in June agreed that these are the three main areas of concern and priority for the community radio "movement" in general in the country and asked the coordination nucleus to take them as key points for the crucial debate on sustainability. The UNESCO/UNDP Media Development Project is hosting a two days meeting with three Wave II Community Radio (CR) partners, namely Metangula, Milange and Dondo. The meeting will take place 18-19 October, with participation of the president of the local Community Radio Associations, as well as the members of the respective Management Committees. The communities representatives are expected to bring with them the Action and Strategic Plans for deep discussions in order to strengthen the group's activities related to the creation of CR's including training through process coach. The Media Project will also brief the communities on how to work with the Activity Financing Contract signed by both parts, wich allow the disbursement of funds, as well as the establishment of UNESCO'S administrative and financial accounting procedures. The newly elected Management Committee in Cuamba has also been invited for the meeting, in a move aimed at allowing them to get familiarized with the overall UNESCO'S philosophy and procedures concerning the community radio component. The Media Project considers training as one of fundamental actions to guarantee solid and sustainable structures of the CR'S. This is the reason behind the organization of a meeting with all the coaches and mobilisers involved in training activities in both Wave I and Wave II CR's, which will take place 23-24 October in Quelimane. The meeting will evaluate the training activities carried out since June this year, and make plans for the next three months. The Project team, the coaches and the mobilisers will identify training needs for a very crucial period of the station's existence, with their first day's transmission exercises, taking infto account the fact that the equipment would be already installed before the end of the year in some stations.
The so-called capital of the northern region of Mozambique, Nampula, hosted the third course organized by the Media Project on HIV/AIDS. A total of 19 participants coming from provinces of Nampula, Cabo Delgado, Niassa and Zambézia attended the course, monitored by a specialist in HIV/AIDS coverage, Ms. Mercedes Sayagues. During the evaluation sessions with UNESCO, the participants said they were fascinated with the perfomance of the monitor, the content quality of the course and the teaching material distributed. The participants suggested that the Media Project should organize more training courses on the subject and to created an opportunity of experience exchange among the participants of the first two courses, held in Maputo and Beira. A process to revitalize the Community Radio association structures in Cuamba was finalized in September, at the end of four-mount work carried out locally by a consultant. Following a leadership crisis withing the two maing organizational structures of the community radio in April this year- the Management Committee and the Executive Board-new strutures were created, and the consultant helped them to get synchonized with their specific tasks and, more importantly, with the community.
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