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Community Radio for Development E-Discussion
Background Briefing Paper
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Guidelines for Achieving sustainability in community radio
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Final report Alfonso Gumucio
Phase summaries
In recent years, the approach to sustainability for community media has
id21 Home greatly evolved. Several research projects and the resulting reports and
publications, have provided a new perspective to the concept of
sustainability, which for too long has been restricted to funding. There are
still many for whom sustainability is a financial issue; however, this has id21 is enabled by the UK
proved insufficient and the new concept considers not only financial Government Department
sustainability, but above all social sustainability and also institutional for International
sustainability. These three are the legs that ensure comprehensive and Development
long-term sustainability. (www.dfid.gov.uk) and is
one of a family of
Social sustainability has everything to do with community participation. So
knowledge services
many vertical communication projects have failed in spite of their good
provided by the Institute of
intentions because their patronising approach meant the community was
Development Studies
not involved. If the community does not participate from the very inception
(www.ids.ac.uk/ids), at the
of a particular initiative it is unlikely that ownership will be ensured in the
University of Sussex, UK.
long run. Only communities that “appropriate” a communication process
Charitable Company No:
can make it socially sustainable. A paradigmatic example which I’ve
877338. id21 is a
mentioned many times before (but I do it once more since many still do not
oneworld.net
know about it) is the miners’ radio stations in Bolivia, my home country.
(www.oneworld.net) partner
From the 1960s to the 1980s, mine workers controlled more than 20 radio
and a mediachannel
stations. They defended these stations with their lives when the army
affiliate
attacked them, during military coups. The only reason is because the
(www.mediachannel.org).
stations were part of the community and the workers had “appropriated” the
communication process, which is more complex than getting to run the
equipment and the programming. During this week, we should discuss how
communication projects are really decided at the community level. Who
drives the process? How is the community involved in decision-making?

Institutional sustainability is important in terms of strengthening the local

organisation and the internal democratic process. However, it is usually
subject to numerous external conditions. For example, countries that do not
have proper legislation on community radio will run into trouble when the
frequencies get saturated. This happened in some countries in Latin
America, such as Guatemala, with serious impact on indigenous radio
stations that were then declared “pirate” when the frequencies they had
obtained in the past through benevolent governments, were put to bid and
grabbed by the powerful networks. Legislation that limits the power of
transmitters or the percentage of advertising in community radio stations
would be discriminatory. The issue of legislation is thus of crucial
importance in those countries living in democracy. Unfortunately, some
international organizations like the World Bank have played a contradictory
role, supporting on the one hand the proliferation of indigenous radio
stations, but on the other hand putting pressures on governments for the
privatisation of air waves, in flagrant violation of the right to use this natural
resource for the collective benefit. We could also discuss during this week
the double-standards of many development agencies, currently putting in
practice vertical communication approaches, very close to public relations

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and dissemination of information, while their discourse often includes the

words “participation” and “ownership”. I could contribute with a first hand
example in Mozambique, where the local UNICEF office vetoed with no
explanation a national communication strategy to combat HIV/AIDS which
had been developed through a comprehensive participatory process
involving more than 40 organisations. How determinant is legislation for the
sustainability of community radio? What to do with development agencies
that actually discourage participatory processes and are more inclined to
public relation activities? Perfectly designed and funded projects can fail if
they have to face the above circumstances.

Financial sustainability has much to do with the social and institutional

environment. Clearly, a proper legislation that protects community radio
stations’ right to communicate would facilitate acquiring funding, both from
national and international sources. Likewise, if development agencies were
consistent in their support to participatory processes, the funds currently
assigned to elevate the profile of the country director or the minister of
health or education would instead contribute to strengthen the voices of
communities. Moreover, funding doesn’t necessarily have to come from
international sources. Governments should have a responsibility over
community radio stations because of their educational and cultural
importance, the same way they fund libraries or the National Orchestra.
And there is also funding from the communities: radio stations were so
important for the impoverished mine workers of Bolivia that they
contributed to their financial sustainability by donating one day of their
salary. If poor miners can do it, there is no reason why other communities
wouldn’t, unless they don’t really believe in it. How do we decide on the
“cost” of running a radio station? Are those community radios stations that
start with funding, equipment, studios, staff training the most sustainable?

As a moderator of the discussion, I would like participants to exchange

ideas and experiences, but to avoid doing a PR presentation on how good
is the work they do is. Many of these email discussions end up being a
collection of presentations of people that don’t seem to want to look at
others’ ideas and experience. Telling about your personal experience is
good, as long as it doesn’t become another promotional outlet for
institutions. We want to debate ideas, perspectives and experiences, but
with the aim of coming out of our respective shells towards a common
understanding of what is needed and what the challenges ahead are.

I would like to point to several sources that may help to understand and
develop the discussion along the lines briefly expressed above. One very
important one is the research project “La Practica Inspira” carried by a
team of researchers from Latin America during 2003-2004, and covering
more than 40 community and independent radio stations in the region, with
the specific task of looking at their sustainability. The final report, compiled
by Victor van Oeyen, Andres Geerts and Claudia Villaseñor, was published
by AMARC and ALER, but unfortunately it is only available in Spanish.
Alan O’Connor has published in English a book containing his analysis and
numerous texts by Bolivian authors, on the long-lasting experience of the
miners’ radio stations: "Community Radio In Bolivia: The Miners' Radio
Station”. Another important book is “The One to Watch”, by Bruce Girard,
where I have a chapter on sustainability of community media. The book
can be downloaded in both English and Spanish.

Read the summary of week two's discussion

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Views expressed in the discussion are not necessarily those of DFID,

IDS, id21 or other contributing institutions.
Copyright © 2003 id21. All rights reserved.

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