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Compiled by Maria Teresa Aveggio, Programme Manager, with reporting provided by Indira Ramesh, coordinator, Himalaya Trust.
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One of the main questions communicators hear when organising a radio training session is “what subject can I make a programme on?" But there was no shortage of ideas when 20 trainees participating in a WACC-supported project with the Himalaya Trust in the hill state of Uttarakhand were asked to create radio programmes content.
The impact of forest fires on the environment and agriculture, the need for educating the girl child, the issue of addiction to alcohol leading to domestic violence, etc. were all topics of great interest to the villagers. They were being trained to run small community radio stations in the villages in the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains. |
| Participants at the radio training forum. |
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During the four-day training, the group learnt different research techniques, including data collection, to develop programme content while embarking on the creation of a Message Matrix to allow them to map programme ideas. After creating exhaustive matrices on two development issues – primary education and mountain agriculture – trainees learnt how complex a given topic is. They saw how important it is to facilitate a spectrum of ideas and awareness and get field data rather than make assumptions from the studio.
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The participants were also asked to communicate through story telling using radio drama or theatre. They analysed the plots suggested to ensure they fulfilled the aim of the presentations. For example, a group created a play in which the girl child was asked to do house work, but the boy was sent to school. The solution devised in the play was that the girl child would eventually be sent to school because of free uniforms and books from the government, but also the girl child would come back and help the mother. Participants realised that this solution did not address the root of the attitude that girls had to maintain the home. It was not realistic to expect that the girl child should study and work everyday. |
The final stage of the training was the creation of digital stories. After learning how to operate a camera, participants had to create images and record narratives to produce 3-minute digital stories.
Even though the final workshop will not take place until the end of November, feedback from the trainees indicates that there have been important outcomes already. Perhaps one of the most important, in terms of these most impoverished of mountain communities in the Western Himalaya (India), is that they have begun to see radio as a medium for social change.
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Indira Ramesh, coordinator and trainer said that, “The drama form brought greater clarity of issues to the trainees. After seeing the short presentations, trainees were asked to imagine or identify the possibilities of some social change which could emerge as their programme impact. They understood that each programme issue could potentially be planned as a series, with each having an objective which linked up to a larger objective in order to have a sustained impact, as well as to give space to different points of view. They would also need to contribute some research and analysis which could enrich the program content and lead to a clearer understanding of the issue for the community as well.” |
The Himalaya Trust was set up in 1993 in response to the need expressed by a group of social and environmental grassroots activists for a forum to address critical issues of environmental degradation which has led to the increasing impoverishment of mountain communities in the Western Himalaya (India).The Himalaya Trust works with small communities on awareness raising and skill development to improve access to knowledge and livelihood options in the state of Uttarakhand, in northern India. The current project is being supported under WACC’s Building and Recognising Communication Rights Programme.
For further information, contact:
Ms Indira Ramesh, the Himalaya Trust coordinator
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