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EDUCONS: Caribbean Internet Radio Portal: Expanding the reach and impact of community radio stations

Year when project approved: 
2008
Approved budget: 
US$33 000.00

The UNESCO-supported CMC project in the Caribbean has produced exciting individual results of territories extending their creativity to conceive content, relevant to specific challenges in the community. The initial support received for the piloting of Caribbean Internet Radio Portal (CIRP) ? mcclinks website ? has provided an opportunity to integrate those activities as one Caribbean approach to develop CMCs as tools for poverty alleviation and the strengthening of democracy and good governance through freedom of expression and access to information. CIRP is a collective representative of the communities it serves. The results are around us, whether it is Radio Toco with its successes in heightening community HIV-awareness and responsible sexual behaviour in Toco, Trinidad, or Radio Paiwomak and its inroads into environmental awareness and protection in the Guyanese rainforest, or else Roots FM and its community outreach in uniting communities in the face of escalating crime. The indicators are clear that community radio, especially when complemented with IT applications, is a powerful tool for social development. This project proposes to strengthen the reach and impact of community radio stations in the Caribbean while facilitating networking of these small community radio stations by offering online live streaming facilities to these CMC, interactive web-based presence and training of community media practitioners in online journalism and online broadcasting. The immediate objective is to train 120 core team members from the Caribbean CMC Network in online journalism and broadcasting, and to strengthen the networking of CMCs in the region through an interactive portal that facilitate sharing of radio programmes. The development objective is to establish an online regional information medium that will enable networking of CMCs in the region, be accessible by marginalized groups, facilitate increased local content development and sharing of information and knowledge, thereby strengthening media pluralism and freedom of expression.

Documents
Full project description: 
EDUCONS - Caribbean Internet Radio Portal.pdf
Full implementation report: 
Reg. Project - Caribbean Internet Radio Portal - Expanding CR Stations.pdf
Project details
IPDC Bureau meeting nº: 
52

Implementation status :

Project evaluated:

Project scope:

IPDC Priority:

Budget
Budget code: 
354-RLA-5073

Source of funds:

Beneficiary
Beneficiary name: 
Caribbean Network of Community Multimedia Centres

Beneficiary country:

Beneficiary type:

Location and contacts
UNESCO
Responsible UNESCO Regional advisers: 

Isidro Fernandez Aballi, i.fernandez@unesco.org;

UNESCO Field Office:

Project contacts: 

Mervin Jarman, consulting partner of EDUCONS and Hamalali Garifuna Radio,

Project place: 
Suriname and Belize

Project region:

Follow-up and achievments
Summary of the project implementation: 

This project experienced delays. Additional assistance was sought from the Commonwealth of Learning based on a MOU between the two organisations. In that framework, in November 2008 in St Vincent and the Grenadines a regional workshop was held on the use of media for learning in the Caribbean. Sixteen CMC media workers from across the Caribbean participated in the workshop. The project was finalized with the development of a Caribbean CMC of a workshop and consultation meeting held from 10-12 March 2010 in Trinidad and Tobago organized by the UNESCO National Commission. The workshop and meeting contributed to consolidating the Caribbean CMC network, updating the software platform on Internet radio streaming and the mcclinks portal, to develop an open discussion on CMC sustainability and to update CMC Paramaribo Declaration.

Achieved outputs: 
When completed, the project yielded the following results: 16 CMC media professionals trained on the use of media for learning; 20 Caribbean CMC trained and updated on Internet radio streaming and not less than 15 CMCs will be transmitting on Internet and linked at www.mcclinks.com; MCCLINKS portal website functionality increased; Caribbean CMC network relaunched and fostered; Caribbean CMC sustainability improved.