As the illiteracy rate in the rural areas is still high, radio is the most commonly used medium of the rural people in Cambodia to receive information, with almost every family in the provinces owning a radio set. Although provincial radio stations do exist in more than 10 provinces in Cambodia, most of their programming content is relayed from the Radio Nationale Kampuchea (RNK) in Phnom Penh. Therefore, the majority of programmes do not serve the specific requirements of the community people since the information needs of provincial people are different, not least in geographical terms. It is important that the community members who are the target listeners of these provincial radios obtain the maximum possible from local programmes.
 
In general however, provincial radio stations lack the professional capacities of media workers/programme producers/radio reporters and capacities of media associations required in order to produce effective community-based radio programmes which respond to the needs of their listeners. It is therefore necessary that that provincial radio staff be given training, particularly on how to produce community-based radio programmes to better serve their target local listeners. Since the Department of Media & Communication (DMC) of the Cambodia Communication Institute (CCI) is the leading academic force in journalism education and training in Cambodia, it is the most suitable institution to provide such training assistance.
 
The purpose of this project is therefore to equip and upgrade the skills of the existing provincial radio staff to enable them to produce sustainable community-based radio programmes serving the ten provinces, thus assisting to develop community media.