Maldives is a unique country with its population of just over 300,000 spread across some 1200 coral islands, some hundreds of kilometres apart. Thus, broadcast media, especially radio, plays an important role in keeping the country’s far-flung population connected and informed. Recent years have seen a significant improvement in the level of media freedom and independence in the country, with the government allowing the establishment of private newspapers, radio and television. In May 2007, the government highlighted four main pillars of the media reform process, namely confidence building measures, introducing private media, creating a legal framework for the media and undertaking training. In 2009, in an assessment of media development in the Maldives, UNESCO recommended that a legal framework for broadcasting should provide specifically for the licensing of community broadcasters, and, support should be extended by the government to promote community broadcasting in the Maldives.

This project addresses the above need, taking into account Maldives’ unique geographic and population situation where small atolls may not be able to support and sustain an independent community radio broadcaster. As the national radio broadcaster with a nation-wide coverage, Voice of Maldives (VOM) is heard in most atoll communities. Thus, VOM could play an important role in introducing a community based broadcasting model, where trained stringers from the community could produce material from a community perspective to broadcast back to the communities via VOM. As the UNESCO report itself indicated, Maldives sometimes lacks trained staff to operate media services. Community media is one such area. Thus, this project to be implemented with the assistance of international expertise on community media will address this important training need to promote community broadcasting in the Maldives.