Challenges

CHALLENGES TO COMMUNITY RADIO
Community Radio plays a central role in community development. To play this role they need to provide quality programmes to ensure continued audience, and support from the community. It has been a great success in developed nations but has lacked in developing countries because of illiteracy and lack of awareness among people. Community radio faces the challenges in effective and quality programme production in terms of content, production quality and community involvement:

• A high turnover of staff that causes a lack of journalistic and technical skills and thus a consistent demand for training. Training on offer in most countries does not address the specific needs of Community Radio.
• Community Radio derives its strength and popularity from community participation. In practise participation is harder than it seems, because it is labour intensive, requires the right attitude, skills and mobile equipment.
• Without proper management skills, as well as some knowledge of financial management and income generation, it is very hard for Community Radio to survive without donor funding, which will always, eventually, dry up.
• Community Radio is by definition relatively small and often situated in locations where basic services, like a constant supply of electricity, are lacking. Due to these conditions equipment suffers and needs to be vigorously maintained and/or regularly replaced.
• In many countries there is still a lack of a clear regulatory framework in which Community Radio operates.

Among the various challenges faced by the community radio, the participation from the people is the major one and no community radio can survive without participation of people as it demands 70% participation of the community people. To ensure people participation essentially the leaders of the community: which include the elected and the religious authorities as well as the informal but also influential opinion leaders must be part of consultation process. But equally important is a consultation process that involves the community at large. Group discussions with various sectors in the community like farmers, fisherman, shop-owners, teachers, artisans, etc. are essential. It is also crucial to consult women and youth, who are traditionally marginalized in many rural societies.