Community Radio Managers have been called upon to give high importance to the ongoing social sustainability training, as the session will determine the future of not only the project, but also their respective stations.
Christophe Legay, Coordinator, SDC Project at UNESCO made the call in Dar es Salaam on August 26, 2019 during the first day of the session.
According to Legay, all elements have been put together to facilitate and to make Community Radios to grow and change.
Take whatever you learn here with high considerations and high professionalism, as the elements you learn here will always be useful in your professional careers said Legay.
He said the whole idea behind the social sustainability training is interaction and the smooth progress towards the results that UNESCO wants to achieve in the project.
Reiterated UNESCO’s commitment to support the community media development as well as the Network of Community Media Network in Tanzania (TADIO), mentioning the entity as a very important strategy to sustain CRs in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar.
The network is there to provide services, to advocate within the government, as it is very important in terms of sustainability hoping it will allow CRs to operate in a very friendly environment, summed Legay.
For her part, a facilitator during the session Mafelile Molala said the social sustainability training is a continuous process and strategic thinking on how managers ought to sustain their radios.
We need people who are committed and we need people who can influence change, summed Molala.
The overall objective of the social sustainability is to enhance the capacities of community radios on organizational management and strategic planning, financial management, social inclusion including community participation, communication and visibility and marketing strategies to foster CR sustainability.
The same training is taking place in Iringa, Arusha and Sengerema involving 72 participants from 25 community radio stations.
In Tanzania, UNESCO through funding from the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) supports 25 community radios and the network of community media in Tanzania (TADIO).
The support is meant to ensure that people in Tanzania, especially the poor, women and girls, have the capacity to make informed decisions on issues that affect their daily lives based on access to relevant, culturally appropriate, gender-responsive accurate information and knowledge.
Source:R.Mwalongo