Doko Radio

Description

Doko Radio started off on its first journey on March 16, 2007 to Barpak, a VDC in Gorkha District in Nepal. With Antenna Foundation Network (AFN), Doko Radio team (suitcase radio) travels to remote areas of Nepal by carrying along simple radio equipment to be used in producing local radio programs and transmitting them locally. The team is stationed for approximately a week in each location in order to provide ample time for the technology to be absorbed by the locals.The Doko visits enable local community members to talk about their issues. The programs produced and aired during Doko events focus on pertinent local issues such as tourism, agriculture, public service delivery, local democracy etc. The Doko locations are chosen for their deprived status of any prominent national (SW) or local (FM) radio waves, while touching the lives of more than 50,000 rural community people.

What we deliver

The Doko Radio is a temporary radio station in itself and offers the community it visits with a chance to experience the power of a local radio station in the community. The temporary ‘FM station’ airs radio reports and features, news, and hosts live discussions in the community. Programs are broadcast for three hours in the morning followed by a rebroadcast in the evening. Doko Radio also facilitates and airs local group discussions on various social, political and contemporary issues. The Doko team travels to various districts while ensuring geographic, ethnic and socio-economic diversity. The locals are also exposed to a multi-media event whereby they receive radio sets and CDs, tapes as well as print materials on awareness raising issues. Doko Crew also make provisions for documentary and film screening to raise mass awareness about democracy, rights and duties as well as the peace process. Public hearings are held and opinions of people are collected. Usually, the group discussions are aired live in the morning and an edited version is transmitted in the evening. Besides broadcasting group discussions, cultural programs, folklores and poems are recorded and aired by Doko Radio. Public service announcements on issues such as domestic violence, right of a girl-child to education etc are aired along selected radio programs produced by AFN. The content varies from a range of information on constituent assembly, peace and reconstruction, civic responsibility etc.

Whom we deliver

By taking information to the doorsteps of the people and equipping them with vital knowledge, Doko Radio has created a unique role for itself in promoting a smooth democratic transition. By holding and airing group discussions among the locals, the political party representatives and the civil servants, Doko Radio aims to encourage democratic practice. To increase citizen participation in transition structures and processes, Doko Radio travels around various remote areas of Nepal acting as a catalyst for positive change. Doko Radio’s programs are participatory in nature and the locals are encouraged to express their opinions. This gives the local leaders and intellectuals an opportunity to voice their opinions as well as provides the locals a platform to put across their grievances. Doko Radio thus opens up avenues for citizen participation and also encourages the locals to engage themselves in dialogues with representatives of the government, various political parties, local leaders, teachers, intellectuals, youth, and local organizations.

Why is the project unique?

This project is unique because it enables rural communities (even without any access to electricity, telephones or roads) to get a taste of sharing information within the communities. With the help of the radio station, the communities could now share their information, news and also discuss on locally relevant issues amongst themselves. The uniqueness of this project also lies in the fact that one single doko set can be taken to various places and set up temporarily for a couple of days before moving on to a new location. The doko radio can even be set up permanently at any location provided adequate manpower is trained before the radio operations are initiated. As Doko Radio is an innovative, pioneer project, it has been as much a learning experience for the team members as for the community where the Doko Radio was stationed. The chosen field sites are very remote places of Nepal and hence planning to the last detail was not possible, neither recommended. A lot needed to be improvised on the spot and consequently, one had to be flexible. Emotions of the local people have to be accommodated as much as possible. Paying too much detail only about the technical part can alienate the people and discourage them from engaging themselves with information technology. Following a too rigid pattern of work can impede the objective of involving the locals.

Roadmap

The success of Doko Radio First phase encouraged AFN to launch Doko Radio: Phase II and Phase III. Phase II of Doko Radio was much grander and extensive both in terms of coverage area as well as number of beneficiaries. Doko team collaborated with five different community radio stations, one each from the five development zones of Nepal. Each of the radio station also received an audio capable laptop, professional sound card, field recorders and microphones. Prior to the commencement of Doko Radio’s travel to the remote areas, each radio station assigned two of its reporters to be trained by the Doko crew members. Capacity development of these journalists entailed facilitating group discussions at the grassroots level, identifying and addressing issues about the democracy, Constituent Assembly etc and developing relevant radio programs and other professional skills. Prior to the commencement of Doko Radio, when the dream of traveling to remote areas with a team and a mobile broadcasting unit was shared, skepticism ran high. Many people didn’t see the point of temporary transmission and did not believe in the usefulness of Doko Radio. However with successful transmission in 26 different locations and judging by how well Doko Radio was received at each field site, AFN can aver that the initiative taken has shown positive results. Apart from the technical aspect, the materials collected and the meetings with interesting individuals have made Doko Radio an art project. Field observations and numerous interviews have shown that people are very enthusiastic in embracing a technology that helps in broadcasting their news and views. Doko Radio, during its temporary stay in the various locations successfully gave voice to the voiceless. It represents something of a novelty and managed to captivate the people. Not only did Doko Radio inculcate a habit of tuning in to the radio, but also successfully increased the thirst for information among the locals. It demonstrated the feasibility of low-cost solutions in answer to the mainstream media that hardly addresses the need of the local people. Judging by the interest generated and enthusiasm shown by the locals, Doko Radio crew and AFN envisage a spurt in the growth of community radios.

Contact

Antenna Foundation Nepal

Madhu Acharya

GPO Box 24225, Kathmandu

Nepal

URL/Website – http://www.afn.org.np/