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AMARC Ends Succesful Mission to update the assessment of community media in Tunisia.
A delegation set together by the World Association of Community Radios (AMARC) finalized its mission this Tuesday, December 18, 2012 with the presentation of a preliminary report to community radio stakeholders.
The goal of the mission was to identify current and potential community media actors, their professional needs and their advocacy capacity to strengthen the impact of community and local media in the Tunisian democratic process.
The mission which began on December 3rd met with civil society actors in 16 cities in Tunisia: Bou Salem, Jendouba, Kasserine, Sidi-Bouzid, Regueb, Gafsa, Tozeur, Kebili, Médenine, Gabès, Mahdia, Kairouan, Sousse, Hammamet, Bizerte and Tunis. Furthermore, AMARC organized 9 round-tables with civil society members, with more than 150 regional associations invited to express themselves on their expectations for community and local media.
The mission also identified more than 30 active local community radio projects in Tunisia on the FM band or on the Internet. The mission led by AMARC was thus able to confirm the will of civil society at the regional level to create and support community media.
The mission also identified a series of problems that slow down the development of community media in Tunisia: lack of technical equipment and training, the prohibitive costs for broadcasting set by the Office nationale de télédiffusion (ONT, the national broadcasting agency), and the absence of legal status for community radios.
The mission also met with some of the political and regulatory authorities responsible for media, with parliamentarians, partners and experts, in order to better determine the challenges involved in strengthening the sector. On December 18th, the mission organized a public presentation of its preliminary report on community and local radio, together with a number of recommendations. At this event, the participants called for a national advocacy strategy for community and local media in Tunisia.To read the Declaration please click here. To support the declaration send an email to secretariat@si.amarc.org.
The mission was made up of Mr. Mohamed Leghtas, of the civil society portal E-Joussour, Salah Fourti, from the Syndicat Tunisien des radios libres (STRL), Xavier Cuvier, representative of AMARC in Tunisia for the mission, and Marcelo Solervicens, Secretary General of AMARC. Alexandre Delvaux, Coordinator of the Group of Technical and Financial Partners Supporting the Tunisian Media Sector, also participated in the mission, which also had the support of the international NGO Article 19.
The mission received financial support from Swiss Cooperation, UNESCO, IMS and Oxfam.
