Eritrean Voices

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CRAM Article November 2004: Radio and Women from the Horn of Africa

Radio produced for and by emerging communities like those from the Horn of Africa, is a precious resource, desperately listened to for it’s local content in the right language from their own cultural perspectives. The lack of airtime particularly hurts new migrants for whom radio can help overcome isolation that many face - especially women, those with little English, or income. 3CR offers the only half hour radio program for four Horn of African communities in Melbourne.

Women are under-represented as broadcasters generally, so 3CR, with Accent of Women broadcasters, conducted a 2 day radio induction seminar and training program to increase the number of women from the Horn of Africa on air. (Currently there are 5 Horn of African programs on 3CR.

On June 27 and July 3 2004, a group of 2 trainers, a facilitator, 17 women, their 7 children and 3 childcare workers sat down together to learn about what it meant for women from the Horn of Africa to participate and learn about radio, what they were accessing from current broadcasting, and what they would like in the long term.

The radio induction included basic radio production and introductions to radio stations including tours of 3CR, 3ZZZ and SBS. There were also meetings with broadcasters providing rare dialogue between audience and media maker, with discussion around program content, and experiences working as volunteer and paid broadcasters. There were suggestions for the current producers (mostly men) about how to address issues specifically relevant for women in their communities.

We want to promote radio to augment the identity of women from the Horn of Africa in the broader community. Urging women to start broadcasting and so public voices to drive community debate requires skill–sharing, support and confidence building. Post workshop, many more women have queued up to participate in similar and further training programs, and 5 women from this group have just completed their Certificate III in Radio Broadcasting.

The project was supported by the NEMBC’s and the CBF. Thanks to the programmers from SBS, 3ZZZ and 3CR who spent time engaging with the women by presenting at the seminar.

By Indira Narayan