WSIS Prepcom II Intervention by the Community Media Working Group
on the draft Political Chapeau and Implementation Plan (specifically
addressing Chapter 2 on Financing)
Read by Lettie Longwe
Madam Chairperson.
My name is Lettie Longwe and I speak on behalf of the Community
Media Working Group. I thank you for the opportunity to address
the question of financing mechanisms for ICT for development.
And let me say, first, that it would be better if we were to speak
about Communication for Development. For the question is not just
one of technologies but also, and more importantly, of people.
It is not only a question of access, infrastructure and connectivity,
but also one of language, literacy, education and human capacity.
When we speak about Communication for Development in the least
developed countries, Madam Chairperson, we are not only, or even
primarily, speaking about access to the Internet, but also about
radio and telephony oral media, that are more accessible, more
widespread and less expensive.
One of the findings which should have been given much higher profile
in the report of the Task Force on Funding Mechanisms, is the
specific and crucial role of community media in reaching out to
the poorest and most marginalized communities. This is a finding
which was endorsed last year at the United Nations Round Table
on Communications for Development held in Rome, in September,
and reinforced at the WSIS thematic conference on Media in Africa
and the Arab World, held in Marrakech, in November 2005.
Investment in community media has grown significantly in recent
years. We welcome, for example, the commitments made to community
media by the Swiss government at the Geneva Summit, in partnership
with UNESCO and the governments of Mozambique, Mali and Senegal.
We welcome the continuing support for community media that other
donor governments have made, such as Sweden, France and the United
Kingdom, and by other multilateral development agencies including
the UNDP and the World Bank.
However, Madam Chairperson, we also believe that there is not
only room for improvement in existing funding mechanisms but that
a new international fund for Community Media would have immediate
and strategic impact in the contribution of communications to
the achievement of the Millennium Development goals. In our experience,
approaches to investment in community media are not always flexible
to respond to need and to demand when it is expressed. There has
been success in small project-based investment but new approaches
are needed to address the challenge of scaling-up. We see a degree
of competition among donors which is not always helpful. Better
coordination is needed. We see a lack of experience among some
donors and some international NGOs in supporting capacity building
at the local level. More needs to be done to consult with and
involve civil society and community-based organisations in planning
and implementation.
Lastly, but not least, Madam Chairperson, we specifically propose,
as a first step, the establishment of a Community Radio Fund for
Africa. This would be to complement the Digital Solidarity Fund.
What we are proposing is a donor-civil society partnership in
which funding commitments are matched with technical expertise
and know-how. We are proposing a fund which can act quickly and
flexibly with the minimum of bureaucracy. We are proposing a fund
that would give priority to the needs expressed by local community
organisations and would support community-led initiatives. Such
a fund would require investment at a modest level over a period
of ten years from 2005 to 2015. We believe the results would have
a measurable and positive impact on the Millennium Development
Goals. We call upon governments and other stakeholders to work
with us to establish such an initiative and to do so within the
framework of the World Summit on the Information Society.
I thank you.
Draft of Political Chapeau and Implementation Plan »
February 2005
