The effectiveness of Sri Lankan regional radio stations in rural citizenry

Abstract

Abstract submitted and selected for e-Asia international conference.

Though the community radio movement in Sri Lanka has been losing its energy and strength, in catering the development needs of the rural community, the regional radio stations which function from various rural villages of Sri Lanka, can play an energetic role in terms of addressing the issues effecting the democratic rights of citizens – rights to know information’s that needs for their empowerment, rights to involve in decision making, rights to participate in governance, right to hold their leaders transparent and accountable and ultimately right to receive an efficient service as citizens.

The first regional radio station Rajarata, started in 1979 in parallel to the Mahaveli community radio. Since then, 8 regional Radio stations are active averagely with over 12 hours of airtime per day. When it comes to Regional radio stations, 12 hours of airtime is relatively a vast time. In Sri Lanka, 99% of the regional radio stations are governed by the Ministry of Media and Information, through Sri Lanka broadcasting corporation which is the National radio in Sri Lanka. From the initial survey it has been observed the regional radio stations play more than 94% of cinema and songs. No programmes are being produced on ICT, Education, Health, rural democracy and governance. The whole purposes of setting this regional level radio stations are keeping the community informed at the village level and give them an opportunity to engage with governance.

This is a new era for development and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. After terrorism being wiped out, enormous actions are taken place in terms of rural development. Times to time local elections are held. New development policies being implemented. In most of the public sector news people are being accommodated. Entire political system is changed and power and supreme authority is practice by very slim number of people. At this juncture, it’s very important to assess the impact of the regional radio stations, effectiveness of the their programmes in terms of maximizing the citizen participation with the process of governance , nature of listener’s behaviors, public participation, access, contents, major constrains, new community programming models used and other important aspects. This research will bring insights to the entire radio industry and the key media stakeholders in order to enrich and empower the service of regional radio stations while analyzing the major challenges.

The role of citizen journalism in promoting good governance in Sri Lanka

An Abstract submitted to e-India

Background
Citizen Journalism can help move the country towards peace. The potential of citizen journalism, however, is its ability to provide a forum for all citizens - male and female, of all ethnicities, castes, classes and religions - to express themselves freely, society will better accommodate ideas and measures that engender peace. Also it has a potential to hold the Government officials accountable and answerable to the citizens through the process of citizen journalism - Web-based public forum the government’s performance will be scrutinized and monitored. Since it’s operated by the citizen its can simply play watchdog role in attaining public involvement with governance. In Sri Lanka numbers of active citizen journalism movements are on action in terms of promoting good governance and rural democracy.
Some considerations in Sri Lanka
Though the government of Sri Lanka announced its glory and victory over the three decades of terrorism, sustainable peace, sense of democracy, strengthen process of governance are yet to be achieved. Child sexuality, displacement, violation of human rights, violence and crushing of aspirations of individual and those detained continue to occur. Some citizen media movement such as Groundview (www. groundview.org) is continuing to record above injustice crimes and create forum for public debate on the issues affecting their life. www.vilakpa.org, another active citizen media, is continues to disseminate public woes and report on the effectiveness of local government activities at the rural level.
Blogs including www.kottu.org, http://negombonews.blogspot.com/ continue to disseminate people’s views considerably with zest. Personnel of the Dambadeniya Community Radio continue to record people’s views in the voice record www.dambadeniya.org and disseminate them in the form of CD’s free of charge. Dambadeniya community Radio continuously produces stories of the activities of Kurunegala local government authorities. It also play a vital role in promoting public participation in the local decision making process.
Print website related publications like www.meepura.com demonstrate somewhat a strong stance with regard to citizen journalism and good governance. Meepura mostly involve in investigating the nature of decision taken by the government authorities. The investigative reports of the meepura have had created at the ministerial level when meepura investigate about the Gunathmaka school development budget was misused by the school development board.
At this juncture, it has very important to assess the Role of citizen media in Sri Lanka in promoting good governance. The full paper is involve in SWOT analyze current citizen media, in order to offer its proposals for the efficient move of CJ in promoting good governance and heard the citizens.

Head of SDJF bagged Annual peace award of the Colombo Rotary club – West.

Director/CEO of the Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF), M C Rasmin, bagged the annual Peace Award of the Rotary Club – West recently.

He received the annual Peace Award from the current Chairmen of the Rotary Club – West, Mr. Doulat Kundan Mal. For the year 2011 Rotary club facilitates two winners. Rasmin was awarded for his contribution towards peace, reconciliation and ethnic harmony through the use of media. The first award winner was Ms. Pushpie Wijeykoon who has been working for various development and peace related organizations holding different senior positions.

Addressing the Rotarians M C Rasmin stated “I don’t agree with the fact that we have attained peace, because peace is something which cannot be achieved through weapons. To simply cultivate the sense of ethnic integrity, harmony, engagement and sustainable peace, space has to be created for the awareness of diversity and pluralistic values”.
M. C. Rasmin throughout his journalistic career has involved in enormous peace building activities. In 1998 Rasmin started his career as a sub-editor for a monthly magazine published by the Centre for Children and Youth Development (CCDY). Being a young sub-editor Rasmin has thrown in several pages to foster the values of ethnic harmony. In the same year he passed SLBC auditions to become a radio drama artist. Since then, he has been holding the position of sub-editor for a number of newspapers such as IDI, Ilavarasy, Tamil Kesary and Virakesary. With the exposure he had from these newspapers.

Rasmin made 9 publications, more than 5 novels and 6 research papers. Most of the fictions written by Rasmin reflect the context of ethnic crisis and its damages.
Being a community media activist, Rasmin has presented a number of research papers in various international conferences focusing on media pluralism, diversity and media, gender and media, community media and social development, online platform and community development etc. From 2004 to 2006 Rasmin produced a dedicated radio programme Called Adavar Arangam (platform for youth), through Sri Lanka Broadcasting cooperation where directed over 60 Radio plays focusing peace, ethnic relation and pluralistic values. In 2010 he directed a radio drama called “Though Its Paradise” a dedicated series of radio dramas focusing the issues faced by the IDPs of Sri Lanka and funded by internews Sri Lanka. In 2011 he directed a series of radio dramas (20 episodes) addressing the gender based issues of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. Apart from this, Rasmin has written and produced over 250 radio dramas emphasizing the need of sustainable peace. Having assessed these contributions Rotary has awarded him.

SDJF on behalf SDJF staff extends its appreciation to Rotary Club-West.

Internet platform for community Radio is Sri lanka; Challenges and opportunities

Abstract
Internet platform has been identified by various countries including Sri Lnka as an alternative for the community rdio programmings. In most of the developing countries, the lack of policy conciousnes among the government, lack of awareness about effective programming models, lack of willingness among the government authorities to encourage civil socity empowerment through community radio and some other factor have been triggered the advent of internet community radio.

On the other hand, in countries like Sri Lanka, the level of ICT literacy, internet panitration, availability of 3G coverage, availability of access points and community willingness on ICT tool are relatively low are the challenging forces learnt in the feilf of internet community radio in reaching disadvantaged.
As far as Sri Lanka is concern, the ICT literacy rate of Sri Lanka is 16.1%, Its is 25.1% in urban sector and for the rural and estate sectors its 15.1% and 4.3% respectively. The use of desktop computer is 8.2% and its in the urban 17.8%, Rural 6.9% and estate 1.1%. According to the HHCLS the percentage of awareness about computers is only 37.1%. This obviously not siffiecent enough to carry internet community radio as the form of conventional FM community radio.

In such context, it is singnificant to think how far effect and efficient exsisting internet community radio are and what are the types of communication stretagies and models have been incorporated in order to reach those who don’t have access to the internet and what are the steps being taken by the exiting Internet to reach their programmes disadvantage community in Sri Lanka.
On the other hand, the process of taking the dividends of ICT to the rural is speed up in various areas. The Local Language department of ICTA has implemented Unicode system triligualism has become as a policy. ICT access centers such as Nenasala, Vidhatha and schoolnet are esgatablished islanwide. The use of social media among the younger generation ia become a new moment. Now the question is what are the stretagies that we can utilize to Internet based community radios in order to benefit marginalized or disadvantaged rural communities.

This paper will present some proposals in terms of maintaining strengthened internet based community radio culture in SriLanka. The views and the opinions of the operators of the excisting community radios included in this paper. Full paper can be obtained from the author by sending an email – mcrazmin@gmail.com

“MOWNATHTHIN PUNNAHAI” (A SILENT SMILE) - DESPERATE, HELPLESS VOICES OF WOMEN, FROM THE EASTERN PROVINCE

The Sri Lanka Development Journalist Forum (SDJF) has concluded its most exclusive radio initiative titled “Mownaththin Punnahai” (A silent smile). The theme is based on gender, which is designed into an innovative concept broadcast over the “Pirai FM” radio channel, located in Akkaraipattru. The programme had gained immense listeners appreciation according to feedbacks.

“Pirai FM”, Controller Mr. Basheerabdul Gaiyoom, in his comment mentioned that Mownaththin Punnahai (A silent smile) is a great breakthrough within the five years of broadcasting history achieved through this unique Channel, “Pirai FM”. He quoted the programme reflects the genuine commitment by the broadcasters to prove that radio is a powerful medium for social development. He mentioned that Mownathin Punnahai (a silent simile) has achieved the talent of attracting the attention of the society in the Eastern Province within a short span of 10 days, comparing to other programmes which were over the “Pirai FM” channel for more than two years. The specialty of this programme is the young energetic flexible team which is directed by a personality, who has the competent to understand the bona fide reverberation and the pulse of women’s issues.

This programme comprises 20 episodes, and each episode consists of one hour duration. Each of the programme contain three compulsory segments, consisting a radio drama, interviews with Islamic Intellectuals and very worthy discussions with victims affected by domestic violence.

Mr. M.C.Rasmin, CEO/Director of Sri Lanka Development Journalist, while commenting on Mownaththin Punnahai (A silent smile) stated, that this is an initiative entirely dedicated on gender based violence giving prominence to sufferings faced by the Muslim community located in the Eastern Province. The programme contents reflects an aspiration to the Eastern people both the Tamil and Muslim community, particularly the Muslims. The programmes are solely produced by a team with the minimum resources available and partly contributions are from veteran broadcasters, artistes and the writers.
The feedback is immense according to the SMS received daily counts to more than thousand two hundred. Apparently, the statistics shows the large amount of listening audience had turned their attention to this exclusive programme which contains sanative information’s about domestic violence. CEO made a comment that according to the feedbacks, it is much evident that the segment which comprises voices of the victims and radio dramas had to a greater extent had inspired the Eastern Province people in several ways.

LIVELINESS OF THE RADIO DRAMA HAD TRANSFORMED THE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
Predominantly the radio dramas are produced to target patriarchal attitudes and the mentalities that break the gender impartiality within the family bond. The characters and the story lines are established based on key gender based issues such as isolation, beating, creating disappointments, usages of indecent language, restrictions made for women to refrain from education, creating frustrations , assigning works beyond their capacities, impairment to their dignity, hindrance from employment and enjoyments with their families, demanding dowries , forcible divorce and many more issues.
Out of the 20 radio dramas, 13 dramas were written by female writers – Silmiya Hadi, Shamila sheriff, Asmiya Begum and Naseela Adham.
The dramas consisting in the Mownaththin Punnahai (A silent smile) programme comprised some unconventional strategies in terms of production, writing and even in story lining. Taking into attention about the story lining, a group work is involved in this task. According to the working schedule, the Sri Lanka Development Forum (SDJF) assigned two different groups to attend to the story lining. One group was directed by a male and the other group was given in charge by a female. This kind of work distribution turned out easily to assess the gender-sensitivity of the story linings. This strategy enabled SDJF to terminate 20 radio dramas, each 30 minutes duration, within 10 days with three round of group engaged in editing and reviewing.
Decisions were taken to make some changes in the writing and editing of radio dramas. Apparently, the Sri Lanka Development journalist Forum (SDJF) closely scrutinized the scripts and came to a conclusion that the script writers and the editors should follow new principles in their creations. SDJF felt that radio drama is not something to narrate stories but the characters in the stories should have life to give some valuable information to the society and make the society to come out of their dreadful traumas. The drama characters should have the potentiality to act, and their dialogues should establish emotional feelings and totally the productions should establish more reality. Radio drama is building and establishing strong characters and reflecting their emotional journey. Ultimately, showing the change within the characters.

The SDJF expected the dramas to be basically produced to create awareness among the listeners and the change of within the characters should heal and ease the listeners’ mental stress. The SDJF came to a conclusion that the characters in the drama should have the ability to perform the critical story lines written about various issues, and the audience should get engrossed to the characters and could overcome their social problems. The Journalist Forum expected the writers to briefly use the language and the dialogues should have meaningful lines without exaggerating. This instructions and advices were adopted by the Radio Drama Department of SDJF and accordingly the procedure was implemented and the dramas were redesigned and totally the scripts were written to cater the disheartened audience to have some remedy to their social problems

Out of the 20 drama scripts, 17 were reorganized according to the modern radio drama principles of the SDJF, and the drama production proved high quality, which enhanced and attracted the listening audience from the Eastern Province. Surprisingly almost all the writers accepted the changes suggested by the SDJF team.

STORY LINES
Relatively, five characters were established in all the dramas, and the main characters portray the key gender-based issues existing in the Eastern Province. Accordingly the “Manamatram” drama (changing mind), Parakkum Sirakukal (Flying feathers) were written respectively by S. Janoos and Silmiya Hadi. These dramas establish, the grievances faced by the people located in the Eastern Province especially the male gender, forcibly sending away their daughters and spouses abroad for earning, and leading a fantasy life in their homeland.
Pointing out the drama “Flying Feathers” reflects a character of a mother who had spent more of her marriage life as a domestic servant working in abroad and had only met her 15 years old son, twice during her prime life. The feedback towards this drama was enormous, as most of the listeners had sobbed after listening to this drama.
Few more dramas which had earned the appreciation of the audience are namely, “Dr.Mappillai” (Dr.Bridegroom) which is written by Mr.A L Jafeel, “Thandanai” (punishment) written by Asmiya Begum, “Vehumathy “ (Gift) written by Asmiya Begum, “Subeetcham” (prosperity ) which was written by S. Janoos and some more which had unfathomable thoughts highlighting the negative impact of the dowry system which is the mainstreamed in occurrence in the Eastern Province.
Dramas written by Silmiya, “Sayam Pona sarihaihal” (dry leaves which had faded), “Sanththathi –illa- sangathihal” (episodes without generations), Phoenix Thaai (Phoenix Mother ), Mahalai Piranthu (Born as a daughter), “Chinnachchinnak Keeralhal “ ( Minor setbacks) have reflected issues that suppress the dignity of the women and inequality in the family bond.
APPRECIATIONS
Most of the feedbacks from the male society had established their views to the SDJF monitoring and Focus-group teams, have mentioned that the radio drama and interviews with victims from the programme as a wide stimulation. According to some viewers, they feel ashamed about the way; their community treating their spouses. Some of the comments were that Mownaththin Punnahai (A silent smile) drama had educated them, and had paved way to understand the women folks suffering due to the careless actions of men.
•Mr. Gaiyoom, the Controller of “Pirai FM” stated, that the drama and the voices of the desperate victims made him to cry. He said “when I was listening to “flying feathers” drama one day, while I was driving, I lost my concentration in my driving and I have to rush home for some relaxation”
•Mr. Husain, a shopkeeper from Ninthaoor commented that his imagination was that he was one of the characters in the Mownaththin Punnahai (A smile in silence) drama.
•Mr. Mohammed Ameer, a Principal from Poththuvil, said that “I feel like someone questioning me, when I am listening to the radio drama. Most of the time the dramas made me to think what I can do as a Principle and motivate my students to respect the gender diversity and practice the equality in lifelong”.
•Mr. Salam, a farmer from Kalmunai made a comment that he tunes the “Pirai FM” frequency to listen to the dramas, in the midst of his spouse getting amused about his action.

These are randomly selected opinions among some of the keen listeners, out of hundreds and hundreds of male listeners. The SDJF also has same amount of feedbacks from the women listeners.

PARALYZED QAZI SYSTEM
It is so remarkable that the SDJF received over hundreds of telephone calls, voices crying with several pleas. This has made the SDJF to learn that domestic violence is something that needs to be wiped-out from the society. The interviews with victims were so pathetic and out of this, over 20 interviews were so emotional. Most of the women folk have become desperate and frustrated due to the mistreatment and wrong judgments of the Quiz’s.

Mownaththin Punnahai (A silent smile) drama concludes with a strong finding that the credibility and the reputation about the Quazi system in Sri Lanka, is becoming vague in the society, especially amongst the women society. The participated victims voiced in the programme fearlessly stated that most of the quazi’s are highly incapable of hearing to their sufferings and are favorable to the men, which the biggest shortcomings is prevailing in the society. It was so unbearable to listen, to some victims that the most honoured “Quazi” had forwarded divorce notice to the respective parties, without informing the reasons for divorce. It is so rare in some instances that the Quazi has given the verdicts without inquiries. Mownaththin Punnahai (A silent smile) ultimately concluded its last episodes by creating awareness for discussions over the paralyzed Qazi system.

Different Perspectives on Community Radio Discussed At Colombo Workshop

Report prepared by Dr Kalinga Seneviratne, Head of Research, AMIC with assistance from M.C Rasmin, Media Coordinator of ICTA, Sri Lanka.

Do we need to have a transmitter to broadcast community radio? Can community radio be solely a development tool? Could universities set up community radio and give a voice to the people? These were some of the issues discussed during a one-day workshop conducted by the Singapore based Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) in Colombo on November 21st 2009 in collaboration with the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Development Journalists Forum (SDJF).

This training workshop on ‘Principles of Community Radio’ was conducted by Dr Kalinga Seneviratne, Head of Research at AMIC and a former Australian community radio broadcaster. He was assisted by Dr. W.A.D.P Wanigasundara, Head, Department of Development Communication, Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya and Asoka Dias, AMIC country representative and the Station Director of Sirasa Radio. The official website of the SDJF was launched during the opening session.

This workshop was the first activity of an UNESCO-IPDC funded project in ‘Streamlining Community Radio Capacity Building in Asia’. AMIC will be conducting more community radio training workshops with the assistance of Tambuli Community Radio in India, Indonesia, Laos, Bangladesh and the Philippines in the coming 6 months.

The inaugural workshop in Colombo was attended by 35 community radio activists and practitioners from across the country, including Matara in the south, Ampara in the east, Uva in the hill country and Jaffna in the north. This reflected the fact that there is great enthusiasm shown by Sri Lankan young community radio activists for the establishment of independent community radio in the country.

“Within the contemporary environment of Sri Lanka, we can’t expect genuine and deep support from the mainstream media of Sri Lanka in-terms of social empowerment. Even if we close the mainstream electronic media stations, specially radio channels (in the island) it will make no difference to the life of the rural people. Our mainstream media don't have visionary aims to give a platform to the voiceless community. So, we have to work hard in order to create an alternative community radio culture in Sri Lanka” said Athula Pushpakumara, Head of Media and Communication of the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, in his introductory speech.

Representatives from UVA Community Radio and Kothmale Community Radio that are functioning under the purview of Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) and internet based community radios such as Dambadeniya Community Radio, Ransara Community Radio, Prabavi Community Radio were among those who participated in the workshop. Representatives from universities, media training institutes, NGO's and media institutions also participated in this workshop.

In the morning session, Dr Seneviratne focused on definition, principles and characteristics of community radio, and in the post-lunch session on evaluation, functions and essential features of community radio. There was also discussion on successful community radio model in the world and community participation, funding and sustainability of community radio.

An inter-active round-table style discussion took place in the late afternoon session on how to set up and develop community radio in Sri Lanka, in an environment where the government seems reluctant to provide broadcasting licenses to community radio broadcasters.

Among the views expressed included the argument supported by a number of participants that the existing community radio under the SLBC banner is too rigid and they have failed to understand the social changes among the communicators. Thus there is a generation gap between the policy makers and the community radio activists. In community radio the main emphasis is laid upon cinema and songs. Empowerment of the society is lacking and there is very little contribution from the public. These stations need to be upgraded to work towards increasing the desire for broadcasting among the community they serve.

Most participants objected to FM frequencies being sold to the politicians and private companies, and the government’s lack of clear policy in allocating frequencies for community radio. In fact, the government tends to view free community radio as a challenge to their authority. Thus, the only community radio allowed to function are those which satisfy the government agenda.

Uva community radio facilitator Ajith Epa said: “ In Sri Lanka no community radio was started by the people. It was forced or purposefully started by the government. The intention of the government was not providing a platform to the public to express their voice, but localizing the government development projects”.

Internet radio operators Nelan Dahanayaka and Mahesh from Ransara and Prabavi internet radio said that no accreditation has been provided for the internet based community radio. Also, the acceptance among the government authorities for Internet based community radio is low and their listenership is also very low, only 5000 people listening per day. The models to bring the Internet based contents to the public has not been developed.

There was also discussion about whether it is feasible to create an Internet based community radio network across the island using the Nenasala Centres (community computer and internet centres provided by the government). Sri Lanka has over 650 Nenasala centers of which over 500 posses Internet facilities. Many of these are in rural areas. But there is no proper network and connection among them in order to share the community contents. So these types of centers can be networked or linked via a radio-streaming network.

Dr. Wanigasundara and the lecturers from the University of Kelaniya suggested the possibility of university based community radios, based on models from the Philippines and Australia (as discussed earlier in the workshop by Dr Seneviratne). Now the war is over in the country and terrorism is not a major issue as before, the government can issue the free licenses to universities. Thus, they recommended that this is an ideal time to start university based community radio. However, one lecturer warned that because of strong party politics among students on campuses there is a risk that student movements can dominate university radio for their own propaganda purposes.

Some of the participants, such as the Muslim group described how they have got windows on the SLBC and other radio stations to broadcast programmes produced by them, such as during the Ramadhan fasting month. One participant mentioned that a public service PR system is ‘broadcast’ by the Vauniya Bus station with local advertisement, and this type of model could be used for community radio.

The workshop ended with broader agreement that more such workshops should be held to galvanise community radio practitioners across the country towards collective action to initiate community radio products with or without broadcast licenses. In the latter aspect, the ICT agency may well be a good conduit to explore community radio networking via Internet, but with an interface to the traditional radio broadcasting technology.

A brainstorming with Lucy Hannah, UK.

Lucy Hannah is an audio producer, trainer, and radio drama consultant. She’s led and established sustainable radio/audio projects for the BBC and NGOs in areas of conflict around the world. Her recent projects include radio/audio projects with dramatists in Kabul, southern Sudan, and southern Africa. She was writer-in-residence at HMP Rochester, a young offender’s institute.

Recently, Lucy visited Sri Lanaka and had a brainstorming session with me and my friends on radio drama. She unlighted the conventional mine set on creating, Story lining, writing, producing and directing in to a scientific platform. She motivated us to realize that the radio drama industry in Sri Lnaka has to reconstruct its scope in terms of social development and incorporate modern strategies in terms of identifying its original format and influencing the vulnerable community. Thanks Lucy…..

Internews launches Radio drama, as the voice of the IDPs - 'Sorkkame Entralum', from Monday, on National Service.

Radio drama is a powerful medium of art to empower the vulnerable communities. It acts as a catalyst for social change and contributes to uplift the life standard of communities. People are given the opportunity to witness the realities of their life through radio dramas. Internews Sri Lanka network will broadcast a radio drama for the northern IDPs form today ward.

Sorkkame entralum is scheduled to be broadcast on weekdays on the National Service from 9.45pm as the part of the program called Meendum Valvom again produced by Internews. Each episode of the drama has the duration of eight minutes. The drama has 32 episodes. The story of the drama revolves around eight main characters. The IDPs as well as the Tamil speaking people of the country can listen in it on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from today.

The story of Geeta depicts the struggle of a poor girl who strives to defy her drunkard father’s order to forget her desire to continue her higher education. Uma is another character in the drama which portrays the story of a destitute teacher with an infant and whose husband has been missing due to the war. Sundar is wooing Uma. Raja is a flirt and seeks the love of every beautiful girl in the camp. Ravi had lost his properties and is a drunkard. He is enlightened by his daughter. Ponnamma, grandmother of Geeta, is the captive of the tradition and customs of the society and suspects her grand daughter’s ambition. Vignesh is portrayed as a blind person but endowed with a beautiful voice. He dreams of becoming a celebrity. Sella, an old man, is on a journey to meet his wife after fifteen years of separation. The above characters will enliven the drama by their poignant stories.

The senior artists, such as, Rajeswary Shanmugam, Sandraseharan, R.Yoharajan, Jawahar Fernando, S.Mahindakumar, A.L.Jaffir, Priyadharshani, and Shyalni have played the above characters. Many other artists have taken part in the minor roles. Various new technique and other methods have been used both in script and production of the drama.

Deputy Country Director of Internews Sri Lanka, Ms Manique Mendis maintained that Internews is pleased to contribute to the national programme to resettle the people of the North who have been displaced.

“Internews, which is committed to supporting media as a tool for social development in many parts of the world, has in this instance creatively combined modern international techniques of radio drama, with local themes to facilitate the resettlement process. Through this pioneering radio drama, internally displaced people will be gain knowledge that will equip them to adjust well to the process of resettlement and contribute proactively to national development”, she said
Internews is pleased to invite all of you to listen in the drama and enjoy moments of real life experience of the internally displaced people of northern Sri Lanka.
For further details please contact:
M.C. Rasmin
0773 667530
mrasmin@internews.org

Interview on Nethra TV on Srilankan Community Radio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOmdSx-KxPo

Opportunities and difficulties in Sri Lankan Community radio for empowering the Rural

Introduction
It has been noted that the efforts to establish constructive Community radio stations have almost reached 3 decades.7 Community radio stations have been set up so far , with the first one was inaugurated in 1986.Some of these have vanished on the same speed on which it was started. Some of them are almost at the latter part of their journey. Some of them have converted themselves into an income earning centers.

Hiranthuru kotte ( 1986 ) , Bulthsi-ravaya, Kotmale ( 1991 ), Uva Community radio ( 2003 ), Pirai FM ( 2005 ) ,Dambatheniya Community Radio ( 2007 ), Ran-sara web Community Radio ( 2008 ),Wayamba Community Radio ( 2009 )are some of the Community based radio stations which are in operation now.

Allegation
The people who have initiated these Community Radio services are conflicting with each other regarding the main objectives which are met so far. Therefore, the attention of some foreign intellectuals has been drawn into this issue. The Government has not taken any clear stand in this regard. The people who fund these projects do not understand the real impact of the Community Radio stations. This has raised the question on how the development of the Sri Lankan villagers possible through Community Radio stations?
Common Features

At present there are only 2 web based Community radio stations in operation. One of these, terminates its broadcasting at 6.00PM.This has been the debated point up to now. The other radio station does not have a definite time of broadcasting. Anybody can download the program at any time and listen. The radio stations such as Pirai FM have been converted to a commercial radio. Even the community programs will not be broadcast without any sponsors. Community Radio stations except Uva radio, do not broadcast community development programs at least half of the total broadcast time.

In srilanka, it is observed that, the broadcast time allocated for minorities in Community radio stations are not satisfactory. Many programs show that the producers do not have the potential and determination to produce programs with alternative views & comments.

Challenges
Many Community Radio stations which are initiated go against the basic concepts of the Community radio station. Mahaveli radio station could be quoted as one prime example. Many of these were inaugurated with short term objectives, political and development plans. It is a curse for the Community Radio station to depend solely on Sri Lanka broadcasting corporation for everything. Regional radio stations depend on Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation for purchase of equipments and salary payments.

The Ransara - Web based community radio still producing the program in order to create awareness on government army on their war effort. Also, there are not even a single program is been broadcasted based on Community in Ran – sara Community radio. Most of the youngsters believe that broadcasting is an art which can focus only Local politics, war related news with the mixture of entertainment as sriLankan broadcasting culture become highly politicalised.

Government doesn’t have clear policy in allocating frequencies for the community radios. Hence, the intention of the government is that free community radios may become negative challenge for the existence of the government. Although some community radios function, they obviously function in satisfying the government agenda.

it is important to think, there are no Collective efforts in the past to make awareness on community radio and express the alternative Voices on the rigid policy of the government.

The founder members of the community radios in srilanka such as Thilak Jayawardana, Sunil rodrogo, Ajith jayasingha, Vijeydasa hevage, sunil vijeysinghe are really become frustrated on the continues failure on in empowering the community radio.


Proposals
Identifying the strategies for the sustainability of the Community radio, Stressing the government policy with some collective effort, Listing the failure elements of the Present Community radios and finding out the reasons, Improving people participation, adding at least minimum some units on CR in the media syllabus, Plan full training and research are some proposals to short come this issue.