Jean-Pierre Lamonde is a graduate of the University of Sherbrooke (Quebec, Canada), with a specialisation in Community Organisation. He has been in charge of the local rural radio development programme at Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (AIF), Paris, France, since 1993.
The Intergovernmental Agency of French-Speaking Countries (Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie, AIF) contributed in:
These actions were carried out thanks to the following means:
Evaluation of the operations carried out, and perspectives for the future:
In 1989, the Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie launched a program to set up local rural radios in African and Asian countries.
This program was inspired by the experience of free and community radios in Europe and North America, and African rural radios. Its aim was to concentrate radio broadcasting capacities in underserved areas, especially in rural environment, by installing medium-power FM broadcasting stations (0.250 to 0.5 kW) coupled with a "light" production center. In giving priority to a "proximity communication" approach, the program's aim was to allow populations to express their needs and expectations, and thus take their development into their own hands. The first stations were installed in 1991 in Vietnam.
To date, the Agency has set up 50 stations, 46 of which are located in the African continent in 10 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Madagascar and Senegal). Most stations are installed in prefectures or governorates and serve a minimum population of 200,000 people in an area with a 50 kilometer radius, which is highly uniform in terms of language, culture and socio-professional practices.
This broadcasting tool is a complement and support to national rural radios that operate in most African countries, often on the basis of a network of regional radio broadcasters.
Although they are public service radios, the local radio broadcasters of the Agency are not government radio broadcasters. They are indeed placed under the direct responsibility of the community, which they serve; this community makes available the facilities, is responsible for the management of the installed equipment and ensures the day-to-day running of the station. All of such radio broadcasters were required to set up a local development committee (this is the new name replacing former "local management committee"), which is capable of mobilizing around radio broadcasting civil society, associations, NGOs and locally represented public services.
Certain radios also rely on a "listeners' association", which guarantees a broad participation by the people in the radio's daily life.
Most stations operate under articles of association governed by private law. The most recently installed have benefited from the deregulation of airwaves, which has become the generalized practice today, and are provided with a broadcasting license issued by the Instance nationale de Régularisation (National Regulation Authority). Those that have been operational for a longer time received a broadcasting authorization from the national Ministry of Communication, and their operation is regulated by a list of specifications signed between the President of the Local Development Committee and the Ministry of Communication. This list of specifications is to guarantee the independence of the radio broadcasting station from any political or administrative powers, and define its programming constraints (no information, no partial political or religious programs... etc.).
The stations ensure, on average, a 6-hour daily programming, 2 hours in the morning (from 6:00 to 8:00 am) and 4 hours in the evening (from 7:00 to 11:00 pm). 80% of the programs are in national languages and are deeply embedded in the local culture. They deal with the different aspects of community life (technical and economic agriculture, the environment, health, social life, culture, literacy...etc.) and target different concerned social groups (farmers, women, youth...etc.).
All of the local programming devotes a significant time to services (announcements and releases, promotion of the activities of NGOs and local associations, promotion of art groups...etc.).
The animation of the broadcasting stations relies heavily on the community's resources. Often, teachers, the animators of associations or groups, and even some local public service officials become involved in the animation of segments of the program schedule.
Radio broadcasting stations must provide for their own operation, and the maintenance and replacement of their equipment; they must thus have an income. Their main resources are the broadcasting of services to individuals and communities, a number of educational campaigns financed by foreign sources, but also the donations by listeners, who thus express their attachment to a proximity radio which they really feel is their own.
The annual average budget for the operation of a local radio is in the order of 100,000 French francs (USD 14,300). However, some radio stations show a great capacity in mobilizing the financial resources existing in the geographical region, which they serve. We know of two radio broadcasting stations in Benin whose yearly budget exceeds 350,000 French francs (USD 50,000).
The main item of expenditure is personnel. Each radio broadcasting station manages itself like an SME creating permanent full or part-time jobs. On average, a radio broadcasting station creates 10 wage-earning jobs. It is also a factor that revitalizes the local economic life. When a radio broadcasting station begins to air its programs, people start selling receivers, batteries and tapes on the local market. The recent installation of information technology equipment in radio broadcasting stations has generated a similar effect, and it has also allowed people to access electronic mail.
The launching of a local radio project must be based on a specific process.
The Agency always becomes involved upon the request of a national government. Before making any decisions, it performs a series of technical studies aimed at identifying possible sites, defining the criteria of the production and broadcasting site, establishing the degree of structuring and involvement of the community, controlling the guarantees of independence of the radio stations, and ascertaining the economic viability of a radio station in the short, medium and long term.
If the results of the studies are positive, the Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie establishes a framework agreement with the concerned country, which defines the responsibilities of each party.
The Government (usually the Ministry in charge of Communication) must ensure that the radio stations are governed by articles of association based on private law, guarantee the franchising of the supplied equipment, ensure its delivery on site, and in general provide for its installation. It must also confirm the availability of broadcasting frequencies necessary for each station.
The selected community must provide the radio station with facilities and is responsible for its fitting out, according to a master lay-out provided by the Agency (the facility must include a studio, a control room , some space for an office, at least one large meeting room, and it must also have enough space externally to accommodate listeners). It must also be responsible for furnishings, guarantee the security of the production center and the broadcasting station, set up a local development committee and recruit a staff of 3 (a station manager, a technician, and a multi-purpose animator).
The Agency will provide for the training of personnel, the setting up of the framework of the local development committee, it will support the definition of the program schedule and supply the overall production and broadcasting materials, including a first lot of consumables and spare parts.
The production centers, which have been installed since 1998, are largely digital. The materials used (studio, editing and reporting) are of a semi-professional type, selected on the basis of their soundness and ease of handling.
By contrast, broadcasting is still analogue. Five years have elapsed now, but the Agency provides exclusively transmitters manufactured by ITELCO, one of the market leaders on the FM transmitters market.
The minimum material investment is of 350,000 French francs (USD 50,000). It may even go up to 800,000 French francs (USD 114,285) if specific investments are required: the supply of a number of transmitters if the broadcasting area is especially rugged, if the production and broadcasting centers cannot be grouped together; the construction of a pylon to house the antenna; the supply of solar panels to ensure that the production facility and the transmitter are autonomous from the point of view of energy; specific protection against bad weather...etc. Suppliers are chosen on the basis of an international tender. In some cases, the Agency has decided to install equipment which was "discarded" by radio broadcasting stations in the North.
The average time required for the implementation of a project is two years, between the registration of the request and the going on the air of the radio station.
For each project that is implemented, there is an official inauguration ceremony, which brings together all of the parties involved (the Agency's program regularly benefits from specific support from certain multilateral and bilateral cooperation agencies) and sanctions the actual delivery of the radio station to civil society.
Once the radio station has been installed, the Agency continues to oversee its operation and development. Each year, on a regional and even continental basis, the Agency organizes several ongoing training sessions on production, programming, management or fund raising.
It has also created a network of African rural radios, which is managed by the program's permanent professional partner, the Centre interafricain d'études en radio rurale, CIERRO (Inter-African Center for Rural Broadcasting Studies), which is established in Ouagadougou. This network has a bank of programs, which may be exchanged either by the Internet or on CD Roms; it also has a center for the procurement of equipment and spare parts, and organizes co-productions of mutual interest. The network has a staff of 3 (an organization and programming expert, a telecommunications engineer and a webmaster) and also provides permanent technical assistance to the radio stations.
Without being involved in the daily life of local radio stations, the Agency oversees their successful operation. It may thus become involved in the solution to local conflicts (especially concerning the local development committees), but may also assist them in large investments (replacement of transmitters, energy sources...etc.).
Over the past few years, the program modalities have been reviewed considerably. While the first projects gave priority to the "pilot" approach and entailed a maximum of 5 stations scattered throughout the national territory, the Agency is now focusing on the establishment of a tighter network, which will enable coverage of all the ethnic, cultural or economic areas of a country. It must also take into account the already existing private radio broadcasting infrastructure, so as to act on the basis of complementarity rather than competition. Finally, the Agency is no longer ruling out the possibility of establishing radio stations in periurban areas to meet the needs of unprivileged populations that are ignored by commercial private radio broadcasters.
These elements characterize the five projects in which the Agency is currently engaged: TOGO, CHAD, NIGER, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO and INDIAN OCEAN (MADAGASCAR and MAURITIUS).
The Agency also plans to put other three projects in the pipeline: GABON, HAITI and the evolution of the VIETNAM project towards a regional Asia project covering CAMBODIA and LAOS in addition to Vietnam.
Finally, the Agency is seeking complementary resources to provide for the evolution of a number of old projects towards true national networks, particularly in GUINEA, SENEGAL and MALI.
