Maraa, is a partner for the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), based in Vancouver, Canada. Working specifically with Media specialist, Ian Pringle, Maraa has been working closely with COL to publish all the community radio training modules developed with our field experience of setting up 6 community radio stations in India.
All modules are available on the website Wikieducator where it is hoped that others who are interested in capacity building regarding community radio, can use these modules and apply it to their specific context.
After this phase, COL has worked out a 3 year plan, wherein one of the mandates is to work towards healthy communities. One of the strategies for healthy communities is the usage and centrality of media to achieve the well being of the community. To this end, Maraa and COL will work in partnership with a field based group in India, where an open development learning project with usage of community media, will be carried out. The broad steps for this project are as follows:
1) Field assessment – Researchers from Maraa will visit the field, and in a participatory manner, collectively identify some issues which need dialogue, exposure and discussion at the community level. Broadly, the issues in focus will be related to the concept of healthy communities.
2) Workshop – Trainers from Maraa will work with a group of 50 people from the community (preferably women) and in partnership with the field partner, to plan a program, the title of which will be developed by the community, the format will be decided by them, as well as content will be planned in advance after intensive mapping from the community. It is also expected that the local relevant authorities will also participate in this workshop and commit to help of any kind possible.
3) Production – The local community members who were part of this workshop in partnership with the local media groups who are part of this project, will implement all the plans undertaken in the workshop.
If you are a field based group which is interested in working with these concepts, please contact info at maraa dot in for more information and possibilities of partnering with us.