Where: Coastal Areas of Bangladesh
Solutions: Education and advocacy, Disaster preparedness and risk mitigation, Climate technology
BNNRC have been engaged in using eight community radio stations as a knowledge tool in responding to Climate change & disaster risk reduction in the coastal areas of Bangladesh. Program broadcasting of the community radio stations aims to reduce or avoid the potential losses and damages caused by hazards, or climate change and assure prompt and appropriate assistance to communities to achieve rapid and effective recovery.
The community radio offers benefits in the following ways:
- Speaking to communities in local languages using terms and phrases that are easily understood
- Providing two-way interactive social learning through listeners¡¯ clubs, call-in shows, and other forms of exchange
- Enabling the communication and exchange of knowledge between people who need it, e.g. rural farmers, in a consumable, deployable and non-threatening way
- Communicating local knowledge, needs and demands beyond the community to inform policy, research, and other communities
- Providing the only media available to communities that have little or no access to other methods of conveying information and knowledge
Facilitating information and education as empowerment through community radio was especially tailored to the need of adolescents, youth, women, children to help them cope with climate change. Around two million people have become a part of this project. This includes about 1,000 youth and women who are now working within these radio stations throughout the country as rural broadcasters.
Adolescent dropout from school and child marriage will also be reduced through involvement in this initiative. Adolescent, youth and women empowerment will be visible and they will take part in the decision-making process in families as well as in the community. Amateur radio/wireless network will be active during disaster periods for emergency communication while mobile networks will be failed. A network of adolescents and women will be activated as a dignified citizen having facilitated dialogue with policymakers at the national level. One obstacle they have encountered has been communicating certain subjects/topics into the dialects of all regions within the country.
The Community Radios are becoming an active ground for organizing dialogues at the rural level. These dialogues are helping the rural mass to find out their own voice and ensure leverage their free opinion in respect of social, economic, political, cultural and environmental issues.
Photo credits:
Photo 1: Mamun Hossain, Community Radio Nalta
Photo 2: Fakrul Islam Rony, Community Radio Lokobetar
Photo 3: Rasida Aktar, Community Radio Nalta
Photo 4: Monir Kamal, Community Radio Lokobetar
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