CR & SustainabilityObservations from the desk research

Validation workshop / Hotel Lalit Vibe, 16th May 2014

Session II:The sustainability

& CR initiative

Leonea Fernandez

Programme Officer

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• Concept of Sustainability – Existing definitions

• Good Practice Parameters and their impact on sustainability

• Indicators for Sustainability

• Relationships between adherence to key principles of CR and sustainability

Focus Areas

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Section I

Definitions & Core Concepts

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“…the ability of an organization to secure and manage sufficient resources to enable it to fulfill its mission effectively and consistently over time without excessive dependence on any single funding source” -Lisa Cannon, Life Beyond Aid, 1999

Definitions - I

“ …the ability of a radio station to maintain a good quality developmental broadcasting service over a period of time…”

- Fairbairn and Siemering, 2007

+Definitions - II

“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” - Bruntland Commission, 1987

“Sustainable development is about improving our lives now, but not at the price of degrading quality of life in the future.” - Redclift, M. (1999) in Sustainability and Sociology

“For community broadcasters the world over ‘sustainability’ – the ability to keep something going either continuously or for a period of time” - David Lush and Gabriel Urgoiti , 2012

“Social: Ownership and content generation; Organizational: Legislation and policy, internal democracy, capacity, management; Financial: Budgets, diversity of funding, ability to identify opportunities and access funds”

- Brigit Jallov (2007)

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Growth of CR in countries and its relationship to the policy environment and their genesis - Community radio – the Growing Pains Peter D’Costa

Definitions & Understanding

Issues around what is a community radio station - and therefore, what should sustain?

- Frere, 2008

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SUSTAINABILITY

MANAGE

MAINTAIN

MEET NEEDS

IMPROVE LIVES

TIME

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Section II

Parameters that impact sustainability

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Including but not limited to:• Policy environment• Institutional architecture• Geographical location

Parameters - I

Community broadcasting services should have access to a diversity of funding sources according to local circumstances. There should be no restrictions on funding sources other than those deemed necessary to maintain the character of the service and to avoid unfair competition.

- Broadcasting, Voice & Accountability

+Gumucio Dagron (2001) breaks the concept of sustainability into 3 components:

- Social - Institutional- Financial

Gumucio Dagron believes that social and institutional sustainability are the foundation on which financial sustainability is built.

Parameters - II

“The sustainability of local CR is related to its capacity to have relevant participatory and creative programming that attracts the audience and encourages access to the media in their own language and is alternate and distinct from public and commercial broadcasting (Rights based!). It is also linked to financial support and technological support otherwise it distracts community radio practitioners from dedicating

- AMARC 2007

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UNESCO as part of its Media development project identified four factors to minimize vulnerability and ensure sustainability while looking at the local community radio stations already established in Mozambique:

Strong community ownership to the extent that they support content creation, prevent thefts and overcome financial problems Effective Training and Capacitation of the community so that community members can run the station effectively Technical sustainability system

Parameters - III

“The concept of community radio has emerged from outside the community, but the implementation and sustainability is

left up to the community.”

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Simon Bell and Stephen Morse (1999) draw a distinction between sustainability of the institution and sustainability of the development project being implemented by the institution. Institutional sustainability is only valuable so long as the institution has valued outputs. Put another way, within the development arena, what does it matter if a radio station that does not serve its community collapses?

According to Bell and Morse, a useful way of understanding the sustainability any development project when it comes to development radio – and this applies to all kinds of stations that have development missions, whether religious, community, commercial, NGO or any combination of these – is clearly to sustain good quality development programming.

“There are four different aspects of sustainability indicated by various writers: Social and cultural sustainability; ecological or environmental sustainability; economic sustainability (the efficiency of economic systems); and political sustainability, or the provision of a sound overall framework for national and international governance.”

– Sachs (2003)

Parameters - IV

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Abiding Voices (CEMCA, 2011) draws on and refers to four categories that go into determining the survival of CRS in India:

• Programme• Human and Social• Financial• Technical

Parameters - V

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According to Fairbairn and Siemering, there are three levels at which the question of sustainability operates for community radio stations:

Firstly, there is the level of the organization or institution - that is, the radio station, its operations and

practices. Secondly, there is the station’s own development

project, as expressed by its vision, mission and goals.

Thirdly, there is the broader community development process that the station facilitates.

The last is obviously not solely dependent on the station, and involves many other stakeholders and partners.

Parameters - V

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Section III

Relationship between adherence to key principles of CR and

sustainability

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A study of the Namibian community broadcasting sector in order to explore in-depth the complexity of community broadcasting sustainability

The study sought to assess broadcasters’ performance based on five key principles of community broadcasting:

community ownership and control, community participation, community service, independence, not-for-profit business model

Key principles - I

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“Secondary stakeholders” (regulator, partner NGOs, donors, training institutions and other service providers) agreed that external agencies that worked with CR Stations and the operating organization have an influence on the sustainability of CR

Community Radio Stations competing to act and sound like commercial radio stations may have resulted in loss of faith by station’s community members and secondary stakeholders. Where community broadcasters are accountable and financially transparent to those they serve, community members are willing to substantially contribute to the financial sustainability of their stations. Cutting back on local programming to save money on the part of the broadcasters poses the risk of alienating the community members.

Community broadcasters could become more self-sustainable by developing their in-house capacity particularly those of older members of the community who are less likely to leave once they are trained,

The overall finding of this study, which is that social and institutional sustainability bring about financial sustainability. It is not the other way round.

Key principles – II(Namibian study: Analysis)

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The CR PAS evaluation framework developed in Nepal suggests that a strong relation exists between program and networking

An analysis of the performance scores shows that there is some relationship and/or influence of type of promoter organization and/on the performance of the radio.

However CAMECO’s research showed no such correlation: The type of station owner does not influence the strengths and levels of community participation, with one exception: Stations affiliated to a religious or church institution have lower participatory ownership structures

The research shows where the community had the power to take decisions in the planning and implementation phase, participation in programming and management is kept at a much higher level in the duration of the stations

Key principles – III

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Section IV

Indicators of Sustainability

+ An important measure of financial sustainability for a

community broadcaster is the ability to secure contributions from its own community by, for example, generating fees from announcements by local organizations and businesses etc.

Early involvement of the communities (in the planning and implementation phase) and their organization in listeners' clubs are two factors that lead to stronger participation

Lack of funds is referred to as the main challenge regarding community participation. 77% of the stations complain about insufficient revenues, which caused the failure of participation strategies

 Creative and cost effective ways of making local content more appealing and relevant by CR Broadcasters and their service to community members and other stakeholders more professional and reliable serves as a means to enhance financial sustainability.

Indicators of Sustainability - I

+ Fairbairn and Siemering undertook a study of six local independent radio stations from Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Sierra Leone, South Africa that explored some of the conditions and practices that might help stations realize

their potential for sustainability. The studies highlighted different factors, including context, leadership, management, partnerships, programming, human and technical capacity, will, community support, audience research and many others, and showed how they work together to contribute to the overall sustainability of stations.

The study revealed that all stations recognized the importance of the social, institutional and financial aspects of sustainability to their ability to maintain high quality development programming. The importance of context to sustainability cannot be underestimated, and it is obvious that community radio stations in South Africa, where there is a democratic and enabling regulatory environment and a strong economic base.

The studies clarified that it is not the money that holds the stations together but the will to serve communities and community support. Nonetheless, income is of fundamental importance. It is needed to pay for premises, equipment, staff and the cost of programming. While it is obviously not the sole basis for sustainability, failure to achieve financial sustainability will undoubtedly bring about the collapse of many worthy initiatives.

Indicators of Sustainability - II

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According to Fairbairn and Siemering within the development sector, sustainability is often used narrowly to refer to financial sustainability, which is seen as fundamental to the survival of stations as institutions. There is an obvious logic to this: the sustainability of any intervention is partly determined by the sustainability of the institution that implements it.

Indicators of Sustainability - III

+ “Developing and sustaining partnerships is one of Breeze’s main strengths. Reliance on NGO sponsorship makes Breeze FM and

its listeners vulnerable to the funding climate as NGOs themselves are dependent on partnerships. The reliance on NGO sponsorship to some extent threatens the sustainability of Breeze’s contribution to the broader development project, because programming on a particular issue stops when the NGO cannot afford the airtime.”

ORS’s contribution to volunteers’ health bills, over and above the stipends paid, is an expression of value for volunteers’ time & energy. Across all the stations, sale of airtime (a commercial idea) is seen as the most sustainable way of generating income. All the stations visited acknowledged that donor support was not sustainable. Donor agencies have a reputation for picking up and dropping issues, not always in consultation with their clients. Strong regional partnerships is seen as an important factor

Indicators of Sustainability - IV

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“In the US, by 2000, roughly 60 stations (1/8 of those receiving CSG grants) must increase their measured listenership or their local fund-raising base, to continue to receive CPB grants (Schatz 1996, C8).

“To avoid this fate, many stations are changing their discourse, speaking of markets rather than audiences, and consumers rather than listeners.

(David Dunaway, CR at the beginning of 21st Century)

The Discourse & The Dangers

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“Today community radio is caught between two perspectives: open access, which fulfils the original aesthetic and moral imperative of community radios’ founding generation; and audience-building, referring to both size, character, and financial resources. These two factors appear to work in opposition.”

- David DunawayCR at the beginning of the 21st Century

The Discourse & The Dangers - IIs

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“A strategic plan is key to any community radio station. It’s a new direction, a new way which provides a variety of alternatives. This new way is bound to rough up in a bad way some people who wants the status quo to remain or do not want the new way for their own reasons. It all depends on appropriate and competent LEADERSHIP at the board and management levels.”

From Summary of Day 7 of International Sustainability debate

organized by CAMECO (Apr 2014)

The Discourse & The Dangers - II

+ Achille, college teacher in Niger proposes that there are three main aspects

needed to make a community radio sustainable. He believes it is possible if:

(i) The radio responds to a real need of the people. In many cases stations are

started by some people who like the idea, and think that all that is needed is some outreach. He sees communities that are pushed into this direction without any understanding of what will then be required from them to keep

it going.

(ii) The radio is on a human scale. Today, with the evolution of technology, we still need community radio on a human scale, with material that fits well into the context and which can be taken over by the community. It is necessary that the community members master the entire chain.

(iii) When the community can see that the radio is not an external ‘thing’, but of use in their lives, they can maybe not support with money, but in kind, through sharing of grain, cattle and poultry: the radio can see how much of that is needed for running costs for one year?

In conclusion Achille stresses that many stations today live with ‘the return of the boomerang’ of those who have started a radio in a non-participatory way. If the community cannot support a radio: do not offer it - even if we from the outside are convinced that it will bring a lot to the community.

The Discourse & The Dangers - III

+ The importance of participatory budgeting for community radios is highlighted

by Asunta Montoya from Signis Latin America:

“Many local governments in countries like Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru use participatory budget mechanisms to define and manage their investments

in local development. However, few community radios have actively participated in participatory budgeting. Radios should actively participate in these debates to help local governments to develop and establish public communication policies and funds; a certain part of public budgets could be dedicated to communications. And active participation in participatory budgeting mechanisms is also a chance for community radios to become directly involved into the needs and interests of the community.”

Pedro Sánchez, executive secretary of the Latin American Radio Education Association ALER, stresses the need to lobby for the democratization of communication. He adds that the collaboration between local governments and radios could go beyond the support of educational or health campaigns and result in common activities which guarantee the economic and material support (or even support in staff) by the governments

From Cameco international debate on sustainability Day 7 summary

The Discourse & The Dangers - III