Repairing Haiti's Radio Network - Post share

Thanks to Janet Feldman for passing along this update related to Repairing/Rebuilding Haitis' Community Radio network.

Note: I'll cut/paste as it - I have not edited this in any way. -AC

Repairing Haitian Radio: Internews sends team of specialists, technicians to restore local broadcasting

By Curtis Brainard

With radio and television news outlets crippled by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti last week, Internews, an international media development organization, announced Wednesday that it was sending a team to the impoverished island nation to help get broadcasters back up and running.

The team began to arrive on Friday, and over the weekend I sent a list of questions to Jeanne Bourgault, Chief Operating Officer of Internews, asking about the group’s progress. Communications with the team have been more sporadic than anticipated, but Bourgault offered her assessment of the situation as of Sunday evening.

Curtis Brainard:: How did this effort come about, and how was it organized?

Jeanne Bourgault: Internews has long seen firsthand that quality news and information is crucial in times of crisis, and the best people to communicate information are local journalists reporting for local populations. Two years ago, Internews was extremely fortunate to attract the support of the MacArthur Foundation, which allowed us to establish a fund for quick reaction to humanitarian disasters, such as the one now being experienced in Haiti. And just this week we were grateful to receive $200,000 from the Knight Foundation for this work. We’ve done similar work following the Indian Ocean Tsunami, in refugee camps in Africa, and after a major earthquake in Pakistan. When we heard the news from Haiti, we started putting the response team together immediately. We already had one team member on the ground, and others came in overland via the Dominican Republic.
CB: How big is your team, who’s on board, and why (for example, media specialists to do X and radio technicians to do Y)?

JB: The team consists of:

• Mark Frohardt: Internews’s vice president for Africa and Health and Humanitarian Media. He will oversee the team during initial start-up. Mark is an experienced humanitarian assistance provider and a specialist on the information needs of communities in crisis.
• Phillip Allouard: Operations manager and Internews overall coordinator in country. Phillip has been working with Internews in Haiti for the past year, and has deep relations with our partner network of community radio stations.
• Matt Abud: Will take over as team leader following Mark’s departure. Matt has deep experience in working with the media in humanitarian crises, ranging from Indonesia to Pakistan to Sri Lanka.
• Yves Colon: Yves is an experienced journalist with deep ties to Haiti, having worked with local media there for a number of years.
• Horea Salajan: Horea is a former BBC reporter and experienced media development professional.
• Jacobo Quintanilla: Jacobo is being seconded from the Internews program in Sri Lanka, where he runs a humanitarian media program. Jacobo will be our initial liaison with the humanitarian community.
CB: What kind of equipment is the team bringing to Haiti, and why?
JB: Additional response team members arrived [Sunday, Jan. 17] and brought in two small broadcasting units, several crates of wind-up radios, a generator, and several power inverters. We have a production studio already in country, and will come with resources to assist journalists and stations with equipment grants and stipends. We expect tremendous need for satellite phones, mini-disc recorders, and broadcasting equipment.

CB: What is the status of the local media (tv, radio, mobile devices, etc.) in Haiti right now (broadcasting, off air, etc.)?

JB: We understand that as of today there are twelve local radio stations back on the air in Port-au-Prince and one national broadcaster. Internews is attempting to contact a forty-member network of community radio stations with whom it has worked in the past [on a development program known as RAMAK] in order to assess not only their safety, but also the state of their station’s infrastructure and broadcasting capabilities. One station has responded that the “situation is unimaginable and worse than anyone can predict.”

(Janet's addition: http://www.internews.org/imla/2009/ramak.shtm

RAMAK (Rasanbleman Medya pou Aksyon Kominote - Media Network for Community Actionis a network of 41 community radio stations and the largest media association in Haiti. Spread across the country, the network covers close to 85% of the territory outside the capital, Port-au-Prince. Most of RAMAK’s member stations are based in rural communities or small towns and are usually operated and managed by volunteers. RAMAK’s programming is community-oriented, focused on educational and cultural programs, local information, debates and music. With support from Internews, the network has raised awareness of issues such as gender-based violence, migration, children’s rights, HIV, the environment and civic education. Many of its stations represent the only entertainment available in their remote area.

RAMAK stations have played a significant role in their communities and kept Haitians informed on important issues. For instance, Radio Saka, located in Grand-Goave, has provided ongoing coverage of environmental degradation. In March, citizens of this community participated in a peaceful demonstration to urge authorities to mitigate environmental damage. During hurricane season last year, when other stations were forced to shut down operations due to flooding, Radio Eko, located in Pilate, managed to stay on the air and help the community.

Jean Fedner Chéry has been Coordinator General of RAMAK since February 2009 and is Director of Radio Saka. He is focused on strengthening, legalizing and further developing RAMAK’s member stations. Fedner’s leadership has helped strengthen the association and ensured that it will have an important role in the Haitian community.

Internews honors RAMAK for its vital role in informing the people of Haiti and giving them a voice. Fedner will accept the Internews Media Leadership Award on behalf of RAMAK.)

CB: What will be the team’s first priorities upon arrival? What is its strategy?

JB: The team will quickly assess which stations are broadcasting, which ones are not, where the journalists are, and what they need to keep their newsrooms operational. We may find they need equipment, such as radio towers, or maybe they need generators to run the transmitters. We may find they need something as simple yet crucial as salaries. We will also quickly establish a humanitarian information radio program that will be available for broadcast on all functioning stations.

CB: What does this effort hope to accomplish, and why is it important?

JB: Local media reporting for their local audiences are the best conduits for information in times like these. They know their audiences, their needs, their concerns, and of course they can reach them in their own language. We also design our support with an eye towards the long-term development and viability of a healthy media sector in Haiti. We want these resources to fill the immediate humanitarian need, while also contributing to longer-term development needs.

CB: How much does Internews have to spend on this effort overall, and where is that money coming from?

JB: So far, we have raised $250,000 from private sources, specifically the Knight Foundation and MacArthur Foundation. We have additional private contribution requests outstanding and hope to work with the U.S. Agency for International Development on further funding. Our goal is to raise $1 million. With this support from funders, our goal is to help the local media get back up and running so that they can provide life-saving information to the people of Haiti.

For more information and to support fellow journalists in Haiti, please go to www.internews.org.

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(Also from Feldman note:

Someone has also recommended PANOS, a marvelous organization that works in various parts of the world...I don't see anything specific yet about how they are addressing the situation in Haiti, but will keep checking.

Below is information about Panos:

Panos Institute Caribbean Mission statement:

The Panos Institute Caribbean works to amplify the voices of the poor and
the marginalized through the media and ensure their inclusion in public
and policy debate, in order to enable Caribbean communities and countries
to articulate and communicate their own development agenda.

Real People, Real Voices!”

The Panos Institute Caribbean is a regional organization which helps
journalists to cover sustainable development issues that are overlooked
and misunderstood. We also help people who are affected by certain issues
to express themselves through the media, and as such participate in
arriving at solutions. Panos focuses on themes which transcend national
boundaries, such as child rights, HIV/AIDS, environmental degradation,
gender and community solutions to development challenges.

Panos works to ensure that development information is effectively used to
foster informed public debate, to promote participation by all groups in
society and achieve accountability of leaders and policy makers.

Contact Jan Voordouw at jan@panoscaribbean.org or jvoordouw@aol.com