September 2008

A Station of Our Own
New Voice for Kishim Residents

In the remote northern province of Badakshan, Afghanistan, on the border with Tajikistan, the 120,000 residents of the Kishim district are getting their first and only local radio station. Until now, the people of Kishim district had no national or local broadcast options, only a choice of satellite TV channels from neighboring countries. The only other local printed media outlet for the province is Koasahr, a quarterly newspaper established by the Youth Cultural Association.

Radio Kishim Ready for Broadcast

Radio Voice of Kishim, at FM 90.3, is the first of three community radio stations to be established in Badakshan with the assistance of Internews Network in Afghanistan. Voice of Kishim is the 33rd local radio station Internews has established since starting work in Afghanistan in 2002.

Successful test transmissions from Voice of Kishim at the end of August marked the end of a long journey by the community and Internews Radio Network Coordinator Mir Abdul Wahed Hashimi.

Several community meetings introduced the concept of participatory community radio. These were followed by the establishment of an association of representative residents, the Kishim Cultural Organization, which holds the radio licenses and whose Board of Directors oversees the activity of the radio station.

Internews Network and its Afghan partner, Nai, supported the station through construction, technical installation, and training the four staff members in the skills of management, radio production, journalism and marketing.

The station now will broadcast a mix of locally produced programs as well as programming from Salam Watandar, the national programming service established by Internews.

"The people of Kishim appreciate Internews’ efforts in involving them at every step of planning to set up the community station," says Voice of Kishim Manager Noor Agha. "We aim to fulfill our promises to people to produce quality programming, develop our society and engage in democratic practice through radio discussions."

Nai Executive Director Swaps Seats

This month there was an unusual role reversal at media development NGO, Nai Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan. Mujeeb Khalwatgar, Afghanistan media development stalwart and Nai Executive Director, bade his colleagues farewell to take up a new role as Media Coordinator for Open Society Institute in Afghanistan.

Khalwatgar was then elected to the Nai board of directors, taking up the position vacated by a person who ultimately was appointed as Executive Director of Nai, Mir Abdul Wahed Hashimi.

Khalwatgar is a passionate advocate for Afghan media. Two major highlights of his tenure as head of Nai are the establishment of a local radio station at Laghman province with Internews Network, and starting a Kabul-based educational radio station.

Nai provides a range of training to the media community, in print, radio and TV journalism, programming, technical, media management and new media skills. Over three thousand Afghan journalists and media production staff have worked their way through the training rooms at Nai in the last three years, and two hundred journalists were supported with legal advice.

A number of radio broadcasters trained by Nai also went to Deutsche Welle radio in Germany for two-month internships this year. As well, Nai has attracted a number of senior Afghan media practitioners who have become involved in training the staff of the future.

Reflecting on the future of media in Afghanistan, Khalwatgar believes focus should be put on the unifying power of media in the country rather than creating ethnic conflict. He believes this can be done through the development of journalists’ skills in peace and conflict reporting. Khalwatgar also recommends that media NGOs promote the use of both major languages (Dari and Pashto) in their stories as a way of bridging the divide between the ethnic groups.

"From my time with Internews, I learned to share knowledge and link development issues with local independent media," says Khalwatgar. "I thank Internews for its encouragement of Afghan media activists to take the lead in their media organizations."

Community Radio Specialist to Head Nai

Nai, Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan has a new Executive Director. Mir Abdul Wahed Hashimi, Radio Network Coordinator (RNC) at Internews Network Afghanistan, has been appointed to the position. Nai is a local media development organization established in 2004 by Afghan independent media practitioners with support from Internews Network. A former Nai board member, Hashimi has been active in supporting community radio in Afghanistan and was part of the team producing the Afghan Media Law Course for Afghan universities and the recent Journalist Code of Ethics. Internews Network thanks former Nai Executive Director Mujeeb Khalwatgar for his passion and commitment in leading Nai over the last four years.

Two Pajhwok Journalists Win Press Freedom Awards

Danish Karokhel and Farida Nekzad

Internews congratulates our tireless and courageous partners, Danish Karokhel and Farida Nekzad of Pajhwok Afghan News, on their selection by the Committee to Protect Journalists to be among five journalists honored with its 2008 International Press Freedom Awards at a ceremony in November.  

Danish Karokhel is director and Farida Nekzad is managing editor and deputy director of Pajhwok Afghan News, Afghanistan’s leading independent news agency. The agency maintains eight bureaus throughout the country, staffed and managed entirely by Afghans. Pajhwok draws on a network of contributing local and foreign reporters who provide stories in English, Pashto, and Dari.

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