(June 2, 2008) Internews Network’s program to strengthen community radio in Haiti took wing in April with a groundbreaking two-day conference of leaders of 41 community radio stations from all corners of the country. Participants from very diverse stations agreed on a process for working with each other and Internews to strengthen their stations and to encourage citizens’ involvement in community affairs.

In the most moving part of the conference, a representative from Radio Bookman described how her station in gang-ridden Cité Soleil, Haiti’s largest and poorest slum, was working to reduce violence and promote the values of peace and tolerance through its programming. “Before, I was ashamed to say I lived in the zone, but no longer,” said Fabienne. “Radio has given me back my dignity.”

At the conference, Radio Bookman was invited to join the existing community radio association in Haiti, RAMAK (in Creole: Rasanbleman Medya pou Aksyon Kominoté), swelling their ranks to 41 stations. Internews’ work in Haiti will focus on supporting and strengthening these 41 stations.

Internews organized the April 24-26 conference on the coast of Les Arcadins, near Port-au-Prince, only after completing an in-depth evaluation of the conditions at each of the stations. Journalism and technical staff visited each station in turn to assess their need for training, equipment, and other assistance. The team examined the state of their production and broadcast equipment, their production processes, the abilities of their largely volunteer staff, their financial stability, their legal status, and not least, the content of their programming.

Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries, with the bulk of the population living on less than 2 dollars a day. Internews also found severe infrastructure problems that hamper media development: electricity and Internet service are unreliable or unavailable in many places, impeding radio production; many roads are in dangerously poor condition; and sometimes chest-high rivers must be forded on foot, with goods and equipment held overhead. Civil unrest also creates challenges: hunger demonstrations in the capital in early April forced a two-week postponement of the Internews conference.

The Internews project in Haiti will foster production of quality news and talk shows, as well as the development of serialized radio dramas or “soap operas” tied to important social issues such as HIV/AIDS, the environment, women’s issues and conflict resolution. Internews will provide community radio stations with technical assistance and a platform for sharing programs more broadly, and will support regional journalists associations.

A special emphasis will be to encourage and mentor more women to become radio journalists and producers; of the 41 station leaders at the Internews conference, only three were women. Internews also plans to develop a pilot program on youth reporting for community radio stations.

Internews opened an office in Port au Prince in September where it has built a radio production studio to serve as a training facility for both journalists and trainers of trainers, and for production of programming to be shared by participating stations.

Louise Brunet, who joined as Chief of Party for Internews in September, has extensive experience in media development in Haiti. Prior to joining Internews, she served as the spokesperson in charge of the Public Information Office of the Organization of American States (OAS) Special Mission for Strengthening Democracy in Haiti, where she designed and implemented a media and civic education campaign on peace and tolerance. In Haiti, she was also a communications expert conducting post-conflict needs assessment and program planning in the area of media and communications for the Haiti Interim Cooperation Framework.

Brunet has also worked in Ecuador and Chile and for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Montreal as a journalist, director and producer. She is a Canadian who is fluent in French, English and Spanish, as well as speaking basic Haitian Creole. She is joined in Port-au-Prince by a staff of seven Haitian nationals.

The Internews program in Haiti is part of a larger initiative with consortium partners Pact and the National Democratic Institute to assist citizens’ organizations in advocating for issues of interest to themselves, their communities and the general public. The program in Haiti is funded by a three-year grant from the US Agency for International Development.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Make a contribution

Come work with us