Publication details
European ICT4D - Roma Youth Radio
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Could a network of FM radio stations operated by and for Roma youth really work? Could Roma kids help shape their own future through making radio? If so, how would it work and what form would it take? Marginalization of the Romani minorities of Central/Eastern Europe remains among the most difficult problems facing Europe today. The search for solutions must include empowerment of Roma people through education and access to media structures. At the EU Roma Summit in 2008, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called upon all of Europe: “We must use all means possible to improve the inclusion of Roma people. Unless fundamental change happens, millions of young Roma will face nothing else than a lifetime of social exclusion and marginalization. Mainsteam societies need to offer Roma youth a real, practical chance to improve their own perspectives.” He continued: “We should encourage the Roma to become active subjects of their destiny and to take responsibility for their lives. But we must offer them real opportunities. People grow into citizens, only when they get the opportunity to do so.” Community Radio owned and operated by Roma youth groups can provide an effective means for media literacy, collaboration, inclusion, access, education employment skills development and social cohesion. The Roma Youth Radio Project is a multi-year initiative (2010-2015) to establish and maintain a network of sustainable FM radios operated by the Roma minority youth in Europe. Its goals are to establish enabling environments for Roma youth radio in civil societies, and develop sustainable Roma youth radio organizations. The project is based on a strategic plan developed by Henry Loeser at Masaryk University that will employ advocacy, consulting, and training, and project development. As civil society environments are made more enabling for community radios, so too those radios should be sufficiently developed: first as NGO internet-only, then migrating to FM and becoming self-sustaining community organizations. First, all relevant stakeholders should be engaged through a series of workshops, consulting and training sessions for the sector and organizations to build necessary capacities. Then through ongoing coordination, support, and consultation progress is achieved and measured. It is a community-building exercise with the radio at the heart of the stakeholders’ collaboration. |