AIDA Nederland

Radio Reed Flute Radio Naway-e Ney

A democratic communication project for Afghanistan

Background

The past quarter of a century has been difficult for Afghan society. Invasions, civil wars, drought and famine, repressive governments, oppression of women and the systematic violation of human rights have had significant social and cultural consequences. The country is isolated, its communications infrastructures virtually non-existent, and its education system devastated (the university has not operated for 10 years and the primary and secondary education systems collapsed when the Taliban prohibited women from teaching). The nuclei of civil society that exist have developed in a hostile environment and traditions of independent media are virtually non-existent.

It has been said that one of Afghanistan’s principal exports in recent times has been Afghans themselves. Five million of them live in exile, scattered in some seventy countries around the globe. While this is often cited as an example of the scale of Afghanistan’s crisis, it is also recognised as a key element in the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction. Outside of the country many Afghans have been able to develop the skills, expertise and commitment to democratic and participatory institutions that those who remained could not. Exile has also had a cultural cost, and many in the Diaspora, especially youth, are isolated from their own culture, history and even their own families.

The Afghan Diaspora is now being challenged to reconnect with the country and to engage in positive actions to support it. Radio Reed Flute proposes to support this engagement and to reinforce the nuclei of civil society and independent media in Afghanistan, (re)connecting it with the outside world, and (re)connecting the Diaspora with the homeland. This reconnection is considered vital for sustainable reconstruction and development.

Radio Reed Flute – Mixing media and linking Afghans

The internet has been proposed as one way of linking Afghanistan with the Afghan Diaspora. It is low-cost, interactive, relatively accessible and widely used by Afghans outside the country as well as NGO’s, aid workers, human rights activists, grass roots community developers, (media) activists, artists, academics, librarians, etc.. Inside the country, however, the story is different. The telecommunications infrastructure barely exists and other than a few very privileged urban residents, Afghans have never had access to the internet. In 2001 the Taliban prohibited its use. Even if the infrastructure were available, the internet would remain inaccessible to the vast majority of the population that is illiterate (including an estimated 85% of Afghan women). As is the case in many less-industrialised countries, broadcast radio is the main source of information and entertainment in Afghanistan, although in recent years the national radio broadcast system was reduced to one FM station, one medium wave station broadcasting in Kabul, and a national shortwave station. In February 2002 the interim government announced that private sector radio and television would be permitted and in the past few months there have been a number of initiatives in the country aimed at establishing independent radio stations or programmes. Some of these are supported by UNESCO, the BBC and Baltic Media Group , but others are likely to be less concerned with reinforcing and strengthening democratic and participatory values. Afghans living in the Netherlands are working on a range of projects for reconstruction, including media and cultural projects. The process of creating an information network as a basis for coordinating these efforts is well underway. And similar movements are visible in other countries that host a substantial number of Afghans.

In recent years there have been a large number of initiatives throughout the world that make use of innovative configurations of independent broadcast radio and the internet to promote democracy, development and human rights. Some of these use radio as a "community intermediary", searching for, translating, interpreting and broadcasting information of use to local communities. Others have established low-cost networks of radio stations and still others have been used to forge productive links between migrants and local communities. Radio can multiply the effectiveness of a single internet connection. (See Appendix 1, Mixing Media: The Internet’s Real Next Generation, for a discussion of the possibilities).

Radio Reed Flute proposes a combination of internet facilities and radio run and owned by Afghans as the appropriate option to provide necessary communication within Afghanistan and between Afghanistan and the Diaspora. To this end a project development team has been working since October 2001 to develop a concept, build a network of Afghans in the Netherlands, establish contacts with key organisations and individuals in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and build the foundations for alliances with other actors supporting democratic communication projects in the country. While the work in the Netherlands has progressed, we have now reached the stage where we need to consolidate partnerships in Afghanistan, verify and modify the project concept, and begin to work out the details for the Afghan-based part of the project. We have an urgent need to conduct a three week fact finding mission in Afghanistan.

Objectives

The objectives of the fact finding mission are:

to consolidate existing partnerships with civil society oriented media and communication initiatives and projects in Afghanistan and to identify and establish relationships with new ones
to determine their needs in terms of content, technical functionality and training and the obstacles that these initiatives encounter in terms of legal regulations, technical skills, financial resources and cultural gaps with Afghans abroad
to consolidate partnerships with other NGOs and international agencies working in the field.
to verify and modify the project concept
Expected Results
This feasibility study would result in defining partners for pilot projects, training schemes and implementation plans.
The expected result is that in six months the first nodes will be operational in the Netherlands and in or around Afghanistan. The web site with all functionality for exchange, distribution, production and training should be operational within three months.

A full report on this mission
An inventory of media and communication activities
Solidified contacts with Afghan partners
Identification of potential funding partners
A modified and updated project description
A full proposal to be submitted to funders
Activities
Bruce Girard and Jo van der Spek will travel from the Netherlands to Pakistan. Our local consultant will join us there, and prepare the meetings.
We have meetings with partners in Pakistan (Islamabad and Peshawar) who share a vivid interest in this initiative, to establish what role they are playing at this moment in developing communication with and in Afghanistan and to what extent they can assist in developing the project in Afghanistan in terms of technical training and resources, availability of concrete information and documentation and ways to make them available for use in Afghanistan, linking with concrete media and communication activities among the Afghan exile community

with members of the Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP)
with the board and the management of the Akbar Resource and Information Center (ARIC)
with the community radio initiative of the department of journalism of the University of Peshawar, Radio Pakistan and the Afghan Women Council
with media and internet activists among the Afghan exile community in Peshawar
Meetings in Afghanistan to identify concrete media and communication projects and initiatives, focusing on radio and internet development and the ideas and opportunities at hand. In these meetings we will also address the main obstacles for developing these project ideas.
with local UNESCO agent Martin Hadlow
with the Afghanistan Women in Media Network
with Bakhtar Information Agency
with INFOYOUTH Computer Centre
with the editors and management of Good Morning Afghanistan
with the Kabul Weekly
with the Faculty of Journalism
with specific persons working for BBC and Baltic Media Group involved in training journalist
with other activists and institutions working on media and culture
Identified Obstacles
Afghanistan and the surrounding countries have so far no tradition of independent or community radio. On what legal terms can projects like these be established?

The legal framework for media projects and internet activity is being developed with the assistance of legal experts from the BBC and UNESCO. We will closely monitor this process and consult with the experts on the ground.

Lack of technical infrastructure, human capacities and political cultural gaps are the three main problems to tackle.

Internet connectivity is essential for all players in Afghanistan. Experience from e.g. Kosovo and East Timor and informed experts in the field show that satellite links can be expected to be installed in the initial stages of international presence. Secondly, land lines to cities like Kabul, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif will be restored. >From the start the need for access to connectivity and bandwidth will be advocated and claimed by this project and our partners.
Technical and communicational skills are scarce and in high demand in Afghanistan. Identifying partners includes assessing needs for training and capacity building.
In places like Peshawar and Quetta in Pakistan, and of course in the wider Afghan Diaspora, a lot of (young) people are well skilled and well placed to step into this project. Technical assistants and trainers may be found among them. Regional organisations like SDNP and BytesForAll have developed various training schemes and tools that could provide a framework for capacity building in Afghanistan itself. The organisational framework for pilot projects could be developed in partnership with faculties and local NGO’s, media and cultural agents in Afghanistan

The cultural gap between the educated Afghans in Diaspora and those who stayed behind has grown immensely over the years and political factionalism is paramount.
The approach is to be culturally open-minded, emancipatory and non-partisan. The attitude is to be inclusive and respectful, looking for means to connect, finding common ground, confronting tradition with compassion, presenting modernity with modesty. The principal purpose is bridging the distance between Diaspora and homeland, between generations and between urban life and country side. Providing support for education , cultural expression and direct secure communication are the main starting points.

Preparations

In preparation of this mission we are in contact with SDNP and with Javed Jabbar who is advisor to the Pakistan government for community radio development and with ARIC in Pakistan.
We are networking with with other initiatives for independent media and cultural exchange, e.g. "Centrum voor Kunst, Cultuur en Geschiedenis Kabul" (Rotterdam), the Afghan Communicator (new York) and the "Afghan Independent media project" (AINA, Paris).
We cooperate with international organisations such as UNESCO and Asian Media Information and Communication Centre
We will participate in the InternationaI Seminar for Coordinated Assistance to Afghan Media in Copenhagen on the 19th of April, organised by the Baltic Media Group.
The production of radio programs and other content and functionality has started.
The web site supported by a streaming server will be operational in September 2002.
A foundation called Radio Reed Flute is being established.
We have joined the editorial board of the tactical media festival Next5Minutes4, which provides opportunities to share resources with the international community of media activists and developers.
We have established close cooperation with a number of Dutch aid agencies working in Afghanistan. e.g. NOVIB and Churches in Action.

Summary of the concept of Radio Reed Flute

We envision a combination of internet and radio to enable Afghans in Afghanistan and in the Diaspora to communicate and create a civil society network aimed at reconstructing Afghanistan.

What we propose is a communication platform that is independent and at the service of Afghan civil society and its supporters.

In the Netherlands the technical infrastructure will be set up and the editorial team has started to produce content
Partners in Afghanistan will be independent and community media initiatives and projects, especially radio and internet
Partners in the Afghan diaspora will be identified starting from the Netherlands through existing relations and making adequate use of existing networks
Radio production by and for literate and illiterate audiences in and from Afghanistan is the basic objective of Radio Reed Flute.
The content is to be produced by local editorial teams, to be recruited by the local partners. Each local node will have its own characteristics according to location and partners in their situation. Each local radio can compose its own choice of items by selecting them from the web site. We expect local audio production to be uploaded to the web site as well: it’s a two way traffic thing.
Results as of March 2002

an editorial board of 5 Afghans
close cooperation with the Insititute for the New Afgfhanistan, founded by active Afghan students
the organisational board of 4 Dutch experts
the institutional organisational support of the political-cultural centre De Balie
streaming facilities from the Insitute for Old and New Media in Amsterdam
a commitment from SCO to partly finance a joint fact finding mission to identify partners in Afghanistan
collaboration with the N5M, Next5Minutes is the periodical festival of Tactical Media (see attachment)
a lauching date targeted: 11th of September 2002! The platform will be the Temporary Media Lab in Amsterdam,
and we intend to establish a live bridge with Kabul!

Bruce Girard
Jo van der Spek