On 6th June in the Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) of Tansen in the district of Palpa in Western Nepal, we are attending the first broadcasting of I too have a story, on the local cable channel of the CMC.

During a two-hour program, several “short-reports”, set up by volunteers participating in training on digital skills and computer technologies, are broadcast on the air. For these volunteers, it is a way of testifying to their situation or their personal living conditions or else subjects in their community as a whole. Thus, Birendra Sunar, a resident of the neighbouring district of Rupandehi, has produced a story about discrimination within castes and untouchables, showing that unfortunately this practice subsists, even with young people brought up with “modern” education. As for Sita, a 20 year-old girl, she has written, edited and produced her own report dealing with health, higher education and women’s participation and emancipation in an entertaining way. “I have always had a sad life, today I want to make people happy,” she explains.

The Tansen CMC, established in April 2003 by the association Communication for Development Palpa with the support of the UNESCO, is a unique example of an association using a communitarian cable channel in Nepal. It concerns 2500 homes of Tansen and the neighbouring villages, about thirty people with 5 employees working daily and has a large range of software, hardware and digital equipment: computers, internet, video cameras, etc. Most of the time, the community participants and trainees are young and come from poor and marginalized groups; thus directing and writing reports for associations or companies can represent for them a new source of income. As an example, after their training, Som and Manoj Hitanga, two dalit brothers, found a job in companies working as cameramen, a first step towards their integration into society.

With I too have a story, the local channel fills out its daily programming made up until now of two flagship broadcasts: the Local Programme and the TV Internet Browsing. The first deals with issues regarding young people, the agenda of community events, local activities of other associations, etc. The second consists of broadcasting information quoted from the Internet and explained by people specialised in current topics. Thanks to these broadcasts, the quantity and quality of local media have been improved and above all, the circulation of information to which the Nepalese people usually have no or little access has been made possible.

Recently, Mahesh Ratna Shakya, coordinator of the the Tansen CMC, received an award from the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, which represents for the association an important recognition of its contribution to the broadcasting of information and to the access to ICTs [1]. “The award has not only brought confidence to my team and myself, but also encourages us to work harder to bring about social changes at community level by using ICTs”, said Mahesh Ratna Shakya.

Thanks to this recognition by residents and local authorities, we can hope to see the emergence of new initiatives and that new community media will emerge, bringing information in its different formats to the most remote places.

FDH

Notes :
[1] ICT’s : Information and Communication Technologies