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UNESCO publication highlights the role of community broadcasting in disaster response

6 January 2022

Last update:20 April 2023

Maraa (a media and arts collective) and UNESCO New Delhi jointly launched the publication titled ‘Metamorphosis: Community Broadcasting and Disaster Response’ on 13 December 2021.

This publication culminated as part of the project ‘’ in the wake of COVID-19. The project is supported by with a larger aim to promote free and pluralistic media in developing countries.

The experiences shared by the participants during the interactions oraganized as part of the project strengthened the community media response to the health pandemic. We firmly believe that a flow of genuine and need-based information to the last mile can help us battle the health crisis in an effective way. To that effect, the publication presents a noteworthy example.

Hezekiel Dlamini, Advisor for Communication and Information for South Asia, UNESCO, in his opening r

The learning sessions focused on three major issues - ensuring support to and accountability of local authorities; creating a network of local reporters from active listeners; and addressing issues of gender violence, emotional and psychological counselling and countering misinformation.

‘Maraa aur UNESCO ne yeh thaana hai, community radio ko aage badhana hai’ (Maraa and UNESCO have come together to support community radio) was the slogan chanted by one of the participants.

Community radios played a crucial role in not just bridging the gap between government and the audiences, but also helped influencing the community habits. We hope this publication, our experience, will help community media programming going forward.

Anushi Agarwal, Programme Executive at Maraa, while introducing the session.

UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators (2008) observe that while the media is a platform for democratic discourse, the proximity of community media to citizens often allows it to reflect social diversity more comprehensively than the mainstream media. Indeed, UNESCO’s interventions related to Community Radio are central to its efforts to strengthen media pluralism and diversity.

The full publication can be downloaded here.

For further information, contact:

Hezekiel Dlamini (h.dlamini@unesco.org)

Rama Dwivedi (r.dwivedi@unesco.org)