Best Practice Approaches for Community and Campus Radio Stations

"In Zimbabwe, community radio is still in its nascent stages, with significant potential yet to be fully realized." 

This report presents the results of a pilot research study commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and carried out by the Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS). The study involved 14 community radio (CR) stations and seven campus radio stations operating across the country's 10 provinces. The objective of the research is to guide the development of a CR framework for Zimbabwe, leveraging insights gained since February 2020 when the government issued a call for CR license applications.

As explained in the report, in 2020, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) opened up the airwaves to community and campus radio stations by issuing broadcasting licences to 14 community and seven campus radio stations. However, despite efforts to create sustainable CR stations, there are challenges related to the legal environment, financial sustainability, and human and technical capacity. "Four years on, key gaps exist in the sector, which may likely derail the survival and growth of the newly licensed stations in Zimbabwe." 

The research utilised qualitative tools for data collection to allow for an in-depth description of the current situation and to capture all valid angles and insights. The qualitative methods included: (i) Key informant interviews with key personnel from mainstream media, CR stations, campus radio stations, the government, and civil society organisations; (ii) focus group discussions; and (iii) document analysis. The interviews covered the development of a flexible legal and policy framework that will inform the expansion and licensing of more campus and CR stations based on best practice lessons drawn from the research.

The study is designed to contribute to the following: 
 

• Strengthened campus and community radio stations with proper governance and operational systems based on recommendations from the research;
• A Community Radio Broadcasting Continuous Assessment Toolkit;
• The application and licensing of more campus and community radio stations; and
• A narrowing of the information gap between the rural and urban citizenry by strengthening CR and establishing new ones.

The study identified several legal and regulatory gaps in the licensing of CR stations, such as limited stakeholder involvement, high statutory fees, a cumbersome and centralised application process, restrictions on advertising and foreign funding, and a top-down approach. For example, the current legal and policy framework does not allow CR stations to access foreign funding, and CR stations are only allowed to advertise for 4 minutes an hour. In addition, various challenges were found to be threatening the sustainability of CR stations. These challenges range from high staff turnover (staff are most often volunteers), lack of effective operational and governance systems, limited revenue streams, and technical issues leading to inconsistent transmission. Findings, for example, showed a lack of leadership, with boards not understanding operational issues and having poor communication with staff, volunteers, and the community. There seem to be no regulatory requirements for boards to be accountable to the communities they serve. In addition, CR stations struggle with outdated equipment and insufficient technical expertise, which severely impacts their operational capacity, as they are unable to consistently deliver high-quality broadcasting. 

In particular, the findings to inform the way forward - in terms of lessons learned and best practice, reveal the following: 
 

• CR stations are an effective vehicle for grooming and nurturing local talent and opening up opportunities for employment in mainstream media and other sectors.
• CR stations should have a large pool of trained volunteers, including continuous training of volunteers to ensure they have a large human resource base to counter the high rates of volunteer attrition.
• Community ownership and support, sound governance structures, systems and processes, and requisite equipment should be put in place before the radio stations are given a license.
• CR stations should have a full-time and employed manager to ensure continuity and institutional memory.
• Campus radio stations seem to be thriving because of the support they get from the institution.
• BAZ needs to involve stakeholders, especially media alliance partners such as ZACRAS, during the licensing process and conduct due diligence to ensure they select stations that have received capacity development.
• CR stations give communities a voice to reach decision-makers and bring communities together.
• CR stations are very important in informing and educating the community, including connecting grassroots people with leaders.
• CR stations need to have community accountability systems in place to strengthen community trust and to ensure that communities would want to continue contributing to their sustainability.
• CR stations should strive to provide relevant content that speaks to the information needs of their communities.
• The allocation of licenses should be based on identifying communities that are not served by the current coverage and that focus on marginalised and traditionally disadvantaged communities.
• More CR stations should be established to entrench diversity, broadcasting as a right, and media pluralism. The government should allow for more players to ensure a three-tier model of public, commercial, and community broadcasting.
• For CR stations to be financially sustainable, they need to have several revenue streams, such as income-generating projects.
• CR stations should create synergies with mainstream media for learning and collaboration.
• Citizen journalism is still not yet there, and there is a need for training to ensure that news comes from different areas.

Based on the findings, the report outlines the following recommendations: 

Legal and policy framework
 

• The government should look at decreasing the statutory fees paid to BAZ and Transmedia (the institution that provides the necessary transmission infrastructure).
• The government should simplify and digitalise the community radio license application process.
• The government should adopt a bottom-up licensing approach to ensure that the process is demand-driven.
• The government in consultation with community/campus radio stations should increase the current advertising time.
• The government should allow foreign funding for CR stations and put in place a foreign funding monitoring framework.
• The current legal and policy instruments need to be unpacked for easy interpretation by CR stations.
• BAZ should share its current licensing criteria guideline/checklist with media partners.
• The government in collaboration with media partners should provide education and training on legal and policy frameworks to communities. 
   

Transmission equipment and infrastructure
 

• Transmedia should be capacitated to meet the transmission requirements for current and additional CR stations.
• The government should ensure that CR stations are constantly monitored to ensure they are professionally run and fulfilling their mandate. 
   

Financial sustainability
 

• Community and campus radio stations should adopt robust marketing strategies such as joint marketing, and intensive local marketing to ensure financial sustainability.
• Community and campus radio stations should be assisted in starting income-generating projects to complement their income base.
• The government should support radio stations with funds from the broadcasting fund for a sufficient length of time before weaning them to ensure they remain sustainable.
• Campus radio stations should be supported through a budget allocation for their radio and need buy-in from top management. 
   

Strengthening governance structures, systems, and processes
 

• ZACRAS in collaboration with relevant government and media stakeholders should build the capacity of CR stations to ensure effective governance and operational management.

Human resource sustainability
 

• There is a need for continuous training of citizen journalists and other volunteer personnel at CR stations to ensure there is a large pool of journalists.
• CR stations should adopt creative and innovative ways of motivating their volunteers.