Equal Access Nepal, the Nepal wing of the Equal Access International, has been working on a wide range of developmental issues and themed radio programmes — aiming for a social change since 2004. Equal Access Nepal’s Acting Executive Director Upendra Aryal spoke to Sanjeev Sharma of The Corporate about the organisation’s initiatives. Excerpts :

 

What is the role of Equal Access in Nepal?

We are currently working in media development and behaviour change communication.  We have been trying to reach out to the audience of different classes, ages, and communities through radio. I feel that radio is the most effective medium because of its easy accessibility and the broadcast could reach the remotest parts of the country. We have been working in various sectors such as family health care, maternal health, child care, family planning, Early Grade Reading (EGR), Early Childhood Development (ECD), primary education, community empowerment, youth and teenage problems etc. We are also focused on the political issues through our radio programmes.

 

Nepal is witnessing a remarkable growth in the radio broadcast sector. The liberal media policies endorsed by the government (after the democratic change) have helped the broadcast sector to flourish in this country. However, there are some issues concerning the quality of the radio programmes. A successful radio presentation is combined with the good quality of mixing, scripting, innovative formatting and various other aspects of post-production.

 

What are the core working areas of Equal Access in Nepal?

We are working in health, education, political, constitutional segment and youth-oriented programmes. The programmes are focused on media education, gender issues, constitution drafting process, good governance etc. One can listen to such content in the widely listened radio programme known as “Naya Nepal”.

 

Similarly, Mamata (maternal health), Deshpardesh (cross border content, which include health issues), ‘Saathi Sanga Maan Ka Kura’ (sharing thoughts with friends) are our popular radio programmes focused on various health and peer pressure issues. Likewise, ‘Samajdari’, a series on spouse communication and ‘Kaam ka Kura’ (based youth employment issues) are also widely listened. Equal access’s contents are taken as meaningful and useful. Through these programmes, we are reaching nearly to 12.5 million listeners across the country.

 

How can we utilize radio as means of development?

Radio has evolved as one of the most effective means of development. We are using radio as a tool to facilitate the dialogue and conversation about sustainable development. On an average, the Nepali radio stations are broadcasting for 18 hours a day reaching across all the corners of country. This shows that the radio penetration can be of great help to deliver the messages quickly. Radio broadcast is also interlinked with issues in various cultural or linguistic diversities and democracy. We can take radio as a ‘3D’ medium because it helps to deliver messages and information about issues related to development, diversity and democracy. 

 

What is the role of radio in promoting micro-entrepreneurship?

Micro-entrepreneurship is so far concerned with the income generation, village banking, micro-credit and ultimately the economic empowerment of underprivileged people. Radio stations across the country are broadcasting various programmes on micro-financing and livelihood solutions. However, radio can’t be taken as an effective medium for income generation training purposes. For example, a website can better explain farmers about the farming techniques with illustrations and pictures which radio is unable to explain. But we can integrate the radio programmes and suggest the farmers about the links to such websites. 

 

Equal Access Nepal has been emphasizing the use of technology to deliver information to the general public? 

Information technology has helped us a lot. For instance, different communities can share their messages through our websites. It can encourage citizen journalism as well. We operate some blog sites such as www.meroreport.net and www.mediamanch.net to facilitate citizen journalism across the country. 

 

Similarly, we also offer free SMS service which is integrated to the above mentioned websites. The websites include interactive voice recording system that enables to convert recorded voice into text format. This is providing interactive platform to share messages where others can also give opinions on various issues. 

 

What is the role of Nepali media in terms of economic and social development of the country?

Nepali media sector is vibrant. Though they mostly cover political issues but economic, social and environmental affairs are also given ample space in the newspapers, television, radios and websites. Nepal media are disseminating information of nearly all the sectors. We can take examples of some successful publications. In my opinion the ‘Shikshyak’ magazine is a very good example which is providing valuable information on education and development. Though we still lack thoughtful journalism, Nepali media sector has been its role positively in socio-economic development of the country.