By Kumba Leigh
The Department of Information Services recently organised a workshop to validate the draft Community Media Sustainability Policy for The Gambia.
The draft policy framework for Community Media Sustainability in The Gambia has been developed in cooperation between the Department of Information Services under the Ministry of Information (MOIN ) and the Network of Community Radio The Gambia with support by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The initiative is part of the ‘Support to Policy Development for Sustainability of Community Media in The Gambia’ component of the UNESCO‘Advancing Freedom of Expression and Diversity of Cultural Expressions for Sustainable Development’ project implemented by the Department of Information Services of the Ministry of Information.
The project aims to contribute to better democratic governance through improving freedom of the press and the quality of information available to the population in The Gambia. A vibrant and sustainable community media is touted an integral composite of a democratic dispensation.
In her opening remarks, Aisha Davies Ann, Director of the Department of Information Services noted the significance of the event, saying the policy will enhance sustainability of community media.
She explained that the activity came in through the project on Journalism and Media, launched in October 2016 and completed in 2019 as part of the EU governance programme contributing to reforms in The Gambia.
“The project targeted community media, which is the key role player in providing quality information to the rural population through media and information literacy. It is against this backdrop that the policy framework was developed to address the modalities and conditions that will generate stable income and long-term sustainability of community media in The Gambia,” Madam Davies Ann remarked.
The Secretary General of the Network of Community Radios in The Gambia, Amadou O Bah extended gratitude to the Department of Information Services and UNESCO for their immense support, noting that they were part and parcel of reviewing and reforming of the draft document since its inception.
He said community media exist to meet the needs of community members and that such interventions would go a long way towards ensuring they do their work more effectively especially on issues of community dialogue, politicsand their day to day media work.
For Madam Fatou Njie, a representative of UNESCO NATCOM, a community media policy will provide community media the environment, support and enable them meet their long-term sustainability goals.
