“She looks Chinese,” says one young woman to me of the other, as we finish our lunch at a holiday resort in Kurintar.[break]
Yet battling these very stereotypes is what motivates them.
“Women don’t get the justice they deserve,” says Usha Poudel, a 22-year-old radio producer from Burtibang. She loves to laugh and could easily be relegated to entertainment news slots, like most female radio journalists. Instead, she uses radio to challenge gender discrimination, even though that’s tough for the only woman at Burtibang FM. “I feel very close to female issues,” says Usha.
Shanti Chhantyal, a quiet 19-year-old, also from Burtibang, has a different stereotype to battle.
“I feel like a spokesperson for the Janajati Magar people,” says she who arrived after a three-day walk with just the clothes on her back. She says misogyny isn’t a big problem at her workplace but that, like Usha, standing up for her underrepresented identity is a motivator. To achieve this, she airs her voice on Radio Dhorpatan, one of 220 FM radio stations in Nepal’s dynamic community-owned radio network.
First adopted as a broadcast principle in 1997, now more than half of all of Nepal’s radio stations are community-owned or not-for-profit organizations, according to the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ).
For many in rural areas today – like Shanti – the small local station is a powerful force, a homegrown voice able to reach the illiterate, poor, or marginalized in ways that newspapers and urban TV stations can’t. Forget the Internet!
“Radio is important for attitude changes and has powerful behavioral effects on people,” says Yubakar Rajcarnikar, Media Manager of Search for Common Ground (SFCG) Nepal. “It’s important for mobilizing women, children, and youth.”
Usha Poudel, producer, Baglung FM, Lok Hari Acharya, station admin, Radio Sindhuli, Shiva Pratap Shah, station manager, Chhinnamasta FM, and Uma Paubel, producer, Radio Sindhuli.
His employer recognized this power in 2007 when it brought the broadcast training program, Radio for Peacebuilding (R4PB), to the country from Africa. Today, 300 have been trained nationwide, and 48 of whom descended upon Kurintar last week for an “ambassador” forum.
Central to R4PB is the idea of conflict and that, if managed properly, can be beneficial to a community’s development. One radio producer says this is much like making tea. “You need to stir the pot properly, use the right ingredients, and manage the heat,” he says. If you don’t, the result is a dangerously overflowing pot: a community at war over ethnic, cultural, or caste tensions. But if you manage it correctly, there can be a sweet brew of compromise and closure. “As a journalist,” he says, “it’s very important for us to know how to manage that resolution.”
Sangu Kumari Das, a 25-year-old radio producer at Radio Samagra in Lahan, uses conflict as a form of mediation. As a mother to a young girl (and another on the way) she’s already defying the odds by working in broadcasting. One of her proudest moments on air was intervening in a domestic violence incident. She encouraged the husband – a prominent Parliamentarian – to talk to his wife openly about their problems. “Sometimes I feel like a counselor,” she says.
Grassroots, community-based issues dominate the stories of other R4PB recruits, too. Bhima Siwalati, a married woman with two teenage daughters, has a memorable moment involving maize. Farmers in her town began striking after an agricultural producer sold them dud seeds.
“I brought the farmers and the manufacturer together,” says Bhima. “I got the farmers back to work after the producers recognized their problem.”
Success stories like these certainly paint rosy pictures of radio in Nepal. Later at Kurintar, assembled together for an impromptu singing game of Antakshari, this positive atmosphere continues. It’s a beautiful moment to witness, one where widely different ethnic groups, ages, and genders from across the country come together through songs.
“My birthplace, my village,” sings one man from the Tarai. Halfway through the game, however, two older participants tear into the hall, drunk, singing, and shouting loudly of their ethnic group’s pride. It’s a reminder of the divisions and interests at play which politicize community radio
in Nepal.
“Anybody can technically open a radio station if there’s enough money,” says Yubakar. He says most community stations have a degree of partisanship or political affiliation. “They need to learn to be more neutral,” he says. Controlling that bias and identity “can be a problem” as is the basics of station management.
As new broadcasting stations continue to crop up, the urgency for training young radio journalists increases. There’s also a need for legal guidelines stating exactly what it means to be a community radio station in Nepal.
Sudip Kumar Jha, a burly 33-year-old station director at Radio Appan Mithila in Mahottari, says he keeps his station balanced by implementing codes of conduct. He says it’s important to emphasize community cohesion over partisanship.
“The owner of my station has his own interests but also sees the good we’re doing. So now even he compromises on his beliefs,” says Sudip. “Of course, I also have my own sentiments as a Madhesi, but as a journalist, I’ve to see past that bias.”
Sudip’s friend and sidekick over the week, Ghanshyam Mishra echoes these sentiments. He says the ongoing training with R4PB, and his promotion to station manager at Janakpur’s Radio Madhesh, have taught him to be balanced. Yet he also says that he considers himself an activist, something that hints at the fine line between radio journalism and political mobilization in Nepal.
“Sometimes, when I can’t say anything myself,” says Ghanshyam, “it’s better to say it purely through the voice of the community by vox pop.”
This activism is something that Shanti – a quietly confident teenager – also finds important. Not long ago, she used radio to challenge education funding at a nearby remote area where nomadic agricultural schools are always shifting around. One school had government funding but three others weren’t so lucky. Shanti challenged this inequity on air.
“Now the government has agreed to fund the other schools as well,” she says. “I feel like I’m a leader of my community.”
Usha had a similar experience broadcasting her show for R4PB. Her actions led to an orphaned Dalit girl receiving school fee entitlements after being ignored by her local district. She says radio is power.
Anita Khatri, a 20-year-old radio producer from Radio Rehunga in Gulmi, agrees. She says R4PB has changed her perspectives: She was previously producing entertainment only.
It’s the same story from Usha. However, she says there are more barriers to overcome. She says she’s being overlooked for promotion because of her gender. (There are only five female station managers in the whole of Nepal.)
This year, R4PB will push dialogue on federalism via a new franchise of talk shows, called Farakilo Dharti. Yubakar says this issue will prove radio’s worth.
“We don’t say we can bring peace via radio. Of course, there are some issues where compromise is hard,” he says. “But there’s always a common ground. We are all humans. We are all Nepalis.”
He adds that R4PB is also instrumental in initiating changes at another level: within the participants themselves.
“I first felt I was doing radio as a Madheshi,” says the fiercely patriotic Sudip. “But then, I came to Kathmandu and I realized that we’re all the same. I don’t feel the way I used to feel before.” Now his motivation is reconciliation. It’s something he has achieved by negotiating tense situations, such as a Muslim land claims to a pivotal local temple.
His is the parting shot at the Kurintar conclave.
“Someday, when peace comes to this country,” says Sudip, “I hope my children can say that their father was part of that process.”
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