New local women's radio to fight gender violence and illiteracy

Sitting around a table with their burqas (top to bottom covering veil) on chairs, Arefa Zareh, a school teacher and her fellow women were preparing to broadcast the first trial programme of Quyash (the Sun), a newly established local women's radio station in the northern city of Maimana. Radio Quyash is now one of the four local women's radio stations and one of over 30 independent radio stations in the country. It counts as the only independent media outlet in troubled Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab. The new station is expected to tackle the issues of poverty, illiteracy, forced marriages and the rule of the gun, which are among the major concerns of the local community in Faryab province. While the state-run Radio Maimana is also broadcasting locally, the influence of local commanders and government officials means that its programmes are heavily censored, a journalist at the station, who didn't want to be identified, told IRIN. “Quyash will bring light to the darkness here, this is for the people and supported by the people,” Zareh, an editorial member and presenter on Quyash, told IRIN in Maimana. Given the high prevalence of illiteracy among the local women, radio offers one of the most powerful ways to reach and educate them. Quyash has an outreach of about 25 km. It produces six hours of daily programming, mostly in the Uzbek language, with a 30 percent mixture of the Dari and Pashtu languages. The programmes cover news, humanitarian information and education, with an emphasis on women's issues. “There's also plenty of music on the station, as without entertainment you cannot attract an audience,” Zareh said. After Radio Rabia Balkhi in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Radio Sahar in western city of Herat and Radio Zuhra in the northeastern city of Kunduz, Quyash is the fourth female radio station initiated by local women. According to Fawad Sahil, a radio programme manager for the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS), a Canadian NGO working on strengthening civil society and democracy, like other local women's radio stations, Quyash is supported by a community radio advisory board, composed of a variety of people from the local community. "This board is also mandated to assist the station, to offer advice and to ensure the station reflects the needs of the community and, in particular, the needs of women,” Sahil said. Working alongside Internews, an international NGO supporting open media worldwide, the group has received funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Sahel said IMPACS provided start-up funding for a six-month period and long-term training and mentoring in radio, journalism, management and fundraising skills. However, despite great enthusiasm of Zareh and her team, it is still strange and even impossible for women to interview people on the streets of Maimana. “The society still cannot accept women speaking out openly on the streets and interviewing people,” she said, adding that her younger brother would help her get people’s voices from streets and open public places. “I think this will be the main challenge to fight for our [team's] independence first. There are 47 radio stations broadcasting on AM and FM bands from and within Afghanistan. According to Sanjar Qiam, a radio network coordinator for Internews, 27 of these radio stations are independent stations, part of a Network support through Internews and 16 are state regional and provincial radio stations. Meanwhile, there are another four stations, including two commercial, one campus and one broadcast by the international peacekeeping forces stationed in Afghanistan. Radio is now part of daily life in rural Afghan society. According to Internews, almost 90 percent of the people surveyed in the northern Parwan province owned a radio set and a big portion of them listened to radio for more than two hours a day. In rural areas, radio is the only source of reliable and impartial information and thus the only effective defence against extremism, Qiam noted. He added that 96 percent of the households in Afghanistan had no access to electricity and a small number of people have access to print media and TV. Sahil believes that establishing women's radio stations provides more women with the opportunity to become journalists, producers, technicians, fundraisers and decision-makers. In assuming these roles, they learn new skills, develop greater self-confidence and awareness, and become active participants in their own communities.