WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

http://www.comminit.com/hiv-aids/content/samajhdari-radio-programme

 

NEPAL - COMMUNITY LISTENER PARTICIPATION RADIO FOCUSES ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN & HIV/AIDS

 

Samajhdari (meaning "Mutual Understanding") is a 30-minute weekly radio programme produced by Equal Access in Nepal that aims to cover the correlation between violence against women (VAW) and HIV/AIDS from the listener's point of view, providing discussion and advice on situations that affect real people - in particular, women. The radio programme is designed to: instigate productive dialogues about sex; teach women how to speak unhesitatingly and to think critically about their rights and choices; to expose the causes, consequences, and interconnectedness of HIV, AIDS, and VAW; and to organise collective actions to minimise them. Equal Access estimates that Samajhdari has 1 million regular listeners.

Communication Strategies: Every programme begins with a real dilemma that a listener has faced. These dilemmas have much to do with both violence against women and HIV/AIDS - such as, "I am a sex worker and if I say no to my clients' demands, they beat me. What can I do?" or "My husband forces me to have sex when I don't want to. How can I say no?" The presenter then brings in a range of voices to comment on the issue, including other listeners and experts from the field.

 

Twelve Equal Access trained women community reporters go into rural areas and collect voices from the field excerpts which are integrated into the broadcasts. These women community reporters are all living with HIV and AIDS and/or are survivors of violence, and this gives them an insight into the dilemmas being discussed.

The Nepalese radio show is combined with a community outreach component, which includes 60 listening groups, and legal literacy training for more than 1,800 women at the community level.