Media for Development

Surinam Twinning Project

 

Participation is the key word in this radio project in Surinam. Three local radio stations in Surinam and three Dutch local stations (Beuningen, Groningen and Venlo) are ‘twinned’. The twinning will help the stations in Surinam to become participative platforms for communication, where information is exchanged in two directions, bottom up as well as top down.

 

 

Background

The regions Coronie, Moengo and the area above the Surinam River are remote and at times isolated. Surinam media are concentrated in the capital Paramaribo and have limited reach in and little coverage from these areas. Small, private initiatives try to answer this lack of information. Two of the three stations taking part in this project are the only source of information in their region, while the third is the only one in its area providing access to objective, not politically coloured news.

 

A Participative Approach

The twinning project aims to increase the journalistic knowledge and skills of BOB Radio, Mohari Broadcasting and Radio Maife. Also the Surinam and Dutch stations share their experiences with participative radio making. How can listeners be involved with the making of radio programmes and what other activities can they take part in? Participative radio making gives a voice to the populations in the three areas covered by the stations. 

 

Mobile Phones

New technologies, like mobile phones offer a world of possibilities for the radio stations to increase the involvement of the local population. Together, the stations will look into ways to include the new media into their programming.

 

 

The request for collaboration in this twinning programme  reached RNTC through Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW). Two of the three participating stations are existing partners of RNW and did express their needs to them. The project started in 2009 and will continue until 2011. It is funded by UTSN, a special fund that facilitates twinning between civil society in Surinam and the Netherlands.

 

More information:

* Contact RNTC: info@rntc.nl

* Blog 'radiotwinning'

* UTSN

* OLON