The radio project is proving to be invaluable to the communities that it reaches and we always receive positive feedback from the radio stations. Agenda would like to enhance the relationship that has developed over the past two years with the following developments.

a) Community Outreach Projects (COR)

In 2004 we held two pilot community outreach workshops. The success of the outreaches has led us to want to expand this project in 2005 by holding four CORP's.

The objectives of the CORs are:

For Agenda to facilitate the process of a community radio station interacting directly with both their local audience and their local NGOs', CBO's and government departments on a gender issue that is identified by the community as of great importance.

Issues of great sensitivity can be discussed quite openly amongst communities when facilitated by "strangers".

The outreaches give the community radio stations an opportunity to interact directly with the NGO's, CBO's and government departments directly in their areas. We discovered that this had been happening on a very limited basis with Community Radio Stations preferring to work with national NGO's rather than engage with the resources that are directly available to them.

The COR's are linked to Agenda's vision: "As a feminist media project we value participatory processes". Agenda has the opportunity to make grassroots interventions in the gender arena through the CORP's. We also ensure that we are directly connected to the radio audience and taking note of issues that the communities feel are important in our own programming.

The methodology that we use follows:

A half-day workshop will be held with four community radio stations. The purpose of the workshop will be to engage the radio station with the community it broadcasts to in an interactive discussion to talk about an issue, which is of relevance to the community.

The issue(s) discussed at the workshops will be linked and related to our story themes for the year.

The stakeholders involved in that province add weight to the workshop. The outreach also gives Agenda insight into the way in which radio producers and presenters deal with the issue discussed and to also explore ways to use radio to communicate directly with their audiences on sensitive gender issues that have been raised by their communities directly with their community. After all, the stations are owned and run by their local communities who should be actively participating in the development of programming and the running of the station.

b) Radio Workshop

In the past four years we have held annual workshops for community radio gender producers to train them in working with the Agenda copy and providing gender sensitising training. The workshop will take place in April and bring together all of the stations involved in the project.

The participants will be trained in the following:

• How best to use the Agenda material?
• Finding ways to strengthen the relationship Agenda has with the stations.
• How stations and Agenda can ensure that the stories are used in a way that will be beneficial for all parties?
• Developing a gender policy for their stations.
• Stations sharing their experiences on how they work with Agenda copy and what problems they encounter.

The manual, which was produced after the first workshop, will continue to be given to the participants. The manual includes information on gender and women's issues for community radio - how women are represented, best practices as to how the Agenda material can be used for instance perhaps have local experts on a particular issue raised in the story, localise the information, generate debate and talk about taboo issues.

The manual is a useful tool that also acts as a reference source after the workshop. It is envisaged that it would become a reliable resource that will assist radio stations in developing their own capacity.

Following the success of the previous two workshops and the production of the manual, we have planned to make the workshop an annual event where Agenda has the opportunity to meet all of the gender producers and continually improve the project.

c) CD Production

Agenda has never advocated exclusive CD use for gender programming as we feel that it is important that Community Radio Stations have ownership of the information that they receive from us. This means that the stations are better able to localise the content so that it is a true reflection of their local communities. The development of CD's is not a departure from this philosophy but rather adding information and sound bites in support of the written information to assist increasing the impact of the information that we send.

The objectives of producing a CD:

• To provide stations with audio that they can use as links to add value to their broadcasts,
• To provide the stations and their audiences with current and up-to-date developments in legislation etc.
• The CD will also give women a space to tell their own stories.

TESTIMONIALS

MAPUTALAND COMMUNITY RADIO

Agenda held a follow-up Domestic Violence Community Outreach Project (COR) with Maputaland Community Radio. During the discussions we found that the workshop was valuable as it opened up dialogue among the youth (boys and girls), women and men who attended. It was evident from the discussion that the community has acknowledged that Domestic Violence continues to be a huge problem in the area which has lead to child prostitution and drug abuse. It was also interesting for us as Agenda to detect the change in the dynamics of the interactions between women and men. Unlike the previous outreach, the women were also very vocal and their self-imposed silence was no longer present. As a result, there was a lot of discussion among the participants.

Reverend P Linda a panellist from the Ubombo HIV/AIDS Project highlighted that girls between the ages to 12 and 15 are turning to alcohol and substance abuse to cope with the abuse at home. These girls turn to older men who in turn sexually abuse them resulting in the increase of HIV infections. Rev Linda cited Domestic Violence as the core of the decay and break down of families in the area where an estimated 7.886 of children are orphaned.

Working with Rev Linda to curb this problem is Amamdla Amadoda Men’s Forum (AAMF) they use the medium of sports as an entry point to speak about domestic violence, conduct debates and dialogue on domestic violence. Panellist Mr Mngomezulu from the Jozini-base AAMF stated that men make up the majority of the ‘abusers’ and most of their research shows that unemployment is the main cause of abuse in the area. The organisation therefore believes it is important that they promote economic and financial independence by providing their participants with skills.

Overall the events were very successful and very informative to Agenda as many other problems were brought to the fore. These will be included in future dispatches. Agenda encouraged the communities to use resources, such as the radio station, that are available to them to tackle issues that affect the communities. Maputaland CR was also challenge to talk to their communities about services and help available to assist the community fight against abuse and other issues affecting the communities.

RADIO MAPUTALAND 14 AUGUST 2004

Agenda, together with Maputaland Radio, held a Community Outreach Project (COR) themed Domestic Violence which took the format of an open forum. The COR was a positive experience for Agenda.

During the discussions we found that the workshop proved to be worthwhile as it opened up dialogue among the youth (boys and girls), women and men who attended. It was evident from the discussion that the community has acknowledged that Domestic Violence is a big problem in the area. It was interesting for us at Agenda to observe the dynamics of the interactions between women and men. Men were very vocal and the women were silent, but this was self-imposed silence, which is probably brought on by their upbringing and socialisation.

Despite this, there was discussion among the participants, with one man going so far as to speak about his previously abusive behaviour and how he had worked to change his ways.

Caption: A Self confessed women abuser discusses changing his behaviour.

The social hierarchies that operate in areas such as Jozini, ensure that there is very little communication within the community and that the men are more dominant and more vocal. Based on this, Agenda challenged the community to think of ways in which they can continue to talk about issues such as Domestic Violence and many other taboo issues.

A male participant spoke of wanting to start a men's forum in the area, as he felt that men make up the majority of the 'abusers'. He therefore believes it is important that they are 'work-shopped' and that they open dialogues amongst themselves so that the fight against Domestic Violence is tackled at its 'grassroots'. It was agreed that Domestic Violence which seems to be a major problem in the area needs to be discussed in two separate forums, which would allow women a greater voice in the discussion.

Caption: There was a high percentage of men at the community outreach. Initially the women were very reluctant to talk and the men dominated the discussions but, with coaxing, the women started to become involved.

Overall the event was very successful, with an invitation to Agenda to come back at a later stage to do another community outreach and possibly videotape future events. Agenda encouraged the community to use resources, such as the radio station, that are available to them to tackle issues that affect the community. Maputaland CR was also challenged to talk to their listeners in their community about the kinds of services and help that is available to assist the community in their fight against abuse. Agenda is also committed to continue providing the communities and radio stations with information that will continue to improve the quality of their lives and keep them informed about issues of gender and equality.

RADIO MARITZBURG, 27 May 2004

Agenda, together with Maritzburg Radio, held a Community Outreach Project (COR). The workshop, which was themed HIV, Gender and Treatment, took the format of a panel discussion. Anne Ntombela, The International Community of Women Living with HIV, and Dr Buthelezi, KZN Department of Health, were the guest speakers for the day. Approximately 200 women and men from different CBOs, NGOs and relevant departments attended the workshop.

Anne Ntombela spoke about the difficulties facing HIV positive women and the importance of living positively. Ntombela stressed that although the government's roll-out programme is slow, there are other means that HIV+ women can adopt to take care of themselves and ensure that their conditions do not deteriorate quicker: e.g. re-infection. Ntombela also voiced her concerns about misinformation and lack of information about rights of the infected and affected. Concluding her presentation, Ntombela, requested that the government train councillors who will be in a position to assist those infected and their families. She also emphasised that families need to support those infected as 'AIDS does not kill us but, the stigma and the loneliness. People die alone'.

Dr Buthelezi's presentation was based on the roll-out of ARVs in KwaZulu Natal. He explained in-depth government's plans for the roll-out programme which hospitals were providing medication and why. He also spoke about ARVs, side effects and the implications of being in the programme. Buthelezi explained that food security is important for those in the programme, as a good balanced diet would be required to ensure that the medication does work. This is one of the many reasons that the roll-out has not been rushed. In conclusion he promised that by 2005 the government intends to have all those who are in need of medication in the programme.

During the discussion session we found that the workshop proved to be worthwhile as it opened up dialogue among the women who attended. It was evident from the discussion that the organisations have similiar problems and they decided amongst themselves to come together and form one body that would address their problems. It was also evident that the workshop was important as many of the organisations present did not know about one another and the work they do although they are all based in Pietermartzburg.

The participants encourage Agenda to hold more of such events and Maritzburg Radio was also challenged to allow organisations to come to the radio stations and talk to their communities about the kinds of services they provide. They felt that this would better serve their communities. It would also give them a chance to learn about other organisations that are in the same field.

	Caption: Dr Buthelezi, KZN Department of Health.
	Caption: Anne Ntombela, from The International Community of Women Living with HIV.
	Caption: The Community Outreach Workshop on HIV/Aids held in conjunction with Radio Maritzburg in Pietermaritzburg was attended by 200 members of the local community. Guest speakers included Anne Ntombela from The International Community of Women Living with HIV and Dr Buthelezi from the KZN Department of Health were inundated with questions from members of the community at the end of their presentations.