Community radio in Sanand to have rural women at the helm

“We have selected some married and unmarried women; some in their 40s,while some very young. We aim to train a team that will be self-sustainable and would be potential opinion leaders of their community,” said Shantaben Koshti,the coordinator of SEWA Academy.

She said initially,the women will be trained in data collection and on how to take interviews. Later,they will be trained to anchor the shows themselves,without any hitch. “At the moment,the CRS’s groundwork is being prepared by a trained team from the city. But it will be taken up by the village women soon. We have still not decided on what they should be paid,but will decide that in a few weeks,” Koshti added.

The CRS will be named Rudi No Radio,after one of SEWA’s first members,Rudi,who worked to expand the association in rural areas. “Our survey showed that many women working as bidi rollers,incense stick makers,tailors and weavers in areas like Manipur village of Sanand and elsewhere, listen to radio at work all the time,” Koshti said.

This will be the 49th CRS in the country,which SEWA hopes would help spread the message of development,health,education and other vital issues in an effective way among rural women. Since radio production is simpler and less expensive as compared to video production,it is believed sustainability would not be a problem.