Drama on Corruption and Transparency through Community Radio in Bangladesh
Bangladesh NGOs Network
for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) along with its partner organization
ChangeMaker: Society for Social and Economic Development, Young Power for
Social Action (YPSA), Chittagong, and Center for Communication and Development
(CCD) Rajshahi is working for building a democratic society based on the
principles of free flow of information, equitable and affordable access to
Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) as well as on
Right to Communication of remote and marginalized population. BNNRC and its
partner together with Promoting Governance, Accountability, Transparency, and
Integrity (PROGATI) believes that Community Radio is an effective tool for
making the community aware about transparency and corruption issues and
engaging them to address them. “Develop Dynamic Community Drama programming on
issues of transparency and anti-corruption” is a component of the project “Strengthening
Community Radio” to make the community radio initiative more effective to the
community people in Bangladesh.
In order to have an effective
understanding and development of radio drama, Solaiman Khoka, a renowned drama
producer, and drama artists of Bangladesh Betar (Radio) has been selected to
lead the component. A workshop is designed to identify the needs and
expectations of the diversified local communities through the representing
civil society. The objective of the workshop was to arrive at a concrete
understanding with focus on specific community needs and thematic issues and
discussions on the various aspect and application of community radio drama at
the local area. The consultation participants include the community radio
initiators, representatives of civil society, academic institutions,
journalists, activists, and practitioners of corruption and transparency issues
(PROGATI partners). A briefing paper was prepared by Soliman Khoka. The paper
highlighted the perspective of Community Radio as well as Radio Drama and its
steps in production, production management, role of theme, story, drama
characters, etc. The participants organized in groups to address the different
critical issues of community challenges and the current statuesque relating to
corruption and transparency issues. Through the group work different suggestions
on the community radio drama themes and issues that are urgent and critical are
where drama can bring about a major impact and enhance success were identified.
Objective of the Workshop
Community Radio, a vision
with a framework for implementation and target timeframe, needs to be clearly
defined to provide rhythm speed and consolidate all initiatives to achieve its objective.
Community Radio is a tool where its people wishes to achieve to bring
prosperity, peace and development in every aspects of human life and livelihood
such as education, health, agriculture, business, state administration, etc.,
with full transparency and accountability in all activities.
During the past 11
months, the government has provided approval, formulated policies, drafted
strategies, and developed monitoring frameworks for smooth implementations of Community
Radio in Bangladesh.
The workshop “Radio Drama
Themes with the Civil Society” was organized by Bangladesh NGOs Network for
Radio and Communication (BNNRC) and its partners at IDB Bhaban. The key aim of
the workshop is to explore existing current urgent and critical needs of the
community in respect to corruption and transparency that the drama can
highlight for mass public education and awareness creation.
Objectives of the workshop is to determine
the radio drama themes for drawing real life situations and relevant to the
lives of the audiences.
•
To explore key
corruption issues in the local area
•
To identify priority
corruption issues that the community radio drama address effectively by
developing community awareness
•
To identify thematic
areas for developing radio drama
•
To explain benefit of
community radio in addressing corruption and transparency
•
To exchange knowledge
and experiences regarding community radio drama
•
To clarify main goal
of community radio service
The Workshop
The workshop started by a
welcome address of the Team Leader and Chief Executive Officer of BNNRC AHM
Bazlur Rahman. He emphasized the role of community radio in addressing
corruption issues in the local area. He pointed out that community radio is a
mass communication system that can enhance democratic practice as well as highlight
local problem to solve problems of grass root people. Therefore, the objective
of a community radio station is to ensure empowerment of local level people and
to make them knowledgeable about their role and responsibility in the society
as well as their rights as citizens.
Project Coordinator, Mark
Manash Saha briefed the participants about the objectives of the workshop and
their roles and responsibilities.
The representative from Promoting
Governance, Accountability, Transparency, and Integrity (PROGATI), Ms. Shameem
Ara Shuli pointed out the importance of governance, accountability,
transparency, and integrity of the public officials and how the community
together with the civil society organizations work together to address them.
She pointed out the role of community radio drama as an effective tool to
develop knowledge, capacity and awareness to work together in addressing the
different social menaces that are originating from corruption.
The Group Work
The participants were
divided into three groups to brainstorm on local urgent and critical issues
that can be taken as thematic area of community radio drama.
Group Formation:
1.
Tareq Mahamud (Team
Leader), Avik Sanwar Ahmed, Sonia Aktar, Solaiman Khoka, Mir Masrur Zaman,
Tamanna Rahman and Kamal Uddin.
2.
Shakil Ahmed (Team
Leader), RIM Golam Rabbani, Nawajesh Karim, Shahida Khan, Mostafa Sohel, Mir
Shahidul Alam, and Mark Manash Saha.
3.
Towfique Arefin (Team
Leader), AHM Bazlur Rahman, Emdadul Haque, Shimul Kumar Chowdhury, Sayed Kamrul
Hassan, Zahidul Haque Khan and Faroha Suhrawardy.
The key recommendations:
•
How corruption is
holding the development of women entrepreneurship
•
How corruption is
violating the people’s right to know local budget and its preparation process
•
How corruption is
violating the Rights of the people to Health Care Services
•
How corruption is
violating the Rights of the Women and Children
•
How corruption is
encouraging different crimes - eve teasing, cyber crime
•
How corruption is
encouraging cultural pollution in the community
•
How corruption is
violating the Right to Vote and Right to Information of the people
Issues discussed by group 2
•
How corruption is
violating the people’s right to know local budget and its preparation process
•
How corruption is
violating the Rights of the people to Health Care Services
•
How corruption is
violating the people’s right know different government spending
•
How corruption is
violating the Rights of the people to Food Security
•
How corruption is
violating the Rights of the Farmers to quality seed
Issues discussed by group 1
•
How corruption is
violating the Rights of the Farmers
•
How corruption is
violating the Rights of the Consumers
•
How corruption is
violating the people’s right know different government spending
•
How corruption is
violating the student’s right quality education
Conclusion
The brainstorming session
and the presentations on different aspects of community priorities on
addressing corruption and community radio as an effective tool provided a fresh
look into the entire issue of corruption. The participants believe that community
radio is a good platform for developing effective understanding of different
urgent and critical issues of community. The workshop of these nature are also
an effective means to review progress, understand and share constrains and
opportunities and take meaningful step to address the social needs and
expectations. It is believed that participation of the grass roots people can
add greater value in understanding the true dynamics of the community radio.
The session was concluded
by Solaiman Khoka. He expressed his gratitude to the participants for their
remarkable cooperation, support and compassion for community radio.
No comments:
Post a Comment