The Suitcase Radio has arrived in Tonga!

Nukualofa, Tonga
15 September 2011

A team of seven young women in Nuku’alofa will be paving the way for more youth involvement in Pacific media content development, production and broadcast as a new “suitcase” community radio station is installed in Tonga’s capital this weekend. The young women, who are the first recruits of the Generation Next Tonga team of producers and broadcasters, to tell their stories as well as produce and broadcast radio programmes sourced through a range of civil society groups including the Tonga CSO Forum, Friendly Islands Human Rights and Democracy Movement, Langafanua, the Red Cross and the Talitha Project which is assisting in the coordination of the Generation Next Tonga team.:
“Your involvement of young women in the community radio initiative is just wonderful,” said Head of Tonga’s Women's Affairs Division Polotu Paunga Fakafanua, referring to the Generation Next component of the community media project based at Ma’afafine moe Famili in partnership with FemLINKPACIFIC and supported by the Canada Fund and AUSAID.

This is the second community radio station to be established within the Regional Women’s Media and Policy Network coordinated by FemLINKPACIFIC and the “Generation Next” project has been a successful model of involving young women to pick up a tape recorder, produce programmes from local communities and take to the airwaves:

“They are learning for the next generation of gender equality advocates,” she said, “because it will translate with the people they will work with, in the home, as well as through the radio, highlighting gender equality to the rural areas,” affirming the role of community radio to not only disseminate information to rural communities but to also provide critical anecdotal evidence to inform public policy formulation and decision making:
“The collection of data and information to support policy advice and reports, as well as interventions from the rural areas,” referring to the programmes which will be produced.

In the coming week listeners across Tongatapu will be able to tune in to the demonstration broadcast of Tonga’s first women-led community radio station Le’o ‘o e Kakai 98FM dedicated to promoting UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (Women, Peace and Security), Peacebuilding and Dialogue using the suitcase radio technology and according to Paunga-Fakafanua, this is one way to address the culture of domestic violence which persists raising awareness of women’s security in the home through the production of radio programmes, which she said would enable women to share their experiences.

The first broadcast will be coinciding with the commemoration of the International Day of Peace on September 21st and the theme for the first series of broadcasts is “Making Peace the News”

And while the 100 watt transmitter will broadcast to listeners from 10am to 3pm in a 10 kilometre radius, Paunga-Fakafanua said this is where the population is: “The majority of the population can be found on Tongatapu,” she said suggesting that economic security should also be addressed through the community radio programmes to contribute to assisting and enhancing the status of the high number of women-headed households, as well as widows, “these are women living in poverty.”

In May 2004, FemLINKPACIFIC launched Fiji and the Pacific’s first women-led community radio station – FemTALK 89.2FM and in the coming months will be setting up additional community radio kits in Labasa and upgrade its mobile unit for Viti Levu.

ENDS