Community media are widely recognized by governments, international development agencies, and civil society organisations alike as key agents of participatory development. This is particularly true of community radio, which is a vital alternative both to state owned and commercial private radio. Community radio‘s affordability and reach make it a powerful agent of social change.
The aim of the initiative Pathways to Digital Frontiers: Communication Rights and Inclusion is to strengthen the work of civil society organizations (CSOs) at the national level in the use of citizen journalism to advance the democratic participation and active citizenship of marginalized peoples and communities.
The initiative Communication Rights and Public Voices: Gender and Communication supports civil society organisations to conduct gender-focused media monitoring and to engage with media professionals on gender issues in media policy and practice.
The aim of the initiative Communication Rights and Public Voices: Monitoring news media reporting on rural poverty issues is to support civil society organisations to create evidence-based public and media awareness of problems in mainstream media coverage of issues affecting the rural poor.