FemTALK 89.2FM Labasa Inaugurated

Saturday, 5 November, 2011
Labasa, Fiji

It is 9.10 on Saturday morning and the summer sun is already burning bright over Anaite Sivoi (Ana) who lives in the Naleba community, 15 kilometres from Labasa town, which means around $2 by bus as we drive out to meet her and other members of the Naleba Multiracial Women's Group.

Ana's day started hours before ours. At 4am she awoke to prepare food for her husband who is a full time cane cutter and the rest of her family before making her way to meet Surend, an elderly man, who she is helping with his sugar cane harvest.

Yes, Ana like many women in her club plays multiple roles including as an executive member of the women's group.
She shares responsibility for the women's chicken project, while as a mother of six children she's been a seasonal cane cutter for the last 2 years to assist her husband earn the cash they need.

We sit and "talanoa" with Harash Wati and her family including her mother-in-law, who look after Ana's children while she cuts cane. She serves us fresh milky tea: "I milked the cow myself this morning," she tells us. Her day started at 5am.

We have come to meet Ana with Sereana, a member of Generation Next - Labasa team who is getting hands-on training in our a "Day in the Life" radio series.

Ana's story is one of the in-depth features which will air on FemTALK 89.2FM. It is one of the stories, which will come from beyond the 10 kilometre transmission radius of the "suitcase" radio station.

Vanua Levu's First Community Radio Station was inaugurated yesterday.

FemTALK 89.2FM is a community radio station and one of the media initiatives developed to link rural women and young women to their own media platform to define their peace and human security.

It is another community media initiative for FemLINKPacific a feminist organisation dedicated to providing a media platform for community voices and issues, especially our community of women.

The community radio project has been enabled with a capital grant from Australia AID and will be implemented as a collaboration between FemLINKPacific and Pacific Centre for Peacebuilding - North. It builds on 7 years of collaboration between Adi Vasu Chute PCP's facilitator who is also FemLINKPacific's convenor in Labasa and FemLINKPacific's Executive Director.

Additional support for Generation Next Labasa has also arrived this week thanks to the Canada Fund. The International Women's Development Agency has been supporting FemLINKPacific's Generation Next project since 2006.

The initial broadcasts will be staged in the church hall of the St Thomas Parish Hall. FemLINKPacific is grateful to Bishop Apimeleki Qiliho as well as Father Rakesh for this support especially as the organisation emerged from the Blue Ribbon Peace Vigil at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in 2000. The women's space the church offers now also extends to Vanua Levu, reaffirming the important role of faith community leaders in supporting the empowerment of women and girls.

Yesterday's technical installation and inauguration will be followed by several weeks of production and broadcast planning as the production and broadcast team known as Generation Next - Labasa, prepares to host 16 days of community radio campaign scheduled from November 25 - December 10 coinciding with the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence.

The community radio station will be another platform of "Communicating a Culture of Peace" as the theme for the 1f days community radio campaign will be “FROM PEACE IN THE HOME TO PEACE IN THE WORLD - Let’s Promote Non-Violence".

The station, I understand will be operated in line with current broadcast regulations and 4 young women, members of FemLINKPacific's Generation Next project will in 2012 conduct monthly broadcasts on the 3rd weekend of every month linked to the monthly meetings of Femlinkpacific's rural network; there will be an incremental approach to extending the broadcast hours especially as the focus is on (1) production of quality in depth programmes (2) opportunity to train and involve other young people.

While FemLINKPacific and PCP's work together is focused on Peacebuilding through gender empowerment and communications, using mediation and dialogue techniques they have enabled rural women to be heard in local communities as well as other forums.

This has been supported in 2011 by the UNDP supported Strengthening Capacities for Peace and Development, interactive dialogue events between government and statutory body officials which are produced as radio programmes.

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls
Executive Director
femLINKPACIFIC
www.femlinkpacific.org.fj

Sent via BlackBerry® from Vodafone.

ENDS

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