femTALK Mobile Women's Community Radio Initiative

femTALK is an initiative that draws on information and communication technologies (ICTs) to foster gender equality in development and decision making - with a special focus on the implementation of United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 1325. The project also involves lobbying for the use of appropriate and accessible ICTs such as the suitcase radio for the empowerment of communities through the democratisation of information and communication channels.

Specifically, fem'LINKpacific uses the medium of radio to create a "safe space" for women to articulate and exchange their viewpoints. Run by a team of volunteers, femTALK 89.2 offers news and information to women through its mobile "radio in a suitcase". Using such simple technologies as a low-power transmitter, the group encourages women to speak to each other and with their communities. The broadcasts are local - the community radio travels to women in their local communities and currently a young women's project is being developed for ongoing women's weekend broadcasts to be staged in the capital city of Suva. Local meetings or pre-broadcast consultations are considered central to the process of community radio development, because "we seek to engage with the women in their communities and they must be comfortable to have us bring the radio broadcasts or radio productions to them, especially when we are operating in the capital city and they are miles away on another island or province". The idea is that "Once people are able to share their opinions freely and safely, then we can say we are truly experiencing democracy." In short, community radio is thought to be key for strengthening information and communication channels and networks for Fiji's women in their communities.

Organisers began the process by connecting with local women to plan technical trials and live broadcasts from the field, as follows:

• "We have linked up with a group of women who have been involved in the E-Chutney project in Navua and the broadcast content...will be centered around their daily issues and realities. [W]e will also be undertaking focus group discussions as part of the development of a mainstream radio campaign on Women and HIV/Aids. The broadcast will be located at the ALTA Resettlement area in Vakabalea, Navua, on Friday 14 January [2005] from 10am. The Suitcase Radio then moves on to Lautoka for another round of pre broadcast consultations and a live broadcast in the Sugar City on Saturday 22 January...
• Then next week we head out west to team up with our Lautoka based partner organization, the Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises 'N' Development (FRIEND), and also visit the Senior Citizen's Centre in Ba, before we broadcast live for the very first time in Lautoka on Saturday 22 January."
• An International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) grant enabled fem'LINKpacific to "stage a follow-up consultation and training with women and young women in Suva which resulted in a special broadcast to commemorate the Global 16 days of activism campaign against gender violence, and also reaffirmed the process that would best enable women in their local communities. At this consultation, through our existing partners network, in particular [Ecumencial Centre for Research, Education and Advocacy, or] ECREA and FRIENDS, and the [Fiji Disabled People's Association, or] FDPA women's group we brought in women from the North and West to serve as (for now our volunteer) focal points. We have been able to provide our focal points in the west and the north with a recording kit each, to enable them to record stories in their local communities, through the work they are doing."

femTALK engages in community outreach that involves using personal contact and radio to help rural people have a voice. For example, femTALK is participating in a project that involves talking to people in remote communities - and sharing their perspectives on the air - so that they might have a larger role in planning for and implementation of national budgets. Funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) this pro-poor project is being coordinated by the Foundations of the People of the South Pacific based in Suva, and aims to enhance the capacity of civil society, government officials, elected representatives, and traditional leaders in budget literacy and advocacy, and participatory methodologies. As part of the project, femTALK visits remote communities like Ra to engage local villagers, including turaganikoros (chiefs), to come forward and speak their minds on air about poverty in their community, and its concrete impacts on their everyday lives.

femTALK also produces and disseminates monthly e-news bulletins centred on women peace and security issues as well as community radio developments in the region, in general, and on its own broadcasts and community-based consultations, in particular. These bulletins share news, while also celebrating and encouraging women's participation in the media, in political spheres, and in society in general (e.g., "A Young Women's Story: Budding journalist learns about media advocacy and the role of women's community media"). To request email versions of these bulletins, please contact Sharon Bhagwan Rolls; see below.

Gender Equality in Development & Decision Making.

In the words of the President General of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations (WUCWO), Maria Eugenia Diaz de Pfennich, "Radio is a very important tool for women, especially women in developing countries, and despite the growth in versities and an opportunity to especially strengthen and support women and peace initiatives across the Fiji Islands." In the words of organisers, "our women's community radio initiative is not just about getting women on the radio in huge numbers, but progressively working with them to develop and produce their stories for broadcast, in a way that also builds bridges amongst women from different ethnic and faith backgrounds."

"The principle focus of femLINKpacific's range of community media initiatives is 'women speaking to women for peace'....What we have observed, and therefore what our policy based motivation is that the decision making structures still lack equal representation by women, and we need to increase the capacity of women and young women to effectively participate, especially from the rural population and the poor, to communicate openly on common matters."