“I want to be a journalist in future and to share knowledge and experience among the community people and same or similar fellows” commented Masing Yee, a young Fellow of the Free Press Unlimited Fellowship for Bangladeshi Young Women in Media and Journalism.
Under the fellowship programme, Masing is working in local Community Radio Naf-99.2 in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. An undergraduate student of Cox’s Bazar Degree College, she is addressing local community problems through her work in community radio.
Started in 2013, the Fellowship for Bangladeshi Young Women in Media and Journalism, works to ensure and encourage the participation of young women from rural areas in the media. Some of the most important objectives of the project are to encourage young women to gain the skills needed for a career in the media, whilst also enabling the development of local rural communities.
Community radios are considered an excellent platform for improving young women’s access to information and their entry into the media sector. All community radio stations in Bangladesh are initiated and run by local people.
Image Source: IPS News
The Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) is helping to implement the project in fourteen “upazilla’s” (subdistricts) across Bangadesh. The BNNRC is a national networking body on community media, which aims to help build a democratic society based on the principles of the free flow of information and affordable access to information for marginalised members of the population. Through working at these community radio stations, the Fellows develop their skills in journalism through report writing, feature writing, news development, case studies, script writing and presentations on topics such as the problems facing local communities.
“On the basis of our experience we believe that the fellowship program would obviously increase involvement of young women in community radio programmes outside of Dhaka, which would greatly play a role in empowering women, access to information and the use of communication technology” commented Syed Tariqul, Islam Executive Director, Chairman, Radio Naf 99.2 fm.
AHM Bazlur Rahman CEO, BNNRC stated “community radio is an emerging and demanding sector and so an attractive sector for the rural young women. If they could be assisted properly they can be the resources in this sector. They need encouragement, motivation and most importantly the skills. NGOs that are particularly concerned for women empowerment can make programmes to promote them”.
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