Community radio stations to promote access to information in times of disasters

Community radio stations to promote access to information in times of disasters

By Florence Zirima

The National Coordinator for Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS),
Ms Vivienne Marara and the Director of Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ), Ms Patience Zirima have commended the move by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) to license eight more community radio stations saying the development will go a long in promoting access to information at community level in times of disasters.

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe has so far licenced 14 community radio stations since December 2020.

Speaking to Identities Media, Ms Marara said community radio stations will be a reliable platform to disseminate accurate information about COVID-19.

”At a time that the world is battling with Covid-19 we hope that these community radio stations will be a great platform for promoting and disseminating information on Covid-19 preventive measures, dealing with rumours and misinformation around the vaccination programme”, she said.

Ms Marara also said that the community radio stations will promote development discussions among community members which will foster their participation.

She has called upon different stakeholders to work with community radio stations.

”We really hope that different stakeholders will come in to assist these newly licenced community radio stations so that they are able to promote sustainable endevours in their different localities”, she said.

In another interview, Ms Zirima told this publication that the recently licensed community radio stations will improve citizen’s access to information during disasters.

”We do commend the licensing of community radio stations in addition to the other licenses that have been given to community radios.

This will go a long way in improving citizen access to information at the community level when we look at periods of disasters such as the Cyclone Idai and the damages it caused in the Eastern part of the country 2 years ago.

The information was centralized and citizens did not have the access to information that was timely and could rely on WhatsApp to get information about the cyclone which is not a reliable source of information”, she said.

She also added that getting community radio stations ensures citizens to get verified source of information in a timely manner and increases citizen’s access to critical information in times of need.

The Freedom of Information Act gives citizens and media practitioners’ access to information as it is provided by the Constitution Section 62.

This law ensures that any citizen or journalist can approach the public bodies with request to information.

It also enable women, girls, youths and all vulnerable groups to participate in democracy, human rights and accountability as they can easily access information that contributes to monitoring of usage of public resources.