Avaliação da participação comunitária na gestão das rádios de Cuamba e Mandimba, 1991-2003

Abstract

Soon after the conquest of independence, on June 25, 1975, and before the Frelimo government officially assumed Marxist Leninism as its political ideology, the country's press began to be defined in terms in which the role of information is conceived by that one. ideology. Thus, the media should assume the vanguard role in the class struggle that characterized the Mozambican revolution, under the direction of Frelimo. The media was understood by Frelimo as part of the centralized system, with tasks that should be integrated into an overall strategy. The newspaper was not considered differently from the school or the health post. In order to restructure the information according to the government's strategic lines, the National Conference of the Department of Information and Propaganda took place between the 26th and 30th of November 1975, in Macomia, Cabo Delgado. The prioritization of radio and newspapers as the bodies that should have direct action in the communal villages was one of the major decisions of this meeting. It was within the scope of these decisions that conditions were created for the unification of the existing broadcasting centers in the country and transform them into a single radio, Rádio Moçambique. Due to economic difficulties that prevented the expansion of the RM to the entire country, small social communication centers were created in communal villages throughout almost the entire country, a project that would prove to be useful for the development of rural areas. But the destabilization war, the transformation of the economic system and other organizational issues ended up affecting the normal course of this project. However, after the decisions of the IV Congress of the Frelimo Party in 1983, the country began to witness a new political and economic situation. The attempt by journalists to create a law that would defend the class had already been made, but it was only then that it began to gain consistency. The new constitution approved in 1990 opened the door to a pluralism of intervention and action in all areas of activity. The press law was the result of this new dynamic, and its approval allowed a radical change in the media environment in Mozambique. Thus, doors were opened for the mass emergence of new media of the so-called independent sector. One of the great highlights was the emergence of radios with community involvement, a kind of continuation of the old media centers created after independence, but now with a different capacity, quality and even broader objectives. The Institute of Social Communication and the Catholic Church took the lead in the process of creating community radios, installing them in more remote areas of the country. In 1998, with a wider base, the UNESCO-UNDP Media development project started, which contemplated the installation of ten community radios in the country. The community radios in Cuamba and Mandimba are the product of these projects, respectively by UNESCO and ICS. Currently, these radios play a fundamental role in the development of the regions where they are located, which is why their study is relevant. In this case, the important thing is that these projects safeguard the principle of the participation of local communities in the management of the project, because only in this way will it be possible to privilege local interests. This process has been the subject of attention and consideration by those involved in the process, but everyone is aware that there is still a long way to go, and even studies on a possible form of sustainability of projects at the local level are not very encouraging, due to the degree of costs that such radios entail in the face of the financial difficulties of most rural communities(TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)