EMA hands over media equipment worth more than 76,000 USD to Ethiopian community radios
Ethiopian Media Authority hands over media equipment worth more than 76,000 US Dollars to selected 10 community radio stations. The equipment was bought by the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The media equipment was handed over to community radios in the presence of his Excellency Mr Mohammed Edris, Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) Director General and his Excellency Cleaphas Torori, UNDP Ethiopia Resident Deputy Representative.
In his welcoming speech, EMA Director General noted that given the critical role community radio stations play in developing grass root democracy and development, they should be enabled to serve as vehicles for community transformation.
He appreciated the support provided by the UNDP to strengthen these important information vehicles that seem to be hardly transforming. “We will continue to support them so that they can foster access to information” he said.
The UNDP Ethiopia Representative on his part said, no matter how much there is plurality of media; there still exist communities that seldom get access to information.
“If you look at neighboring Kenya, it has a significant number of media outlets including those in the social media, but still there are societies who can neither get their voices heard nor get access to information. So, community radio stations can play a key role in voicing the voiceless” he said.
He also said that UNDP continues to support the sector so that it can play the expected role in transforming communities through better access to information.
It is to be recalled that Ethiopian Media Authority has been holding discussions with the community radio representatives on the prevailing organizational and structural bottlenecks in the sector.
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