We’re in a whirl of thinking, doing, worrying, talking, emailing. So far, it looks like that beyond our basic content components of Health (Talk to the Doc), Education (short “explainers” that elaborate on various concepts), language (English language learning), and Career Counselling (Focus on one career per program), we are also looking at modules in Legal Literacy (interesting and very relevant to our target audience), women and child rights (again we’re looking at Haryana with the worst child sex ratio in the country), and a through the day stream of entertainment.

All this has to happen through partnerships and content sharing. That’s the only way this will work. What we create, we share. For free. What someone else creates, we broadcast. For free. End result: a good thing gets better when it spreads around. And, everyone focuses on what they are good at. So, if it is Jagori we talk to, then they have done piles and piles of work on child rights, women’s rights etc. Why replicate it. Except of course create fresh content from within the community, which can go right back to Jagori to spread through all their other channels. If it is PrathamBooks, then why not leverage their strength in content for children, and the reach of our medium (radio), and come up with something can go back to Pratham and all its partners – audio books on air.

In addition of course, we create all our field content, focus on capacity building within the community, keep set-up costs low so that we don’t threaten sustainability, and stay on ground and grounded.

On that note, we look eastward, towards Orchha. We’ve been advised to go see Development Alternatives’ Community Radio project there at Taragram. As well as two projects in Uttarakhand. As well as meet up with some fantastic resource people in Pune, and here in Delhi.

Just writing it I’m feeling breathless.

And we haven’t even cracked the Frequency Application form yet. According to CEMCA and N Ramakrishnan of Ideosync, everyone is stuck right here. We’ve joined an unofficial club apparently.

On that note…Cheers!

First published on August 23, 2008
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