MISA highlights you development on World Radio Day

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MISA highlights youth development on World Radio Day --

Mon, 16 Feb 2015 10:36

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On 13 February 2015, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) joined the rest of the world in marking the fourth annual World Radio Day. This years theme was Youth and Radio which examined how young people could be better represented through the medium.

The director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, remarked that youth are underrepresented in the media and that there are not enough programmes produced by and aimed at the younger generation.

Radio is considered the most accessible medium, even amongst disadvantaged groups. This serves a platform for young men and women to express themselves, which is especially important in Africa where 69% of the population is under the age of 30.

MISAs regional director, Zo Titus, pointed out that radio is important in areas where literacy rates are low for information to reach people in those areas. The 2014 literacy rates revealed by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics revealed that the total youth literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa is 69%, and is 10% lower for adults.

With a higher level of literacy, the youth have a chance to be more involved in content generation and making information available for people in their communities, especially for those who are illiterate, said Titus. At MISA, we take the youths rights to freedom of expression and access to information seriously, and are very involved in programmes to help children in southern Africa realise these rights.

MISA is of the view that a young population is a potential resource that can lead to innovation and support governance and development. MISA believes that the media provides an ideal platform for the sharing of ideas between young people and policymakers.

MISA has partnered with Save the Children International to deliver the Children & the Media Project, which aims to use media produced by children as an advocacy tool to trigger discussion, raise awareness on childrens issues and rights, and influence the way in which the media portray and report on children.

Children under this programme have produced radio shows and documentaries where they are allowed to investigate different issues they consider important for their generation, such as parental influence in their choice of careers or bullying of teachers in school. Children in the future will be allowed to decide how they plan to make use of these shows that they have produced.

In Namibia, the Namibian Chapter of MISA (MISA Namibia) has proven through its Think B4 U LOL Youth Media Action Group that young Namibians are eager to become active participants in structures and processes that affect them and their lives.

The youth bring innovative ideas and contribute to a diversity of opinions, and if theyre given the space and security to contribute to radio content, it will benefit not only them but also the wider community.

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