Nepal Monitor: Q & A: Wijayananda Jayaweera on Media Development Indicators

Wijayananda Jayaweera discusses the significance of MDI in Nepal's context.

Wijayananda Jayaweera, Director, Communication Development Division of UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, was in Kathmandu in July 2010 to attend a one day meeting with stakeholders on Media Development Indicators. With UNESCO Kathmandu Newsletter, Mr. Jayaweera discussed the significance of the MDI in Nepal's context. The following is the text of the interview:

Could you please briefly describe how the Media Development Indicators (MDIs) could be used for analyzing the situation of the media in Nepal?

UNESCO's Media Development Indicators are a unique tool in that they have been endorsed by an intergovernmental body and have been widely recognize among the development community. In Nepal, this commonly agreed upon framework could be used to produce a mapping of the media sector, identify gaps and propose evidence-based recommendations on how to address them. Such an analysis could thus enable informed media-related public policies and improve the targeting of media development intervention by all stakeholders in a well coordinated manner .

You have a very good knowledge of the situation of community radios in Nepal. How do you think MDIs are important for community media in Nepal?

UNESCO was a pioneer in launching the community radio movement in Nepal. In line with the organization's firm belief in the value of community media for fostering inclusiveness and participation, the MDIs stress the need for community media to serve minorities or marginalized groups to ensure that the media truly represents and serves social diversity.

What can the media, particularly community media, contribute to the peace process in Nepal?

No peace process can be sustained without an inclusive communication process. Of course, the mainstream media is important for providing a platform for a national discourse on peace. But often peace cannot prevail unless all people, including those who are marginalized, can voice their concerns, joys, frustrations and aspirations which in most cases are about how the peace dividends are shared in the local communities.

In this sense, community radio is not just about broadcast content, it is mostly about the process of community engagement.

Community radio is about social skills, business skills, creativity, IT skills, local democracy, hard to reach groups, involvement of women and young people, and involves hundreds of volunteers. Community radio is about harnessing the tremendous potential media can offer to engage people and make informed decisions by contextualising the information and knowledge within the surroundings they live. The national peace process, usually projected through mainstream media and community level discussions on peace fostered through community radio, is mutually reinforce a more inclusive and responsive approach to sustain peace at all levels and locations.

What are the lessons learned from the application of the MDIs in other countries that could be beneficial for Nepal?

The application of the MDIs in other countries has highlighted the importance of ensuring national ownership of the assessment process. In this view, partnering with a national independent research institute or media organization has been very helpful; however, it is also necessary to involve a wide variety of stakeholders in the consultation such as government representatives, parliamentarians, media - both public and private-, civil society and academics - in order to ensure that all perspectives are taken into account. Overall, all the stakeholders agreed that the MDIs assessments process has for the first time provided an opportunity to carry out media development interventions in a coordinated manner on the basis of real needs based on evidence.