huridocs-tech Sri Lanka: Human Rights Centre uses Internet and radio to reach rural areas

Title: MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Rural Folks Log-On Via Community
Radio

By Kalinga Seneviratne

KOTMALE, Sri Lanka, Feb 15 (IPS) - Villagers in this
picturesque mountain region of Sri Lanka, 150 kms from
Colombo, are logging on to the Internet via their local
community radio station.

The Kotmale Community Radio (KCR) project may well
revolutionise rural communications in South Asia, by showing
just how information technology can become accessible to
rural folks.

''We have opened the doors to knowledge, understanding and
entertainment through radio,'' says Sunil Wijesinghe,
controller of KCR. ''This has motivated the community to
participate and express themselves freely and receive
information without censorship.''

KCR, established in 1989 by the government-run Sri Lanka
Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) as a low-powered community
based radio service carrying development messages to the
rural people, is now run by the community.

The staff and volunteers are the well-educated sons and
daughters of plantation workers and farmers from the
surrounding areas, where literacy rates are over 90 percent.
They take information off the Internet to produce programmes
for broadcast.

Madhushini Nilmabandara does a weekly programme on human
rights using the Internet. Her programme is funded by the
University of Colombo's Human Rights Centre.

''People were not aware of their human rights. So we give
them information ... how to take action to protect it. Now
we have set up human rights clubs in schools and do
programmes with them (on radio),'' she said.

Kotmale has become part of the global World Wide Web under a
pilot project funded by UNESCO, which ended last October. A
50,000 dollar grant in 1998 helped establish an Internet hub
here, which includes a local server and five computer
terminals.

Local volunteers have been trained to log on and some have
even learnt to put up websites. They have also recently
started a webpage on the community using information
provided by listeners.

Since April last year, KCR has been broadcasting a one hour
programme at night, five days a week, to introduce the
Internet and the information therein to listeners.

''We wanted to be the first to open a gateway for rural Sri
Lanka to the emerging information society. I'm glad to say
this is happening,'' observes mass communication expert
Michael David of the University of Colombo who is the KCR
project coordinator.

Both he and Wijesinghe admit that the domination of the
World Wide Web by the English-language is a barrier to
access, but at KRC they have enlisted the help of bilingual
speakers from the community to help programme producers.

''We have in this area well educated people like doctors,
lawyers, teachers. We get them involved in the programme.
They extract information from the Internet and interpret it
for our listeners,'' Wijesinghe said.

During the programme itself, listeners are encouraged to
contact the station if they need more information on the
subject.

For instance, ''school children ring us up or send letters
asking for specific information. We go to the Internet, find
the information and tell it on air in summary form. We send
them a print out of the information as well,'' he explained.

Listeners are also encouraged to drop in at the radio
station to explore the Web. This has proved so popular that
KCR now regulates the use of computers, and Wijesinghe said
they may soon have to take older volunteers off to make way
for new people.

KCR is also setting up computer terminals in three public
libraries, including in Gampola, to widen community
interaction with the Internet. At Gampola, 20 kms from the
station, the librarian has been trained to teach people how
to surf the net.

''The Internet is a very useful tool for my education,''
says Nayanasiri Dissanayake, a Grade 11 student, who was
trained at KCR. ''I have been able to get a lot of
information from the Internet, especially for science
projects.''

With UNESCO-funding stopping last October, KRC has had to
find alternative sources of money. Coordinator David says
they are working closely with hotels in the nearby hill town
of Nuwaraeliya to attract foreign tourists to the region.

In addition the telecommunication authorities are waiving
their telephone bills and the Kotmale webserver could become
the Internet Service Provider (ISP) for the region.

Confident project officials are also considering other ideas

like setting up a computer training centre for rural people
and a webdesign centre for rural businesses which could use
the Internet to promote their products within and outside
Sri Lanka.

During a recent meeting with staff and volunteers here,
UNESCO consultant Wijayananda Jayaweera, a former SLBC
broadcaster, advised them to turn KRC into ''an advertising
agency to create income for the project and yourself.''

Kotmale resident Mahendra Wegodapola has done just that. He
used the Internet to start an NGO, the Green Lanka Nature
Conservancy Association, and ''now we use the Internet to
communicate with donors and international NGO forums.''
(END/IPS/ks/an/00)




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