IRIN Radio aims to improve the flow of impartial news and information to grass roots communities in areas of humanitarian crisis, and to enable the voices of those too-often silent grass roots communities to be heard by a wider audience.

The IRIN Radio project was set up in 2001, as a complement to IRIN's long-established and highly respected on-line humanitarian news service. Most grass roots communities in crisis-torn areas do not have access to technology such as Internet and e-mail. Instead, they rely on radio as their primary source of information. Yet international radio broadcasters give general coverage to most humanitarian crises, while local stations usually lack the resources to keep their listeners adequately informed and involved.

IRIN Radio seeks to help by providing consistent, credible information on humanitarian issues in local languages; incorporating the voices of grass roots communities into radio programming; and giving capacity-building support and training to local community radio partners.

WHERE…

Since the start of the project in Somalia in 2001, IRIN Radio has grown to include four regions, across Africa and Asia:
East and Central Africa region - Based in Nairobi, Kenya, IRIN Radio covers Somalia, Burundi, western Tanzania, Sudan, Uganda and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
West Africa region - Based in Abidjan, Ivory coast, IRIN Radio covers Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast.
Southern Africa region - IRIN Radio covers Angola from its base in Luanda.
Central Asia region - IRIN Radio covers Afghanistan from its base in Kabul.

HOW…

IRIN Radio runs four core activities tailored to the specific needs of individual countries:

Production of high quality, ready-to-air programmes on humanitarian issues in local languages for broadcast by local radio partners
Provision of journalistic training for local radio and NGO partners
Delivery of capacity-building equipment and technical training to partners
Facilitation of co-production programmes jointly with partners

IRIN Radio employs local Monitors to report on the use of IRIN programming by partners, and to gather feedback from listeners in local communities.

IRIN Radio is financially supported by:
Austria	Canada	Finland	Japan
		Sweden

Capacity Building

- IRIN Radio trains journalists in Afghanistan
- Afghanistan: Radios for Refugees
- Developing new radio skills in Belet Weyne
- IRIN Radio: training for Angolan NGO staff on radio-production skills
- IRIN Radio in Somaliland

Burundian refugees tell their story through IRIN Radio's drama. Read about the project and listen to the episodes.

IRIN RADIO special reports

- CÔTE D IVOIRE: IRIN Radio's co-production with Radio Lepin
- LIBERIA: Back on the air in Buchanan
- LIBERIA: Radio journalists try to pick up the pieces

[Back] [Home Page]

Click here to send any feedback, comments or questions you have about IRIN Radio Website or if you prefer you can send an Email to Webmaster

Copyright © IRIN 2006
The material contained on www.IRINnews.org/Radio/ comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.
All IRIN Radio material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge; refer to the IRIN copyright page for conditions of use. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.