Ayele Eshetu, member of AMARC-Africa and Desta Tesfaw the Director of Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority (EBA) jointly published a new book. This book contained 13 chapters within its 258 pages and written in Amharic, an Ethiopian national language used all over the country. It is focused on the concepts and establishment of community radio and intended for communities who are in the process of starting a CR or for those who are already on air.

The new book which is entitled “Community Radio: Concepts, establishment processes and legal perspectives” is based on the experiences gained from different resource materials published or used by other community radios and the publications from AMARC and UNESCO are also used as a back ground reference materials. The book is the first in its kind to be published in the country and the writers hoped that it will help different communities who are in need of adequate information about community radio. Ayele Eshetu who has been promoting CR in Ethiopia for the past eight years always advocates that without having adequate awareness about the concepts of community radio, developing the sector will not become a reality. If communities have enough information about the broadcast sector and the advantage of radio in development, then they will be able to demand and exercise their rights in good time and use it for their developmental benefits.

Currently one of the most demanding challenges for Ethiopian communities is lack of awareness about the concepts of community radio and how to deal with financial other obstacles and how to become organized and request for license for broadcasting.

The last three years were the golden times for Ethiopian communities where eight community radio stations established and started broadcasting in different areas in the country. The first community radio to be on Air in 2008 was the Jimma community radio Station which is located in Jimma town some 347 K/M from the capital city. This CR station was assisted by Jimma University and an NGO called Media Action Foundation from Netherlands. The rest Seven CR stations that are licensed and start broadcasting between 2007-2010 got their support from an organization called Information Communication Technology Assisted Development (ICTAD) a project initiated by the World Bank.

Other communities are encouraged by those initiatives and tried to start up their own CR stations. That’s why the writers tried to publish the new book in order to help those communities to get adequate information about the establishment process and how to overcome challenges.

The availability of this kind of resource material will have its own advantage in promoting CR and the use of the air wave in a democratic way for the benefits of communities. It has been known that communities who live in remote areas are depraved of essential information and lack of an information medium such as community radio to raise and discuss issues relevant to those people is evident in a country like Ethiopia.
That’s why the writers tried to contribute their share.