| The AMARC 10 Global Conference will be held in La Plata, Argentina 2010 The International Board of Directors of AMARC announced that the tenth World Assembly of Community Radio Broadcasters will be held from 8 to 13 November 2010 in Ciudad de la Plata, province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Community Radios have come together in AMARC Argentina to host the first Global conference of community broadcasters to be held in South America, where community radios were born 60 years ago. Furthermore, Argentina and the Latin America & Caribbean region is going through dynamic social changes and has a rich in experiences to share with the world movement of community radios. More than 400 community broadcasters and stakeholders from over 110 countries and all regions of the global community radio movement will gather at the AMARC 10 Global Conference from 8-13 November to, among other issues, improve good practice in community media; explore strategies to facilitate the establishment of enabling legal environments for community media development, to define knowledge sharing and capacity building models for action-research and mentoring; to reinforce content development leading to social change; to facilitate the inclusion of women and; to encourage the empowerment of communities through appropriation of community radio for social justice and sustainable, democratic and participatory human development. http://amarc10.amarc.org 2nd REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF AMARC ASIA PACIFIC: Community Radio for Sustainable development and Good Governance The 2nd AMARC Asia Pacific Regional Conference: Community radio for Sustainable Development and Good Governance" will be held on February 20-23, 2010. The Conference will bring together community radio broadcasters, activists, academics, policy makers, and representatives of the donor community and governments to review the development of the community broadcasting in the Asia Pacific region in the last 4 years. It will take a careful look at thematic areas of development such as the empowerment of women within the CR sector, the role of community broadcasting in peace building, it's role in the face of global climate change and at times of natural disasters as well as for poverty eradication. The regional conference will address practical issues such as capacity building in areas of management, technology, community participation, monitoring and evaluation, media convergence, and networking and the conference will recommend steps that will ensure the way forward for the CR sector in the region. The 2nd Regional Assembly of AMARC Asia-Pacific will be held in conjunction with the Regional Conference.
The Asia Pacific chapter of AMARC was formally established in November 2005 by the 1st Regional Assembly of AMARC's members in the Asia Pacific region during the regional conference held in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Conference provided a significant push to Community Radio in the Region by bringing together practitioners from Asia-Pacific and beyond along with experts and NGO representatives from the community media and communications rights sector. The Jakarta Regional Assembly elected a regional board and decided upon an action plan aimed at developing the community broadcasting sector in the region. As per the statutes of AMARC Asia Pacific, the regional assembly is held every four years. For information visit: http://asiapacific.amarc.org/index.php?p=2_Conference_Asia_Pacific_2010 Tribute to Thomas Kupfer (1964-2009) 
Thomas Kupfer, a founding member of the Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE), passed away on Sunday 2 August 2009, at the age of 45. Thomas has been a central figure in helping gain recognition for community media at the European level including recent important policy achievements. He was the organiser, motivator and supporter of a number of focal community media events at the continental level in Germany, Austria and across Europe in the last two decades. Steve Buckley, President of AMARC, said "Thomas made a great contribution to the recognition and development of community media in Europe. His departure is a very sad loss to our movement. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends."
CMFE has published a memorial tribute at:
http://www.cmfe.eu/index.php?/Support/cmfe-pays-tribute-to-thomas-kupfer.html
CTA 2009 Seminar
AMARC delegates participated in the an international seminar on the "Role of the media in agricultural development in ACP countries (West, Central, East and Southern Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific) in Brussels, Belgium between 12 and 16 October 2009. The seminar was organized by ACP/EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), together with its partners. The aims of the international seminar were to: Contribute to the preparation of strategies for media capacity building with regard to access and dissemination of information on key issues for the ACP agricultural sector; to strengthen communication links between the media and the agricultural sector and; to contribute to the identification of media support programmes.
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The meeting was attended by over 120 experts representing the main professions at the interface of media, agriculture, rural development and decision making. CTA intends to use the Seminar to build on these initiatives, thereby contributing to improving the role of the media in agricultural and rural development in the ACP countries by working with and for the media.
For further information visit: http://annualseminar2009.cta.int/ International Seminar: Voice and Empowerment through Community Media:
Learning from good practice, strategies for development on November 11, 2009 AMARC and UNESCO, together with other stakeholders, held on November 11, 2009 an international seminar «Voice and Empowerment through Community Media: Learning from Good Practice, Strategies for Development», at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The seminar gathered community radio practitioners and stakeholders to analyse best experiences on the social impact of community radio and of AMARC in building up enabling environments for Community Radio; on poverty reduction; on disaster management and preparedness among other issues. The participants also shared common perspectives for action to achieve sustainable, democratic and participatory development.
For further information and to listen to the presentation please go to: http://www.amarc.org/index.php?p=paris_seminar_2009 Policy Models on policies, Legislation and Regulations : Successes in the Recognition of Community Radios Participants from all continents and regions of the world shared knowledge on good practices on community radio broadcasting. The French example caught attention in regards to public financing of community radios.
Emmanuel Boutterin, president of the Syndicat National des Radios Libres (SNRL), said that the article 29 of the 1986 legislation related to communication freedom, established as constitutional law on freedoom of expression requires that the regulation authority the CSA (Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel) allocates 25% of the frequencies to community or associated status radios.
The said legislation considers the distribution of public support for the community radios that is financves by taxes on the amounts paid by announcers paying for publicity in radio broadcast or television.
This means that the Fonds de Soutien a l'Expression Radiophonique (FSER) the Support Fund to radio expression as it is known in France is financed by commercial radio. The fund has 30 million euros per year.
M. Boutterin of SNRL, concluded its presentation highlighting that «a good legislation is important for the development of community radio ».
Other examples of good practices of sustainable community radios and for the growth of community radios were also shared by representatives of Chile, Jordan and Senegal. The representatives of Haiti, Italy, Mali and the United States, highlighted examples of the social impact of community radio in their specific countries.
«Voice and access to information are vital components in the fight against poverty. The contribution by community media and community radio has been particularly effective in reaching the poorest communities in the world and facilitate inclusion of the excluded. Community media ensures access for people to communication tools, allowing them to access their own ways for their cultural expression, for dialogue, to information and news creating the conditions for the necessary communication processes to achieve sustainable, democratic and participatory development », declared Steve Buckley, President of AMARC
By Sony Esteus, Director of SAKS Association (Sosyete Animasyon ak Kominikasyon Sosyal),abd Vice President of AMARCC
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The participants produced the following concluding statement: Concluding Statement of AMARC/UNESCO International Community Media Seminar UNESCO, Paris, 11 November 2009 
The International Seminar on "Voice and empowerment through community media: learning from good practice, strategies for development", held at UNESCO, Paris on 11 November 2009 and organized jointly by the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and UNESCO, brought together community media experts, development partners and stakeholders. The seminar discussed case examples of good practices in policy, law and regulation; in sustainability and growth; and in social impact. Participants analysed some of the key characteristics of good practices in community media and assessed some of the challenges of transferability, adaptability and scalability in order to inform joint strategies for community media development.
Participants concluded:
On models of policy, law and regulation
We applaud countries, such as France and South Africa, which have demonstrated a sustained commitment to policies, laws and regulation that positively enable and support community broadcasting. Characteristics of such policies include independent regulatory bodies, recognition of community broadcasting as a distinct sector, reservation of frequencies, public funding arrangements, and the absence of licence fees.
We recognize, in the experience of countries such as Nepal, the importance of effective country level associations to defend and advocate for the community broadcasting sector and the need to provide solidarity and support to civil society coalitions for media reform, as well as to document and learn from successful experiences of country level advocacy.
We recognize the strategic importance of international mechanisms such as the Universal Periodic Review Mechanism of the Human Rights Council, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the international special mandates on freedom of expression that can contribute to the development and promotion of international standards and the adoption of good practice in community media policy, law and regulation.
On good practice in sustainability and growth
We note that community media often exist in economically precarious conditions and are thus vulnerable to external economic pressures as well as facing other external challenges such as may result from political and social change, and new technological developments.
Nevertheless we recognize that the sustainability of community media is most often linked to the strength of their social base and community participation through mechanisms such as community contributions, listener clubs, citizen reporters and engagement with broader social movements and civil society organizations.
We also recognize that new media and communications technologies present important opportunities for community media to develop their mechanisms for participation and interaction, for example using the mobile phone, as well as enabling community media to establish on platforms, such as the internet, that do not face the same restrictions as communications services that are dependent on access to radio frequency spectrum.
On achieving social impact
We note that the social impact of community media is wide ranging including combating poverty and contributing to sustainable development, defending human rights, promoting women's rights and gender equality, promoting peaceful conflict resolution, campaigning for local accountability, assisting disaster mitigation and disaster relief, among others.
We note that the community media sector is closely associated with movements for social change and its impact and effectiveness often contingent on wider political contexts and we assert the importance of defending the freedom and independence of community media from the influence of governments, political parties and commercial interests.
We call on AMARC:
- to continue to promote and defend the community media sector including supporting country level and international advocacy, networking and knowledge sharing, capacity building and training, research and analysis
We call on UNESCO
- to continue, as a priority, to provide direct support to innovative and strategic community media initiatives, through the International Programme for the Development of Communications (IPDC) and other mechanisms, and to document and share knowledge on community media good practice
We call on UNESCO Member States
- to ensure policies, laws, regulations and funding mechanisms enable and support development of community media including in the transition to digital platforms We call on development partners and community media stakeholders
- to encourage and facilitate the contribution of community media to sustainable development and human rights through partnership and strategic support .
AMARC International Annual Board Meeting
The AMARC International 2009 Board Meeting was held in Paris on November 12 to 14 and brought together Board members from Europe, the US, Latin America, Asia and Africa along with Executive members and Coordinators . 
The Board Meeting discussed the strategic directions of the main activities implemented in all AMARC regions , Advocacy and Policy definition , Capacity building committee and knowledge sharing, Content exchange and International Campaigns, reviewed as well the fund raising and management of funds strategies and analyzed the membership.
It examined the financial report for 2009 and adopted the AMARC Budget and Plan of action 2010 as well as the strategic lines of action for 2011-2014. GCRN is 10 years old 
The Ghana Community Radio Network (GCRN) celebrated its 10th anniversary at a festive gathering on 9 December 2009 at Radio Ada.
The most important participants were community representatives from each of the nine on-air member stations of GCRN and emerging Community Radio initiatives.
The latter included initiatives being kick-started by GCRN under a project in partnership with the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF). Taken as a whole, the reps were a cross-section of the various communities – youths, farmers and fisherfolk, artisans, local government functionaries, traditional authorities. They joined reps from the volunteer corps of the stations and partner civil society organizations co-facilitating the start-up of the initiatives.
The celebration featured a photo exhibit by each on-air station and the participatory process for the design of the new initiatives. There was also a role-play on the history of GCRN.
That history has been deep in community engagement but hampered by regulatory constraints. After years of advocacy even preceding the formation of GCRN, history seems set to change.
Important statements made at the anniversary symposium were considered irrevocable. Apart from the community reps and station volunteers, they were witnessed by scores of Community Radio advocates from government and civil society and carried by the media.
The main statements were: (i) frequency authorizations would be fast-tracked to enable each of the 168 Districts in the country to be served by its own Community Radio station, (ii) a Broadcasting Law, which will recognize Community Radio as one of the three tiers of broadcasting and for which GCRN has been a key mover, will be enacted early in 2010.
The statements were made by the main speaker, the Minister of Communications on his own behalf and representing the Vice-President of Ghana. Corroborating them were top-level representatives of the national regulatory organizations, the National Media Commission and the National Communications Authority, and the Minister of Education. The Director of the School of Communication Studies at the University of Ghana was the symposium chair.
The anniversary theme was "The Right to Communicate through Community Radio". That right will soon be more fully realized! By Wilna Quarmyne, Coordinator, Ghana Community Radio Network. National Assembly of AMARC Haiti 
On July 4th, 2009, AMARC Haiti had a National Assembly. 19 associates met to adopt the statutes of the AMEKA (Haiti Community Media Association). In the meeting, the associates reelected Sony Esteus as the National representative for the next two years, until 2011.
On the other hand the members of AMARC Haiti adopted a working plan for social awareness on the need for project legislation for community media. This plan includes immediate actions at the national and local level, mean while the projects is being studied by the chamber of deputies.
To contact AMARC Haití please write to its representative Sony Esteus, to: haiti@yahoo.fr ¡Creation of AMARC Panamá! In the context of a gathering of indigenous peoples chiefs, of teachers, workers and professionalls united by the objective of building a better country, AMARC Panama was created last July 29th, 2009. The participants elected Silvestre Díaz, a leader of the Frente Nacional por la Defensa de los Derechos Económicos y Sociales de Panamá (FRENADESO) as the national representative of AMARC Panama. They also elected Adisvelky Martínez as the representative to the women international network and, Antonio Vargas as the focal point for the legislations programme.
Nine civil society organisations participated in the meeting. Among them, the Coordinadora Popular de los Derechos Humanos en Panamá (COPODEHUPA), the Comarca Ngabe Bublé, Celio Guerra,the Sindicato Único Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de la Construcción y Similares (SUNTRACS), the Comarca Kuna Ayala. These organisations decided to initiate a founding process of community radio stations, with the coonviction thsat in order to democratise societies, there is need to democratise the communications.
For the moment there is the pilot project FRENADESO NOTICIAS, an Internet radio that has started working to broadcast in the FM band. To listen to its broadcast programs go to www.frenadesonoticias.org African Networks Workshop in Ghana: African Networks Share Knowledge to Increase Community Radio Social Impact in Africa AMARC Africa Board and network and community radio representatives from eleven countries of Western Eastern and Southern Africa met in Accra, Ghana to improve knowledge sharing on best practices in order to develop integrated sustainability models for Country Community Radio Networks and to increase the social impact of community radio in alleviating poverty and promoting democracy and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 
The AMARC Africa Knowledge Sharing Workshop of Community Radio Networks in Africa held from 16-18 December in Accra, Ghana. The workshop is part of the strategic action plan defined by AMARC Africa members in the 4th Pan African Conference in Abidjan, Côte d'ivoire in April 2009 and was hosted by the Ghana community Radio Network (GCRN) and counted on the financial support of OSIWA and other AMARC partners. The participatory workshop permitted to share knowledge on the specific challenges of national networks, on the diversity of national contexts, on their forces and weaknesses and to define key areas for action by AMARC Africa as they are key components of the African community radio network. The recommendations of the workshop come to reinforce the reconstruction of AMARC Africa and its action plan including the preparation for the AMARC10 global Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters to be held in Argentina, November 8-13, 2010. The participants met with community radio stakeholders and Ghana authorities, thus having a better insight of the work accomplished by the GCRN, following the 10th anniversary of Radio Ada, the first Ghana community radio. They also expressed their solidarity for the challenges ahead to the expansion of the community radio sector. The participants issued the Accra declaration calling governments of Africa to work towards the licensing of community broadcasting in their countries. The AMARC Africa Board and the delegates expressed their concern, meeting in West Africa, for the lack of Independent Community Radio in the largest democracy in Africa, Nigeria. AMARC Africa calls upon the Presidency and the state to recognize the basic human rights to freedom of expression and to fulfil the promise to establish community radios in Nigeria. Established in 1997, AMARC-Africa is the African regional section of AMARC. It groups more than 400 direct members radios and federations from the entire continent. For further information: http://africa.amarc.org Accra Declaration We the members of AMARC AFRICA gathered in ACCRA 16-18 December 2009, in the Knowledge Sharing Conference of Community Radio Networks from Africa, Reiterating our support to the Doha Declaration of the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day conference in Doha, Qatar, 3 May 2009, Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states in Article 19 that: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Reaffirming that freedom of expression is a fundamental right that is essential to the realisation of other freedoms set forth in international human rights instruments, AMARC Africa meets in Accra Ghana to improve knowledge sharing, on best practices in order to develop integrated sustainability models for Country Community Radio Networks and Regions. The meeting attended by eleven (11) countries from Western, Eastern and Southern Africa, envisaged to consolidate the social impact of community radio through strengthening country networks. Recalling the Windhoek Declaration on promoting an independent and pluralistic African press of 1991; Recalling the African Charter on Broadcasting of 2001; Recognize the importance of an enabling legal framework and an independent regulator to promote the development of free, independent and pluralistic media in Africa; Call urgently, on the governments of Africa to work towards the licensing of community broadcasting in their countries; Call on governments, international and regional intergovernmental organisations, civil society and development agencies in all regions of Africa not only to engage in dialogue but to physically promote community media in alleviating poverty and promoting democracy and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); Recognize policy development and advocacy as key program priorities for the region in promoting community media; Recognize the important role of information and communication technologies in offering basic tools for introducing and managing community-centred development and change. • AMARC Africa Board and delegates at this meeting held in West Africa, is very concerned by the lack of Independent Community Radio in the largest democracy in Africa, Nigeria. AMARC Africa calls upon the Presidency and the state to recognize the basic human rights to freedom of expression and to fulfill the promise to establish community radios in Nigeria. • AMARC Africa recognizing the importance of the role played by community radio in building peace and reconciliation in the region. We promote partnership and collaboration between governments and local communities in working together towards promoting of peace. • AMARC Africa joins the voices of community broadcasters within the developing countries in demanding that a new climate treaty be signed and ratified by all developed countries with clear targets on the reduction of green house emissions and support to adaptation to climate change effects in developing countries. AMARC Africa will use community radio to advocate for actions to reduce on the green house emissions and educate local communities on the effects of climate change. •AMARC Africa participated in the 16 days of activism against Gender Based violence (GBV) and strongly condemns the practice. Community Radio has taken a lead in breaking the silence and is speaking against this violence in the community. We urge legislators to take stronger measures and enact laws to stop this practice and law enforcement departments to play their part and prosecute the offenders. Promoting Development and good governance through community radio in Africa Promoting Development and Good Governance through Community Radio in Africa, is a 3 year project funded by CIDA which seeks to ameliorate health in local communities including VIH-SIDA, Malaria, and health related issues; Water and Sanitation and Good Governance, including Human Rights and Conflict Resolution and thus to increase the social impact of community radio in empowering the poor and the excluded.
The project is conceived as an integrated process with specific activities that include:
A set of knowledge sharing and capacity building seminars and mentoring activities;
Radio production activities by participating community radios and
Content dissemination & and content exchange activities amplifying the voices of the poor and excluded.
Organisation and evaluation activities which are cross-cutting activities that allow for appropriate monitoring and evaluation at all steps of the project
The 36 CR from Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and South Africa have produced during the first year of the project have produced 72 hours of radio programs on HIV/AIDS and other health related topics during 2009.
After the evaluation of this first year, the project will concern Water and Sanitation during 2010, its second year. http://www.amarc.org | 
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