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Financial Sustainability Model for Community Radio Stations in Southern Africa

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This document presents a financial sustainability model that has been developed by The Southern Africa Institute for Media Entrepreneurship Development (SAIMED) with the aim of assisting community radio stations in Southern Africa to become financially sustainable from inception. This model was developed based on research conducted in Namibia in 2002 among six community radio stations in that country.

In developing this model, it was assumed that it would primarily be applied in cases where a new community radio station was being established. However, the model was designed to be equally applicable in existing community radio stations which did not utilise this model at the time of their establishment. The publisher believes that by implementing the steps outlined in the model, existing community radio stations could make a fresh start which will lead them to financial sustainability. The model is also equally applicable irrespective of differences in economic activity or cultural differences.

For purposes of this document, a financial sustainability model is defined as a series of steps to be followed by a community radio station in order that they might achieve financial sustainability.

The proposed financial sustainability model for community radio stations consists of seven elements:
  • Environmental Scanning
  • Strategic Planning
  • Partnership Establishment
  • Human Resource Planning
  • Financial Planning
  • Project Implementation
  • Monitoring and Evaluation
Publication Date
Languages

English

Number of Pages

23

Source

Misa Namibia website on 18 June 2007.

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Comments

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 02/08/2008 - 20:47 Permalink

I look forward to learning from the experience in South Africa and use that experience to inform me in my work trying to facilitate the Association of Community Radio Stations in Timor-Leste in doing something similar.

Emanuel - Timor-Leste

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 01:53 Permalink

My Name is Franklin Huizies, CEO for NCRF, a network for community Radio in South Africa. My comments is that this model is ok to start communities and groups thinking. However my feeling is, that the model approaches the issue of sustainability very one dimensional. I am concerned that the stations or projects are not prompted to consider the Social sustainability aspect and hence will fall in a trap of trying to accomplish financial sustainability at all cost, losing the key focus of people’s media in an attempt to achieve commercial objectives. So this model is a good guide to start off a process of planning for the project.

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 05/12/2009 - 07:36 Permalink

I am concerned that the stations or projects are not prompted to consider the Social sustainability aspect and hence will fall in a trap of trying to accomplish financial sustainability at all cost, losing the key focus of people’s media in an attempt to achieve commercial objectives. So this model is a good guide to start off a process of planning for the project. Hakan Selvi , Finance Blog

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 09/20/2010 - 04:19 Permalink

sir
iam asst. prof. mass communication looking after CRS of CCS haryana Agricukture universit, Hisar. the information provided here is awasome. thanx sir

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 09/22/2010 - 20:21 Permalink

This model is useful but limited in some respects in terms of how to achieve sustainable operations. I recommend the book Participative Marketing for Local Radio written by Dennis List as it provides ideas on how to apply marketing effectively in the context of a community radio station, and addresses the very important matter of audience research, knowing your audience. Information about this book is available on this website, refer below.

http://www.comminit.com/en/node/180150