Community Media Activists Produce Protection Messages

Community Media Activists Produce Protection Messages for Target Communities

21 April 2012
Suva, Fiji Islands

The media has a vital role to play in communicating disaster preparedness as well as humanitarian protection messages for specific target groups especially as during the recent floods many people were caught unprepared without information on evacuation processes and systems:

“Everyone was calling each other looking for help and they having to face being stranded on roof tops and flooded house overnight to get some help," shared Finau Leggett a FemLINKPACIFIC rural convenor based in Nadi.

And so today a team of FemLINKPacific's community media activists have collaborated in the production of eight key messages Protection and Community Security for children, women, persons with disabilities and the elderly especially during times of emergency.

The productions followed a an interactive learning session with the Pacific Humanitarian Protection Cluster and the Gender Adviser of UNFPA supported by UN Women.

According to Sherryl Reddy of the Pacific Humanitarian Protection Cluster: “Community based security is important especially in the Pacific because the assistance take a longer time to arrive."

Humanitarian and emergency responses need to address specific needs of women, children, persons with disability and the elderly people she added: "There is a need to analyse the vulnerability, especially those who do not have safe access to resources (food, material, natural and access to the state infrastructure). Those who have little or no access to resources are the most vulnerable.”

Disaster preparedness strategies, Reddy suggested, should also include psycho-social support which can be shared through radio messages.

And according to Maha Muna, the Gender Advisor of UNFPA, while Fiji is unique in many ways there is opportunity to learn from countries who have developed gender inclusive and rights-based response strategies during recent natural disasters.

Distributing radios is disaster affected communities is an effective communication strategy, she said.

The activity, conducted in partnership with UN Women, the UN Gender Group and
the Pacific Humanitarian Protection Cluster builds on FemLINKPACIFIC's Women's Weather Watch initiative. It provided participants with a deeper understanding of their role as producers and broadcasters to address protection threats and issues during times of natural disaster.

The workshop also considered how FemLINKPacific's community radio network could also be activated to provide community support during natural disasters.

Sharon Bhagwan Rolls, Executive Director, FemLINKPacific (www.femlinkpacific.org.fj)

ENDS

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