Geetha Bhardwaj
Co-Director, Jagori

Jagori has used radio to effectively catalyse its initiatives on issues related to gender. Jagori has realised that the radio is a powerful medium bringing together young people so that young girls and boys acquire non-traditional skills. These skills also enable them to express themselves in different ways; to start looking at the world in a more analytical way from their perspective of rights and entitlements and also from the perspective of gender equality, safety of women and masculinity.

We at Jagori feel that the radio as a medium offered young people the possibility of revisiting their own lives from the perspective of gender equality and more importantly, a safe and enabling environment for girls and women. On the other hand women have not really been A part of the initiative. In Bawana, for instance, we worked with women who did not have the time to come, join us and work on various issues.

Yet it was possible for younger people to record their bytes for a broadcast. So, the community radio became a medium where women’s voice could be brought to the foreground.

Besides, these voices figured on various platforms like All India Radio and also facilitated dialogue with service providers like local councillors and the MLA that was broadcast on a mainstream channel. We feel that this has strengthened our efforts on advocacy to a great extent. We have always found that Community Radio is a great tool to mobilise communities to advocate for their rights and entitlements.