Nairobi, August 3, 2006

Announcement by the AMARC Africa Board

Every organization, at some point in its existence it may face challenges that it can either overcome, or realize that it cannot succeed. At AMARC Africa we are faced with great challenges that have necessitated that the Board takes very important decisions on July 7th in a meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria, for the greater good of the global community radio movement.

As part of the community radio stakeholders, we as the AMARC Africa Board of Directors inform you that due to financial difficulties, the AMARC Africa office in Johannesburg and its satellite office in Dakar have been forced to cease operations. We have also accepted the departure of the Regional Director, which will take effect at the end of August 2006. This has arisen as a result of substantial reductions in the support of certain key donors, an insufficient institutional response to changes in the donor environment and internal institutional problems. We have resolved to conduct an investigation to gain a better understanding of what actually went wrong.

The Board of Directors of AMARC Africa is exploring a range of options to ensure that AMARC Africa is able to continue to serve its members and to continue to advocate for an environment favourable to community radio in Africa. We have called upon the support of AMARC International to assist in this process. In these trying times we request the support of all stakeholders who recognise the vital role of community radio in Africa.

Putting the situation in context, AMARC Africa, since its establishment in 1998 as an autonomous regional entity of AMARC, has achieved considerable success in lobbying for a friendly policy, legal and regulatory environment for community radio in Africa, as well as in serving its members and building the capacity of community radio and its impact in service of democratisation and development. The valuable lessons, networks and partnerships that enabled us to achieve these milestones will be called upon from time to time to assist us as we rebuild AMARC Africa.

We believe the challenges we are currently facing need to be addressed in the wider perspective of the evaluation and impact assessment process leading to the AMARC 9, the Ninth World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters to review our strategic objectives and modes of support of our members in Africa. As part of the global evaluation process launched by AMARC, we recently held a Roundtable in Abuja, Nigeria, to review community radio in Africa, and the role of AMARC in removing barriers to the establishment of community radio and increasing its impact in achieving development goals.

We invite you to participate in this process as a forum for members and stakeholders to engage in critical reflection on the goals and priorities of AMARC Africa in support of community radio in Africa.

In solidarity
Grace Githaiga
President AMARC Africa