Various community media houses and industry stakeholders gathered in Otjiwarongo for a consultative workshop to finalise the draft of the Community Media Policy Framework. 

The two-day workshop, organised by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) in collaboration with UNESCO, sought valuable input on the draft policy.

The policy framework aims to safeguard democratic participation, uphold freedom of expression, amplify marginalised voices, promote cultural diversity, and ensure access to information, among others.

"This workshop is looking at the draft community media policy framework. And we are trying to align it with modern trends and practices. What you have here is a group of all the community media in Namibia. We have about 20 here now," said MICT Director for Print Media, Frans Nghitila.

Nghitila said the workshop also focused on challenges faced by community media institutions and looked at ways they could be addressed.

"The ministry, at some point, undertook the country-wide tour to assess the current situation that is affecting the community media, and that report indicates that there is a need to look at the governance structure of community media, areas of sustainability, capacity building, and content creation."

One of the participants, Adventist World Radio Country Director Annette Mabuku, said it was important that community media be invited to take part in these kinds of platforms.

"Number one, it allows us to have input before this draft is drafted. Just to air our concerns as community media. Number one, when it comes to community media, we feel left out in the sense that when it comes to funding, we have low funding because we are not a commercial entity, but we are here to serve the community."

CRAN's Manager of Corporate Advice and Legislative Drafting, Ruusa Ntinda, said the regulator's involvement was about licensing issues.

"We have to ensure that our community radios understand what our requirements are and what their compliance requirements are, and we need to understand where they may need further assistance, maybe more awareness-raising on issues that affect them, and how we can better understand how to assist them."

The policy framework that was drafted in 2021 was reviewed last year.