The world community radio association, Association Mondiale de Radiodiffuseurs Communautaires, brought together more than 500 community radio broadcasters and stakeholders from 87 nations for its AMARC10 conference.
Held in La Plata, Argentina, it was the first global conference for the association to be held in South America.
The weeklong conference featured training workshops and informational sessions focused the community radio in development and democratization efforts. The conference also honored community radio broadcasters in Haiti for their role in supporting the Haitian populace after the February 2010 earthquake there.
María Pía Matta, president of AMARC, called for increased solidarity for persecuted community radio broadcasters and deepening the social impact of community radio to face the challenges of humanity in the 21st century.
A new board of directors for the association was elected at AMARC10, too. María Pía Matta of Radio Tierra in Santiago de Chile was elected president, and Emmanuel Boutterin of Fréquence Mistral in Alpes de Haute-Provence, France, was elected deputy president.
Franklin Huizies of the National Community Radio Forum in South Africa was elected treasurer, South Africa, and Marcelo Solervicens was reaffirmed as secretary general for AMARC.
Maria Eugenia Chávez of Mexico was elected as vice president for the Women International Network; Ashish Sen of India was elected vice president for the Asia-Pacific Region; Oumar Seck Ndiaye of Senegal was elected vice president for Africa; and Carlos Aparicio of Mexico was elected vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Rounding out the board are Sony Esteus of Haiti, Silvia Richardson of Canada, Wilna Quarmine of Ghana, and Sawsan Zaida of Jordan.
