Lao National Radio, in collaboration with UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication, will launch a local community radio station in the Xiengkho district of the country next year.
LNR staff and selected trainees will help build and equip the station, which will mainly air community-based programs, including ethnic-language windows in Lao, Hmong and Khmu languages. It will be located in Xiengkho, one of the poorest districts of Laos. Xiengkho was chosen as the site for this project due to the low number of local radio services.
In addition, two mentors will train local radio trainees from the community on technical operation and maintenance of radio equipment, program production techniques and journalism. The trainees will also conduct target audience research among the villagers of Xiengkho in order to identify their information needs. The results will be used to produce target based radio programs.
“IPDC has been supporting the development of community media for decades and is particularly sensitive to projects aiming at strengthening ethnic minority languages,” said Rosa Gonzalez, UNESCO advisor for communication and information in the UNESCO Bangkok office.
