h2n provides block grants to community radios to leverage “intangibles of development”

There are an estimated 128 community radio stations in Mozambique reaching around 70 percent of the population. In some districts, especially in the central and northern parts of the country, community radio is the only source of information for most people, both in terms of news and other day-to-day information that can support social and economic development. While community radio is often seen primarily as a channel for the transmission of messages, h2n views community radio as an integral part of the social infrastructure, a permanent and trusted feature of community life. By supporting this infrastructure, empowering messengers and contextualizing messages, h2n aims to strengthen the fabric of civil society at the community level. “We believe it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of sustainability in order to avoid some of the common traps of development,” explains Sergio Chusane, h2n executive director, who has worked with community radio sustainability over several years. “The key to sustainability [of community radios] lies in building a sense of ownership and nurturing a social vision, and this in turn depends on community participation,” explains Chusane. Over time, according to Chusane, h2n has learnt to balance operational and financial support with a concurrent focus on the “intangibles of development”, such as participation, involvement and ownership. In a recent program with 45 community radio stations, the organization piloted the use of broadly defined “block grants” that provided flexibility in how stations met agreed deliverables and how they invested the resources that were being channeled to them. As a result of this process, the stations far exceeded targets and without exception invested the grants in the sustainability of their operations. h2n, which is primarily supported by Norway, works extensively with community radios, produces community videos, broadcasts the “Saude e Vida” television program on health and wellness, facilitates youth engagement hubs and pursues a rapidly expanding gender equality agenda.