GIVING VOICES TO THE VOICELESS
Worldview International
Foundation/ Nepal
(WIF/N) an affiliate of Worldview International Foundation, was established in
1981. WIF/N had an agreement with the Ministry of Communications to implement
communication activities on “developmental, educational, cultural and
information matters”. WIF/N has been a catalyst in the instituting and in the
development of television, and innovative radio technology in Nepal. Its innovative approaches,
such as the introduction of interactive video, have lead to notable advances in
the country’s communication structure. One of WIF/N’s major contributions has
been in training and building capacity of the television workforce. Many
leading media personalities have been associated with Worldview as resource
persons, trainees and staff during the course of its two decades long
existence.
Worldview Nepal was a member
of the consortium that promoted the first public broadcasting station in Nepal, Radio Sagarmatha, and is credited with
helping several community based groups establish a series of Community Audio
Towers (CATS) in various parts of Nepal.
Since the 1980s WIF/N implemented several communications projects for
development. These include a successful Multi-Media
National ORT Campaign, Social Marketing of Immunization in Nepal
project, a Prevention of Night Blindness project, the use of communications in
the Small Farmer’s Development Project, and an innovative participatory video
project for women with the Ministry of Local Development. This project has had
successful replication in Bangladesh
and in Sri Lanka.
The organization has been especially instrumental in advocating the use of
communications as an integral part of national advancement. An example of this
is the Participatory Communication for Democracy and Sustainable Development
Project (PCDSD) project, which established a network of NGOs and CBOs
throughout the country to enable dissemination of information at the community
level. Another initiative has been the successful conclusion of the
Facilitating Adolescent in Communicating and Training in Sexual Health (FACTS)
project. 6000 disadvantaged youth of Nuwakot and Nawalparasi, were educated on
Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) issues, with the objective of making them
better decision makers. It was through a series of Roundtable discussions that
groups of youth started a process of dialogue being aided by facilitators,
multimedia tools, resources materials and experts.
The brief outline of experiences and activities described clearly demonstrates
that Worldview Nepal has played a unique role in contributing to national
development, by using communications for promoting knowledge on varied themes
for improving the condition of the Nepalese people.