<incom> Forging Innovations: Community Multimedia Centres in Nepal (Modified by Geert Lovink)

[CI Newdelhi]

Community Media & ICT News (December 2007, Issue 3)
December 19 2007, New  Delhi
 
UNESCO announces the release of the publication “Forging Innovations:  
Community Multimedia Centres in Nepal”.
 
This collection of case studies on the Community Multimedia Centres  
(CMC) in Nepal is intended to showcase the interesting and diverse  
growth of this initiative in spite of conflict and the lack of  
community radio regulation in Nepal.
 
The publication introduces the CMCs and outlines the benefits and  
challenges that the centres have faced since they were established.  
Each CMC is discussed in four parts; location and context,  
organisational structure, programmes and sustainability. The case  
studies show how local communities access and utilise newly available  
ICT tools in different ways.
 
In 2003 UNESCO supported the creation of Nepal's first pilot Community  
Multi Media Centre (CMC) in Tansen, Palpa. Since then, the Organisation  
has supported the creation of two additional CMCs in Nepal, one in  
Madanphokhara (Palpa District) and one in Lumbini (Rupandehi  
District). The three CMCs are now networked to five telecentres  
throughout Rupandehi and Palpa Districts.
 
The CMC media mix in Nepal consists of FM broadcasting services, cable  
TV network, design and desktop publishing software applications, audio  
and video editing, and public access points for internet, telephone,  
fax, photocopiers and scanners.
 
Forging Innovations: Community Multimedia Centres in Nepal is authored  
by Karma Tshering and Kirsty Martin
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By integrating traditional and new media, community multimedia centers  
link local and global networks and bring digital tools and new  
opportunities within the reach of millions, opening new gateways to  
information, communication and knowledge. A community multimedia centre  
(CMC) combines traditional local media, like radio, TV and newspapers,  
with new technologies, such as computers, internet, photocopiers and  
digital devices like cameras and audio players. CMCs are a unique way  
for poor communities, often in remote rural areas, to overcome common  
obstacles to their full and profitable use of ICTs, including the vast  
potential knowledge resources of the internet and other digital media.  
UNESCO’s global pilot project with CMCs is supported by the Swiss  
Agency for Development and Cooperation.

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Contact: Jocelyne Josiah ACI/NDL j.josiah at unesco.org , Seema Nair, CMC  
Asia Coordinator, s.nair at unesco.org
Links:
UNESCO New  Delhi http://www.unesco.org/newdelhi
UNESCO Communication and Information Sector www.unesco.org/webworld
UNESCO Community Multimedia Centre Initiative  
www.unesco.org/webworld/cmc