Radio View: Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) was established in 1986 with the objective of raising public awareness and forming public opinion in favor of environmental protection and sustainable development through different programmes and activities. Media was its vehicle. With eighteen years of work in the field, NEFEJ has established itself as a serious, committed and a democratic organization. Its activities can be divided into four categories: General public, journalists, parliamentarians, policy- and decision-makers and political leaders and workers and non-governmental organizations.

Best Medium: Be it in raising public awareness or advocating policy changes or lobbying for greater political actions in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development, NEFEJ has attached great importance to radio as medium. Imagine NEFEJ was struggling in the mid-1990s to secure license for Radio Sagarmatha which was to be the first public interest radio station in South Asia. But NEFEJ was looking for more. It expected to open doors for more community radio stations in Nepal where radio is the best medium in the light of abysmal literacy rate and given geography.

Given the limitations of the print media and the other electronic medium, television, promoting radio, in effect, means promoting media pluralism in tune with democracy which was restored in 1990 and again in 2006. A cheap and accessible radio medium --- NEFEJ has always believed --- could positively guide the media environment.

Radio Sagarmatha: The establishment of Radio Sagarmatha --- the first non-government, non-commercial radio station in South Asia --- in 1997 marked a breakthrough in the history of NEFEJ. Since the doors to private broadcasting were opened wide with the advent of Radio Sagarmatha, some two dozen radio stations have been awarded licenses by end of 2001. Most of them are on the air now. However, most of these radio stations are commercial organizations, with the number of community radio stations reaching hardly a half a dozen. The success of community radio movement can safely be attributed to the demonstration effect produced by the advent of Radio Sagarmatha.

Potential community radio broadcasters in Nepal face a host of challenges in terms of legislative indifference, bureaucratic hurdles, resource constraints and manpower shortage. Once Radio Sagarmatha was well-established, it was natural for NEFEJ to continue to work for promoting community radio in rural areas across where such stations are even more essential. It assisted, in more ways than one, the few community radio stations that were in embryonic stage. But to work in a more focused way to help the community radio movement grow, NEFEJ had to have a full-fledged wing. This was achieved in 2000 when Community Radio Support Centre (CRSC) was set up.

AANKHIJHYAL

WEEKLY VIDEO MAGAZINE: Promoting Environmental Awareness Through Audio-Visual

RADIO SAGARMATHA

The first Non-government, non-commercial radio station in South Asia,