Media development in rural areas:
Supporting community radios and journalism
education in Bangladesh
Executive Summary | Syria
External Evaluation Report | Executive SummaryBangladesh

01 /2017
10/2017

Background
Bangladesh is a politically torn country with a fragile democracy. The media suffer from political influence and restrictions on the freedom of the press. Nonetheless, the media
sector is currently experiencing massive growth so that media
outlets face great difficulties finding qualified new recruits.
The academic education in journalism is seen as poor andlacking in practical relevance. The varied media landscape of
Bangladesh is nearly exclusively concentrated in the capital,
Dhaka. The rural population – approximately two thirds of thetotal population – has limited access to information relevantto their context and limited possibilities of articulating theirviews and interests through the media.
DW Akademie’s project in Bangladesh has two independent
objectives. Project objective 1 aligning to DW Akademie’s
strategic area ’Qualification’ is: “Graduates of the journalism
department of the University Rajshahi and the University
Chittagong produce media products based on a syllabus
oriented on practical needs and thereby strengthen the
population in realizing their right to information.” Project
objective 2 in accordance with DW Akademie’s strategic areaof ‘Participation in Society’ is: “The rural population uses
information that is relevant and useful to them provided by
the community radios of the Bangladesh Community Radio
Association (BCRA) and participates in their programming.”
The most important modes of implementation are training
and advice given to the local project owners (lead partner
institutions). The cooperation project has not dispatched
expatriate staff to Bangladesh but is remotely managed from
Germany and implemented by the local project owners. These
are the departments of journalism of the universities Rajshahi
and Chittagong, on the one hand, and BCRA as well as twopilot community radio stations which are geographicallyclose to the universities.
The aim of this evaluation, which was carried out by an external consultant, is a constructive assessment of the project
results after completion of the first funding phase (2015-2017).
The evaluation is based on the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria
and uses a method mix, including document and literature
analysis and interviews with project managers, project part-DW Akademie

Supporting community radios and journalism education in Bangladesh

ners, and target groups on site. The recommendations madeat the end do not necessarily align with the perspective andplanning of the project team. Nevertheless, all suggestions
were discussed in order to allow lessons learned to be incorporated into the development of future strategies.

Conclusions of the project evaluation
All sources confirmed that the improved training of future
journalists has a high relevance for the development of themedia sector in Bangladesh. The project strategy is aimed
solely at using universities as training institutions, and does
not focus on encouraging media companies to also takeresponsibility for the training of their future recruits. This
limited the relevance to a certain extent. The second project
objective of improving the current lack of opportunities for
information and articulation available to the rural population takes on a crucial development problem of the target
groups. However, there are doubts whether the promotion ofcommunity radio broadcasters is the most relevant strategic
approach to solving this problem as the community radio
sector is still quite new. It is not clear whether the current
community radio stations will indeed reach many listeners
and produce content that is relevant and appealing to thetarget groups. Nevertheless, DW Akademie’s approach is
generally in line with all sector-relevant political strategies
and policies. Overall, the criterion relevance is considered
to have been “generally fulfilled.”
Based on the evaluation, it is believed that neither of thetwo project objectives will be fully achieved by the end of
the project phase. More progress was observed under project objective 1 (universities) than under project objective 2(community radio stations). There are two reasons for thepartial achievement of the objectives: On the one hand, theset goals and indicators were too ambitious or turned out
to be not ideal for gauging the project success. On the other
hand, the project management was faced with great challenges at the start of the project. A strategic realignment
at the beginning of 2016 led to a change in project activities. One clear achievement of the project is, above all, thesuccessful curriculum reform at both universities in which
practice-oriented elements were made mandatory and are
already being applied. The lecturers were trained in modern
teaching methods and media production techniques andpassed these skills onto the students. The key addition was
the installation of multimedia campus-websites at both
universities. Overall, the criterion effectiveness is seen tohave been “partially fulfilled.”

2

The project’s theory of change is generally plausible andgeared towards higher level development impacts, eventhough there are some questions on the formulation ofsome objectives, indicators, and risks. The project objectives and indicators are formulated in a results-oriented
manner. However, a clear weakness of the project design isthat there is no overall project objective and DW Akademie
is working on two different and until now unconnected
project lines. Since the two project lines are thematicallyso far apart, no natural synergies arise between them. Nevertheless, all interview partners would explicitly welcome
a greater coordination between them (e.g. internships ofuniversity students at community radio stations). The activities, particularly those regarding the community radio
stations, are not considered to have a broad-scale effect.
The choice of a pilot approach to promote more intensely
two community radio stations was not fully convincing
because it was not connected to a strategy for scaling up
the positive changes. Instead, the sector as a whole should
be promoted at a more structural level. The monitoring
system of the project is sound and results-oriented. There
were no negative effects. Overall, the criterion of impact isconsidered to have been “partially fulfilled.”
The disbursement of project funds has gone according toplan. Taking into account the moderate degree of objective
achievement, the cost-benefit-ratio had been below average.
However, following the change of management, the project
is now generally back on track. Considering the project’s relatively low budget and rather short implementation period,
it would be strategically clever from an efficiency point-ofview (cost-benefit ratio) to concentrate the efforts. From thisperspective, the original decision to engage in two distinct
and unconnected project lines is not convincing. The choiceof cooperation instruments is overall plausible. It was economical not to have dispatched an international expert but
to have managed the project remotely from Germany. Froman efficiency standpoint, however, employing relatively expensive international trainers for very grassroots trainings
for journalist volunteers of the community radios is not adecision that is well justifiable. With the project – at least under the current project management – a concerted effort wasmade to seek complementarities and synergies as well as toactively engage in exchanges with other actors in the field of
media development. Overall, the criterion of efficiency has
been evaluated to have been “generally fulfilled.”DW Akademie

Supporting community radios and journalism education in BangladeshWith project line 1 it can be predicted that most of the results achieved at the university level will be long-lasting. The
new curricula for the study of journalism adopted at both
universities are now being implemented. The departmentsof journalism at both universities have shown ownershipin running and further developing the multimedia campus
websites, which are at the core of the universities’ practicebased training program. The greatest risk for sustainability
here is the precarious and under-equipped media labs, where
the practice-based training is held. The sustainability forecast is less clear for project line 2 because it is not yet evident
whether the BCRA will develop into a functioning umbrellaassociation for community radios. A measure geared towards
sustainability is the project’s advice to BCRA and to individual
radios to generate their own sources of income and thereby
achieve the community radios’ greater financial independence
from their parent NGOs. Overall, the criterion sustainability
is considered to have been “partially fulfilled.”6.

 ddress the problem of the media labs being insufA
ficiently equipped: e.g., facilitating sponsorships andapproaching businesses, media companies, and production firms to find out whether discarded material
can be obtained or whether maintenance sponsorships
can be concluded; possibly also consider making moreinvestments into the equipment via the project.

7.

I n the next phase: move on from the pilot approach
focusing only on two universities. Facilitate the transfer of experience from the universities Rajshahi andChittagong with the integration of practice-oriented
elements in the curriculum to other regional universities. Systematize, document, and disseminate thereform approach. Build and strengthen the networkof the departments of journalism of all universities.

8.

Get the university departments in touch with the world ofjournalism in practice, e.g., organizing trips for the lecturersof both universities to Dhaka to visit various capital city
media corporations, so that they can witness journalists
and media representatives at work, and reflect on what
they have learned. Facilitate that media representatives
hold lectures, seminars, or training sessions at the regional
universities. Clarify how the additional costs are to becovered: out of the universities’ own funds, through themedia companies, the Ministry of Education, the regional
governments, or a combination of these possibilities?

9.

 lace more emphasis on the transfer of graduates intoP
the journalism job market as one of the central objectives of the next phase. Embrace a vocational training
perspective; perhaps seek an exchange with experts invocational education and training.

10.

On the part of the universities: Strengthen the strategic
work with alumni and the career service at the universities (e.g., career fairs, traineeship platform, invite alumni
to hold lectures, ask alumni to grant traineeships tostudents, etc.).

11.

Build and strengthen other support structures for community radio stations; ideally also mobilize additionalsources of funding for the community radio stations.
This should include involving more the government
and perhaps other partners.

12.

 nsure that the offers for training and advice for comE
munity radio cover in equal measure (journalistic
and technical) radio methods and also strategy andmanagement themes so that they become less NGO
mouthpieces and more stand-alone radio stations.

Key recommendations
1.

I n a future implementation phase with a similar budget,
it would be better only to pursue one of the project lines
in more depth. If the continuation of both project lines
is desired, then the project budget must be significantly
increased in order to be able to achieve significant results.

2.

I ncorporate media companies more intensely in the
project, both as trainers for the community radios andfor university lecturers, and also in the professional
training of the next generation of journalists.

3.

4.

5.

 ocus more on the structural level. Systematize theFlessons learned at the pilot universities and pilot community radios, disseminate them, and feed them into
structural processes.
 romote learning and innovation at the organizationalP
and network level. Use the project more intensely as acatalyst to initiate cooperation, and as a link and mediator between local actors.

3

 arry out further training courses for lecturers in 2017C
to consolidate and deepen the newly acquired skills andcapabilities, particularly with regard to the teaching
methods and didactics.

13.

Conduct a more in-depth analysis of the community
radio sector, for instance, through the systematic studies
on the use of media and the needs of the rural population as well as the listening behavior of community
radio listeners.

14.

Develop standards for community radios, both withregard to the quality of the program and for the management. Especially develop quality standards for the
production of commissioned programs (e.g., in thecontext of social campaigns), which are a significant
source of funding for community radios.

15.

Appoint a local expert on site as a project coordinator/
senior advisor in order to drive forward the processes,
link up local players, and make use of opportunities
that arise spontaneously as well as to increase the presence and visibility of the project and relieve the project
manager of operational tasks. Employ an individual andnot an institution (such as MRDI at the beginning) who
is only accountable to the DW Akademie and who does
not pursue institutional agendas.

16.

Position DW Akademie in a more assertive and visible
manner as the sector experts for community radioin Bangladesh also vis-à-vis other donors. Investigate
possibilities of co-financing through other donors e.g.,in the context of social campaigns, which other donors
might want to launch via community radio.

DW Akademie
DW Akademie is Germany’s leading organization for media development and Deutsche Welle’s center of excellence foreducation and knowledge transfer. As a strategic partner of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation andDevelopment we strengthen the universal human rights of free expression, education, and access to information.

Contact
Dr. Jan Lublinski
Head Research and Evaluation
DW Akademie
jan.lublinski@dw.com

DW Akademie
53110 Bonn, Germany

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