Evaluation of Sani Radio

Evaluation covers the period 1985-3/90. Although the station, Sani Radio, is extremely popular, it is not fulfilling all of its original objectives. In 1988, the project grantee, the Asociacion para la Promocion Desarrollo Socio- economico (AVANCE), cut the station's budget; the result was a reduction in staff and the near total elimination of educational and cultural programming. Early in 1990, the station director was fired by AVANCE, and was replaced by a person with no formal journalism training. As a result, only 75 of a planned 175 interactive Spanish-Miskito classroom language programs were developed, and none are in use. Nor have any adult literacy programs been prepared, although some Spanish-language adult educational programs have been developed, notably an agricultural program mandated in an Inter-American Foundation grant. However, the station is relied on for news and entertainment, and perhaps most importantly to send messages about births, deaths, travel plans, and emergencies. Similarly, local institutions, such as the public health station, churches, and development organizations, find Sani Radio the most dependable method of disseminating information quickly and accurately to various constituencies. While the station is almost universally known in La Mosquitia, reception of the radio signal is hampered at time by static; also, some residents lack the kind of radio set than can pick up Sani's "tropical band" wavelength, and others cannot afford batteries to run the radio sets. (The former problem should be solved with transition to the AM band in 1990.) Additional problems include the lack of qualified personnel for news coverage and educational program development, and the high cost and variable availability of fuel to run the station's generator. Although some local groups and businesses have purchased advertising on the station, the local economic base is almost certainly not strong enough to support Sani Radio. It is recommended that A.I.D. pursue the transfer of Sani Radio from AVANCE to MOPAWI, a local PVO (funded by national and international organizations as well as by individual donations), which is dedicated to the development of the Honduran Mosquitia and its people.