WINDHOEK: The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Namibia and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) in Africa will host a regional workshop aimed at strengthening community radio networks from tomorrow.

The workshop, to be held under the theme ‘Knowledge-Sharing to Strengthen the Namibian Community Radio Network’, will commence in the capital tomorrow and end on Thursday.

MISA Namibia Acting National Director Ngamane Karuaihe-Upi explained in a media statement here today that the workshop seeks to engage established community radio houses in Namibia in order to reflect on existing good practices in Africa and elsewhere.

He added that the re-establishment of the Namibia Community Radio Network (NCRN) is essential to facilitate knowledge-sharing and exchanges on institutional structures and systems between all Namibian stakeholders so as to provide the NCRN with the tools to function as a self-sustaining organisation.

The NCRN was launched in 2003 with the mandate to promote the sector by advocating for appropriate policies and regulations for the sector, but has remained ineffective ever since.

‘The workshop will thus explore such concepts and issues as the vision and mission of community broadcasting in Namibia, community participation and the challenges related to the production of relevant and good quality programmes,’ Karuaihe-Upi noted. (NAMPA)