Episode of the Month

     Disability

History

SEWA Communication

SEWA has observed that many of its members avidly listen to the radio while they work, be it bidi rolling, incense stick making, stitching or weaving. The combination of low cost and wide reach makes radio an ideal medium of communication in developing countries. While the print medium requires literacy skills, the electronic medium requires computer skills, and the video / television medium requires a television, which is quite expensive. SEWA Radio's research has shown that the medium of radio is an untapped source of education and communication to even the remotest of villages in India.
 
Rudi no Radio

In April of 2005, SEWA began its first community radio programme, entitled Rudi no Radio (Rudi’s Radio), a weekly 15-minute programme produced and broadcast by employees of SEWA for a rural audience. In each episode, Rudiben is informally sitting and talking with local members of her village about things that affect them as women and as labourers. The programme is symbolically named after our first member of SEWA who worked to spread our association’s wings to rural areas. In that spirit, the programme extends to the Ahmedabad-Vadodara area on All India Radio-Ahmedabad (AIR-Ahm.) airwaves, and gauging from listener response, we estimate that 500,000 listeners are tuning in weekly for the show.
 
The success of 26 pilot episodes of Rudi no Radio on AIR-Ahm. was evident from listener's responses and their demand motivated us to renew the contract with AIR. Since then Rudi no Radio is broadcast on every Saturday from 8 to 8.15 pm on AIR. The episodes range on variety of topics like nutrition, insurance, health, education, environment, communal harmony, agriculture, traditional art & crafts, seasons, festivals, and more. Today, the popularity of Rudi no Radio is apparent when we receive letters from listeners demanding regular broadcast even when there is a shift due to cricket match.

The Rudi no Radio team creates Listener's Group to increase the number of listeners and motivates them to contribute information, recipes, music, medicines, etc. The Rudi no Radio team organize trainings, workshops, exposure visits, video replays within Listener’s Group. The team creates Children Listener’s Group and motivates them to listen to radio programmes and contribute proverb, riddles, drawings, etc.

Community Rudi no Radio Station (CRS)

The response and success of Rudi no Radio motivated us to initiate Community Rudi no Radio Station (CRS). The CRS, initiated on 26 November 2009 from SEWA Academy's Manipur, Sanand Taluka, is broadcast on 90.4 Frequency and reaches 40 villages within 10 kms radius. The programme is broadcast from 9 am to 1 pm and 4 pm to 8 pm daily. The radio station is the voice of villagers and women. The CRS is run and managed by a team of community women.