University of Hyderabad’s UNESCO Chair gets IPDC grant on indigenous languages, community radio

NEW DELHI: The University of Hyderabad’s UNESCO Chair on Community Media at the Department of Communication has been awarded a grant by the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) of UNESCO Paris. The grant seeks to strengthen capacities of community radios to promote and revitalize indigenous languages.

This is the fourth time that the Chair has received an IPDC grant for its work, which previously included support for an inter-regional initiative on sustainability of community radio in East Africa and, more recently, to produce a manual for strengthening gender-sensitive practices and programming in community radios, a university statement said.

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The current project, the Hyderabad University statement added, for which a funding of 30,000 US dollar has been granted involves studying global experiences of using community radio in indigenous languages as well as documenting field-level best practices of community radio stations in India that work in indigenous/tribal languages such as Santhali, Desiya, and Paniya.

Many of these languages are under the threat of extinction and community radio is seen as a valuable channel for not only keeping them alive and vibrant, but also for promoting indigenous knowledge systems, it added saying that a team consisting of professors Vinod Pavarala, Kanchan K. Malik, and Vasuki Belavadi will be engaged in this year-long project.

Reacting to the announcement of the award, Vinod Pavarala, Senior Professor of Communication at University of Hyderabad and the Chairholder, said: “This is one of the most significant projects that we have taken up at the UNESCO Chair since its inception in 2011.” Community radio, as the voice of the poor and disenfranchised, could potentially amplify the concerns of indigenous communities in their own languages.”