[Community Radio] KASMO FM: Somali women finally get their own radio voice

KASMO FM – © UNESCO

28 January, 2013, UNESCO, Somali’s first independent community radio station, KASMO FM, will officially be launched in Mogadishu during the International Women’s Day celebrations scheduled for 8 March 2013. The International Women’s Day is a global event that celebrates the economic, political and social achievements of women’s past, present and future.

The radio broadcasts on a frequency of 89.1 MHz with a power of 100 Watts first went on air on 1 January 2013 and the first woman’s voice on the radio during the test transmission was that of Ms Deko Osman, Executive Director of WARDA (Pictured).

The establishment of the community radio is sponsored by UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC), which is the only multilateral forum in the UN system designed to mobilize the international community to discuss and promote media development in developing countries. This activity is being implemented within the framework of UNESCO's contribution towards strengthening free, independent and pluralistic media.

KASMO Radio operates from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. every day and is managed and run by Women for Relief and Development Actions (WARDA), a women and human rights NGO that helps in promotion of women’s rights by advocating their active participation as free individuals and equal citizens in establishment and maintenance of democratic and peaceful orders at national and regional levels.

The media in Somalia has over the years grown but these media outlets are mostly directed by men. Therefore KASMO FM is unique and symbolic since it gives women their own voice through its various programmes hence will greatly contribute to the ongoing developments for a free press environment in Somalia.

(Source : UNESCO.com)