The Banikoara Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) was first established as a community radio in March 1994, under the name “Radio Banigansé de Banikoara à la croisée des chemins” (loosely meaning “Banikoara Baniganse Radio at the cross road”). The community radio was created with the support of l’Agence de la Francophonie as part of a project that had been launched in 1989 by Heads of States and Governments of French-speaking countries. The project also provided assistance to existing and/or new community radios in Burkina Faso, Congo, Benin, Central African Republic, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Cameroon. Each assisted radio signed an agreement with l’Agence de la Francophonie:

• To allow a real involvement of the populations in the programming and in the production of the radio content
• To encourage the transfer of technologies and facilitate the complete emergence of organisational structures and administration of the media well adapted to the local realities
• To offer a service better adapted to the local specificities

Management
A local management committee of 19 members directs the radio. The members of the committee are elected by a local General Assembly for a two-year mandate. The General Assembly consists of representatives from each of the 10 townships of Banikoara and oversees the political as well as administrative functions of the local authorities headed by a Mayor. The committee meets thrice a year. Within the local Management Committee there is a Control Commission for the CMC. This Commission conducts periodic checks on the operations of the CMC. The CMC manager reports to the Management Committee on daily operations of the centre and on the management of human, material and financial resources.

Infrastructure
The first Community Radio building was built with financial support from the Banikoara Co-operative Association for Farming Development(ACOODER) and the Union of Cotton Producers. Later, an annex building was constructed with funding from the community, consisting of 2 acoustically fitted radio studios. Today the CMC has a public bar, a community meeting hall, 2 semi-professional radio studios (one used for on-air broadcasting and the other for production) and two 100- watts transmitters (one used as a relay transmitter). In addition the centre has : a computer training centre equipped with 13 personal computers (PCs) (3 other PCs are in the studios and offices), printers and scanners all in a local area network (LAN); a centre for photocopying and document binding; a solar panel system; a 24 hour maize-mill electricity generator; offices and a library. The Deutche Welle Corporation donated a satellite TV and radio receiver. UNESCO provided the start-up support for the establishment of the computer centre, by contributing four PCs, printers, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), a scanner and a digital camera. UNESCO also provided essential training for the staff and management.

In August 2004, Banikoara CMC commissioned its newly installed VSAT with 18 months initial subscription, a local area network(LAN) and a server, all provided by UNESCO. The installation of the 16 kbps uplink/64 kbps downlink VSAT has created the town’s first Internet access point, which is currently the only reliable means of communication in the area.


The most important development at the Banikoara CMC has been the installation of a maize-mill electricity generator, which is fully assembled locally (in Benin) and costs around $3000. The idea of a maize-mill generator was explored when the solar panel system provided in 1994, at the commencement of the Community Radio, started to breakdown frequently and became increasingly expensive to maintain. In Africa, many CMCs do not have dependable sources of electricity supply because of their location. These maize-mills are widely available and are used all over Africa to grind maize, but what had not been widely known is that a little adaptation turns them into powerful generators of electric energy. The Banikoara CMC has 2 of these generators, with a smaller 10kVA generator serving as standby. The main 20kVA generator can provide enough power to supply two residential houses, and at the Banikoara CMC, it supplies enough power for 16 PCs, 2 semi-professional radio studios, 2 photocopiers, a scanner, a satellite TV and Radio receiver as well as office equipment and now a VSAT link. It provides an essential service given that the diesel engine driven municipal electricity generator is switched off during most of the day hours, and switched on from late afternoon. Maize-mill electricity generator is a model that could easily be replicated in other parts of Africa.

Audience
The radio covers Banikoara, parts of Kandi, Kérou and Gogounou along the North-Western boarder of Benin. The population reached by the radio is estimated at close to 256,000 inhabitants. However, the radio focuses on the Banikoara listeners, which comprise 3 main local language groups: Bariba, Peul and Dendi. Hence 90 per cent of the programmes are produced in these local languages. Nonetheless, French language is also used to cater to the large community of administrative workers, traders and NGO personnel in the covered areas who do not understand the local languages.

In the past once every year, the radio undertook a survey of its listeners, which was used to improve programme content and presentation, thus enabling the radio to remain relevant to its audience. Then in 2002, the radio created listeners’ societies in 50 villages of Banikoara. These societies monitor feedback from listeners and bring it to the attention of the radio producers in a continuous manner. The Banikoara community radio has proven to be very popular in the area and enjoys great support from the local population.

The programming
To guide its radio programmes production, the radio has always endeavored to “know its listeners, their tastes, their expectations”, to be able to produce the programmes that are going to give them satisfaction. The programme grid includes: debates, interviews, live presentations, music, round table discussions, news, etc. The radio earned respect and loyalty from listeners by, among other things, strictly following the programme grid, keeping programme time according to the schedule. Due to limited resources, the radio started broadcasting on modest and realistic basis, between 4 to 5 hours each evening and has progressively increased the broadcast time as demand grew. Currently the radio broadcasts between 6-9 in the morning and 6-12 at night. To help the producers in their daily tasks, the station subscribed to several magazines and bulletins. In addition the radio receives international TV and radio broadcasts through a satellite receiver which was donated by Deutche Welle Corporation.

The programme themes over the last five years included: health, schooling, protection of the environment, agricultural production, husbandry, women issues, road security, culture, literacy, civic education, etc. One of the more successful programmes on education of the girl child was a contest, supported by the national Ministry of Education and UNICEF, to reward a school that had admitted the highest number of girls in the district. Regarding culture, the radio organised several contests of music production on cassettes of local orchestras.


The staff
Currently there are 11 personnel. Most of the staff members were recruited as volunteers from the community and were trained on the job through workshops. However, to obtain commitment and loyalty from staff they were put on the payroll of the CMC. Staff members are encouraged to function in a multidisciplinary manner. To complement staff input the radio invites local associations, co-operatives and other groupings to provide content, and where possible send a representative to produce and/or present the programme.

Sustainability
After receiving the initial equipment the Banikoara Community Radio had to start broadcasting with practically no capital. It turned to the community for support. Contributions came from listeners, livestock tradesmen, the management committee, the local hospital, church organisations, associations and co-operatives, etc. organisational contributions were tied to contractual arrangements for airtime slots for advertisements and for broadcasting public information. In 2001, the revenue from these contracts exceeded 7 million FCFA (approximately $14,000). Encouraged by his success, the manager of the radio station approached every Government Ministry by sending mails, proposing to them the services of the radio to fulfill their objectives in the Banikoara region. These additional contracts were so successful that the revenue generated provided the much-needed financial stability to the radio station. In addition the station sought sponsorships from non-governmental organisations (NGO) for programme production in thematic areas that were of interest to them. With the opening of the computer-training centre in 2002, the CMC’s annual revenue reached 45 million FCFA (approximately USD 90,000) in 2003. Radio has generated the highest revenue at the centre over the years and in 2003 contributed 38 million FCFA. Worth noting is the fact that the Listeners’ Societies also mobilise the community at village level to make financial and/or in-kind contributions to the CMC when necessary, however, this has not been substantial enough to fund large scale projects.


Hence, assistance from development agencies has remained important for the expansion of CMC services at Banikoara. The recent installation of the VSAT Internet link is expected to significantly extend the range of services at the CMC and increase its client base. It is particularly expected to attract the community of private and public sector employees as well as NGO personnel, but UNESCO is also working with the CMC to initiate an e-Learning programme for teachers in the surrounding educational institutions.

There are quite a number of educational institutions around Banikoara ranging from primary schools to vocational training colleges, therefore the e-Learning programme will endeavor to introduce teachers from these institutions to web-based online resources with the view to improving the quality of future training methods and materials.

Difficulties and perspectives

Difficulties
The first difficulty emanated from the local branches of political parties in 2000, these parties made financial contributions to the community radio, and later demanded that they should have airtime for their political campaigns. The contributions had been made through the local Management Committee and hence the management could not identify the contributors. They also wanted to infiltrate the management committee with their militants, but the General Assembly stood firm against these conspiracies. However, the radio station and its management were thereafter threatened with hate letters. The other problems include zones within the district that do not receive the radio signal and lack of transport for producers to reach all villages to collect information and put into practice the principle of community participation in the development of programmes.

Perspectives
The bad quality of the telephone network links has been an impediment to CMC’s desire to take full advantage of the new information and communication technologies (ICT). However, the installation of the VSAT has alleviated that problem and will now provide new possibilities for accessing global resources through the Internet and also share local indigenous knowledge with the world. UNESCO is already initiating a “Radio-Browsing” training programme for the radio producers on how to use Internet resources to enhance local programme production. The radio attaches a lot of importance to its communal function and will continue to promote the production and distribution of local music and cultural heritage.

To ensure its sustainability and financial independence, the CMC still places a lot of emphasis on intensive marketing, especially targeting private sector, public sector institutional clients and NGOs. The CMC is conscious of the fact that as the years go by, competitions will start to emerge, and to cope with that situation, it intends to carry out a market survey for advertising by sector, to better respond to listeners’ tastes and client expectations.

Conclusion
The example of the Banikoara CMC brings to the fore some important lessons for existing and future CMC practioners. Firstly, the management and ownership structures need to be grounded on broad community participation, for instance the General Assembly in the case of Banikoara. This helps when individuals attempt to use these community facilities for selfish purposes. The other lesson that can be drawn is the aggressive marketing approach that the staff must adopt. It is evident that revenues generated by service contracts have financed the growth of the Banikoara CMC. The installation of locally manufactured maize-mill generator as an alternative reliable source of energy has to be highlighted as the major contribution that the Banikoara CMC has made to the CMC movement, especially in Africa, and this should go a long way in making CMCs more sustainable. Although one case does not prove the sustainability of the CMCs as a concept, it can be concluded that CMCs must be run as small businesses, while maintaining the communal functions.