Older projects
"Stichting WorldCom" was founded in 1992 by a group of Dutch people (technicians and radio makers & trainers) engaged in the solidarity movement with Central America. The primary focus was to support a fast growing movement of community radios with technical know-how and to support general development through community radio. WorldCom's first project was to supply equipment and train technicians and programme makers at Radio Sumpul in the Chalatenango province of El Salvador.
As a result of this project it became quickly evident that technical and content support was needed on a larger scale. This experience has lead to the posting of two staff members at the national coordinating organisation of community radios - ARPAS, supporting the set-up of a national technical department for community radio, and content development through training of community journalists.
In 1995 WorldCom started the implementation of a connectivity project in, what was then called Zaire with the national council of development NGOs - CNONGD financed by
Bilance. An email-over-shortwave radio system was installed in Kinshasa, Mbandaka, Kisangani and Bukavu to allow these organisation to have email-only access to the Internet. In a second phase of the project a email-over-VHF radios was installed in Kinshasa and Congo Brazzaville for the same purpose.
From then on WorldCom has been focussing on making technology and technological know-how available for civil society organisations such as NGOs working on the convergence of Information technologies (email & internet) and Communication technologies (community radio and internet infrastructure). The principal aims of WorldCom shifted towards the support of Communication for Development.
A third staff member was posted in Quito, Ecuador, to support the Latin American Association of Educational Radio - ALER as technical coordinator setting up email and internet access for the 126 members on the continent and a broadcast satellite system for radio programme distribution as a complimentary service for the members.
Both staff members posted in El Salvador joined the ALER team to support the set-up of a technical department and technical & content training for community journalists.
In 2001 a WorldCom staff member was posted in Angola - supported by NiZA - to support the expansion project of Radio Ecclesia, first as a consultant, then as acting project manager and finally as technical & training coordinator.
At that point the previous experiences with (technological) projects have led to an integrated approach of technological and content development with local partners. This approach boils down to a "learning-by-doing" methodology to introduce high-level techniques such as computer assisted journalism and computer aided production in an environment with little or no history and access to modern Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs).
Gradually it became increasingly important to apply and to introduce ICT in a meaningful way with the purpose of improving both the quality of journalism and at the same time to lower the barriers for both journalists and the audience of having access to information.
Through the work with NiZA's media programme in Southern Africa and in a later stage with the Panos Paris Institute (IPP) WorldCom's practice of using ICT for development became more focussed on the support of media diversity and civic journalism[1] using technology as a mean to support the development of a vibrant civil society able to create a public space in the public sphere.
This was the philosophy behind the PARI (Pôle d'Appuie pour les Radio Indépendant) project which was implemented with NiZA and the Panos Institute in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 2004 and 2007.
[1] Civic journalism is both a philosophy and a set of values supported by some evolving techniques to reflect both of those in journalism. At its heart is a belief that journalism has an obligation to public life - an obligation that goes beyond just telling the news or unloading lots of facts. The way journalism is practised affects the way public life goes. Journalism can help empower a community or it can help disable it.
