Radio Swaraj @ 90.4 FM

Contact Person: Mr. S.K. Abdul Safique

Broadcasting Language: Odia

Genesis: Radio Swaraj was established in 2018 by Lok Bikash in Jaipur, Odisha. The CRS was founded with the objective to address the basic needs and concerns of the local community, and provide a platform to children, adolescents, youth, women, and farmers in the community. It is also a space for the local artists to perform and showcase their talent. 

Thematic Focus: The focus areas of Radio Swaraj are women empowerment, education, adolescent health, child marriage, child trafficking, child labour, livelihood of SHGs, and gender quality. The CRS works on enrolment, retention and ensuring quality education. It also disseminates information related to horticulture, livestock, and pisciculture. 

SDGs: The SDGs that the CRS focuses on are 

SDG 3:  Good Health and Wellness 

SDG 4: Quality Education 

 SDG 5: Gender Equality, 

SDG 6: Clean water and Sanitation 

SDG 13: Climate action 

Primetime Programmes: Radio Swaraj’s primetime programmes broadly focus on these areas and topics. 

Agriculture: It includes crop diversification, scientific methods of agriculture, possibility of horticulture, need for plantation, tips on herbal plants and its medicinal value. 

Education: Enrolment drive, right to education act, and role of parents, teachers and SMC.  

Health: Community health, common and seasonal health issues, prevention and curative measures, adolescent health, menstrual hygiene and nutrition,  pregnancy care, institutional delivery, exclusive breastfeeding and supplementary nutrition for babies. 

Women and gender: It addresses the local concerns faced by women, its cause and impact, possible steps for solution, and role of men, women and government in the resolution of such problems.   

Innovations in format or any other way: Along with broadcasting, Radio Swaraj actively narrowcasts its programmes and initiatives in the local community. The CRS reaches out to collect feedback from listener groups and individuals in the community. Experts from different fields are involved by the CRS to address the concerns of the community. The CRS also interviews the community members to understand their concerns and the problems that they face. 

Core Team: The Chairperson, Station Director, and Station Manager constitute the core of Radio Swaraj, and they are supported by a team for matters related to content generation, field interviews, voiceover and editing. The CRS is supported by a dedicated group of thirty community volunteers to assist the staff. 

Major Projects Undertaken: The following are the major projects and key collaborators of Radio Swaraj:

Image, in association with the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Odisha

Health programmes and awareness campaigns, in association with UNICEF

Poshan ki Potli, in association with SMART

Maternal and Child Care, in association with CINI
Programmes on Urban Development in association with Vikaspedia

Sustainable Strategies: Radio Swaraj has several fundraising strategies in place. It includes mobilising funds through advertisement from government departments, paid projects with organisations like UNICEF, funding from the parent organisation (Lok Bikash), and contributions from the community. 

Number of listeners and Potential Outreach: Radio Swaraj covers almost three hundred villages across five blocks in three districts, and has an active listener base of nearly 1,50,000 listeners. 

Major concerns in the Community: A majority of the community members are from tribal groups and Dalit communities, and are economically weak. They either are not aware of the need for education or cannot afford it. The girls in the community struggle with many problems like lack of education, health concerns including menstrual hygiene, malnutrition and anaemia,, early marriage and teenage pregnancy etc. 

The community is not aware of many social problems, health concerns, and environmental issues like climate change, pollution, deforestation etc. They need to be educated about the role of civic bodies and public welfare schemes that they are entitled to.