After four successful years, Basra’s Al-Mirbad radio station – the BBC World Service Trust’s biggest media reconstruction project to date – has taken the first steps towards becoming an independent NGO.
Iraq country director, Abir Awad reports on a new future.
Al Mirbad, the radio station which the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) established in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, is about to set off on its own as a fully-registered NGO and, from 1 October 2009, will be receiving donor funding directly.
The BBC WST started its work in Iraq in 2004, a year after the fall of the Ba'ath regime. With the country going through extreme civil disorder, it has been one the hardest countries for the BBC WST to work in.
An innovative approach was developed whereby the BBC WST managed the project out-of-country, allowing the station to operate under the temporary ownership of the BBC and coaching the local management team until they were ready for the role.
The UK's Department for International Development (DfID) has been funding the Al Mirbad Project since early 2004, with a grant of over £10m to establish local media in Iraq.
Now, with new grants from the UN Democracy Fund and increasing locally-generated advertising revenue, the station is finally ready to stand on its own feet. The BBC WST expects to complete a phased-hand over to the staff by end of March 2010.
A new organisation, called the Al Mirbad Organisation for Media Development, has been created as a local association, in which all staff will eventually become voting members, giving them the opportunity to determine the direction in which they take the station in future.
Local reach
Al Mirbad radio has been transmitting since June 2005 and it has remained the highest-rated local radio station, with a weekly reach of 32 percent of the population in the three southern provinces of Iraq. A large majority of listeners - 72 percent - say what they like most about the station is the fact that it is from and about the south.
In an audience survey carried out last year, feedback shows that 59 percent of listeners think Al Mirbad provides a vital public service and 65 percent believe that Al Mirbad follows issues that are important to the community.
For the BBC WST, this is an achievement to be proud of. Al Mirbad was set up from scratch in very difficult circumstances and it is now a thriving radio station, as well as a force to be reckoned with in local politics. The station’s main remit is to hold officials to account, and both audiences and officials agree that Al Mirbad has so far been successful.
Ahmad Al-Yasiri, the Head of the Governorate Services Committee, says: “[Listening to] Al Mirbad is one of my scheduled daily tasks…the media is supposed to be the fourth estate and as we are heading towards a new life and new systems, let the media have a role in solving many of the issues we’re faced with.”
The BBC WST will continue to support the new organisation pro-bono to ensure it has all the help it needs in raising funding and managing the organisation in its crucial first year of operation.