Advocacy work
On behalf of upcountry community radio stations, COMNETU lobbies and negotiates with the government and Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) about national broadcasting and ICT policies, licencing, and legal issues, defending the interests of rural radio stations and citizens’ access to information.
Our aim is to create a policy and legal environment in Uganda which is supportive to community media allowing local community radio stations to provide accurate and relevant information to rural communities and give the voice to the voiceless.
Capacity building
Together with our partners, we organise training events with reporters, producers and managers from our member radio stations, and encourage networking among community radio stations in Uganda and across East Africa.
In recent years, community radio staff across Uganda have been trained in climate reporting, ICT skills and the journalistic use of internet, among others. Since 2022, we have provided practical training for community radio staff to effectively make use of our new community radio online portal Radio Comnetu.
Link to rural communities
Most Ugandans live in rural areas. There are many civil society organisations, government institutions, donor agencies and commercial enterprises who would like to reach rural communities by educational, social and health campaigns, or marketing of consumer goods or services.
COMNETU can assist these organisations or companies to reach rural radio stations by creating partnership projects, by sponsored radio programmes, or by selling airtime for advertisements – and eventually generating much needed income to our member radio stations.
Community radio platform
A new community radio online portal, Radio Comnetu, has been operational since 2023. The new site is an informative media platform for marketing of rural radio stations and bringing rural perspectives to national debates.
Radio Comnetu publishes news articles, images, audio podcasts and provides live streams from upcountry radio stations. The aim is that the platform becomes a widely visited multimedia news site focusing on information and dialogue on rural issues.