Using Radio as a Tool for Inclusion
(This article was first published by EPALE, Plateforme électronique pour l’éducation et la formation des adultes en Europe on 06/01/2017)
Led by the Errobi Promotions Association, this adult education partnership project explores how radio can be better used to integrate migrants. EPALE France met Mikel Exteberria, coordinator of Radio Kultura, one of the partner radios of the project. He will also deliver his testimony on Monday, January 9, at the conference of 30 years of Erasmus +.
Immigrant communities face two linguistic problems:
• the use of the language of reception is not easy, they tend to group themselves in communities in cities or neighborhoods to continue using their language of origin;
• the use of their mother tongue to keep the link with their roots and with their families who have remained in their country of origin. This is clearly also a factor of cultural wealth for Europe.
This linguistic duality poses problems in terms of social inclusion and professional integration, even if the educational system and socio-cultural structures work to facilitate their integration.
Associative radio and social inclusion of migrants
In France, there are approximately 600 local associative radio stations that carry out a mission of social communication of proximity and promote exchanges between social and cultural groups. They play an important role in promoting the languages of immigrant populations and in understanding and integrating these communities.
Radio Kultura wishes, with the InclusionDes project, to maintain a social link between the different communities by enhancing the migrants’ languages of origin and by making the host population aware of respect for minority languages and the inclusion of migrant populations.
InclusionDes combines five experienced European organizations, which will carry out observation and analysis work on some twenty sites in Europe. It aims to produce:
• eleven radio programs (ten local programs involving migrant communities and a common multilingual program for the five partners);
• A good practice guide entitled “Using Radio to Promote Social Inclusion by Addressing the Minority Languages of Immigrant Communities”.
Antoine Alchoufi, a native of Lebanon, is a volunteer with the radio station Wueste Welle in Germany, he says: “Radio has given me an interesting international dimension thanks to Eastern, Arabic or German music. The spirit of cultural diversity, it was like training for me: being introduced to new techniques, learning how to interview, discovering new musical groups, I was able to progress and acquire skills.
Kelly is from Brazil and is a volunteer with Near FM Radio in Ireland. “The radio allowed me to communicate better,” she says. “My Brazilian program gave me the keys to understanding my private and professional situations.” Back in my country, I will use this new wealth to bring a more cultural dimension to my activities. Opening up to migrants. All languages and nationalities can cross each other and it is fascinating. “
