Conferences & Events
Our Positive CBA Rainbow
by Abubakar Jijiwa, President of the CBA, Director General Voice of Nigeria.
Mr Prime Minister, Delegates, and Distinguished Guests.
It is a great pleasure to be in this beautiful island and on behalf of all delegates, I very much appreciate your hospitality and the warmth of your welcome.
The Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) is very grateful to all at ZNS and in The Bahamas generally for all their help and support for the conference, and in particular to the Bahamas Department of Tourism for hosting this very memorable event.
Quite often the Commonwealth group of Nations which the CBA is a product of, has been likened to the proverbial Rainbow – an amalgam of colours, nationalities, regions, religions etc with diverse levels of development, a melting-pot that celebrates our diversity.
While this accepted concept of the rainbow is well known, in many communities in Africa, the rainbow is also seen from a negative perspective because rainbows normally appear just when the rains fail to drop after a thick rain-cloud had gathered. Of course, science tells us that the rainbow is nothing mysterious, just a mixture of water and sun. In perspective, it is our desire that the CBA and indeed the Commonwealth Group of Nations will be the rainbow that is the harbinger of everything positive that is to be found in unity in diversity, not the negative rainbow that drives away the rain which is greeted with gloom by African farmers.
The vision that evolved into the CBA in 1945, perhaps started as a spec. Starting with just six members, the CBA is today a big organisation with more than 100 broadcasting organisations in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Australasia, the Pacific, North and South America.
An idea materialises when there is deep and sincere commitment and faith in it. It is these factors of faith and commitment that engender enthusiasm and action that lead to the success of any idea. The CBA has proved to be an idea that is worth the faith and commitment and it is therefore not surprising that it is making giant strides. Unlike several bodies and associations under the Commonwealth portfolio, the CBA has continued to be the good rainbow that does not drive away the rain, growing from strength to strength with each passing year.
The year 2007 was another year of successes. It was a year in which the organisation recorded much progress starting with the establishment of the CBA International Programme Bank, a new partnership with United Nations Television and an innovative way of sharing TV programmes. This contains programmes donated by a range of broadcasting organisations, including from world leaders, and makes programmes available to countries that would not otherwise be able to afford them. The Bank was created following suggestions made by delegates at the 2006 CBA Conference in Delhi.
This highly successful programme bank is now part of the success story of our CBA rainbow that is impacting positively in our stations.
The progress then culminated in the giant strides we made in training and capacity building programmes which won us the Tom McGann Training Award. This Award included a donation to the CBA of £20,000 for engineering training. Indeed, 2007 was an exciting time for CBA training programme with the launch of 3 new distance learning courses in addition to last years courses in Radio production and website production. The courses have been successful and have produced some superb capacity-building and human development in member stations – the CBA rainbow that is not at odds with its members.
A major training development during the year came through the development of the CBA portfolio of Distance Learning Courses, which now total six. Much of the funding for these courses has come from the Commonwealth Media Development Fund, yet another positive rainbow, to whom the CBA owes considerable gratitude.
Our highly creative regular radio programme, Pick of the Commonwealth, anchored by the icon of creative broadcasting, Robin White, made great strides. Although co-ordinated by the CBA, it is essentially produced by local broadcasters and paints a picture of everyday life in a variety of Commonwealth societies today. A version of it called Tales from the Commonwealth also ran four editions on BBC World Service. In addition, the now-famous Commonwealth Short Stories Competition retained their high standards, attracting writers across all member states and improving the intellectual prowess of upcoming writers. Certainly, this is a good rainbow story for the CBA.
We also launched a new bursary for TV Graphics Designers, part-funded by Red Bee, which also part-funded four new Management bursaries for a University of Westminster course held in Cambridge. The Brunei University Bursary for MA programme in Public Policy is also proving a considerable asset, and it is hoped that it will lead the way in spreading CBA bursaries and training round the Commonwealth. This is very encouraging for fund providers and other countries willing to fund our programmes. This year alone, a total of twenty people have benefited from the CBA bursaries. Our association is truly a visible expression of that rainbow that does not drive away the tropical rain!
Another important area of achievement for CBA was the Broadcasting Awards, 2007. It is one of the most prestigious awards in the Commonwealth and twelve awards were won last year. The aim of the awards is to recognise excellence and professionalism, creative and qualitative programming and programming formats in broadcasting.
There was also a successful CBA Regional Conference in Kenya in February, supported by KBC, The Nation Group and The Standard Group, with the theme ‘Media Freedom.’ This regional African Conference was attended by 120 delegates which brought about a welcome touch of Commonwealth diversity and a healthy dose of our rainbow authenticity.
2007 was however not all rosy as we had our difficult and challenging times especially with some Commonwealth countries afflicted by major media freedom problems. In these cases the CBA was plagued by the negative rainbow which dashed the hopes of a torrential rainfall that threatened the bumper harvest of not only the association, but indeed the citizens of the affected countries. The CBA made many representations to some Governments, particularly to those of Fiji Islands and Sri Lanka following the difficulties confronted by our members in the ordinary performance of their duties in those countries. We also wrote letters of protest to the Pakistani government following the forceful closure of private broadcast stations in that country during the democracy agitations. We are closely monitoring and watching the unfolding developments in both Pakistan and Kenya, and the CBA will react appropriately whenever necessary.
The dreaded “bad” rainbow also came during the year through some natural disasters which affected our member stations. Through the Disaster Fund, donated by member organisations, the CBA has been able to assist a number of the affected member stations. These include CVM in Jamaica and the Creative Production and Training Centre there, following Hurricane Dean in August 2007.
Even with these few challenges, I make bold to assert that our greatest achievement is the continued existence and growth of the CBA Rainbow coalition and its ability to sustain the varied and diverse interests of its members. Our indomitable resilience to remain firm and deeply focused in our avowed mission of furthering the concept of independent and uncensored broadcasting fostered on freedom of expression and the right to communicate remains an article of faith. Therefore, the CBA rainbow is an inspiration for continued growth of the association with excellent harvests for all its members.
Through our activities, the CBA has worked hard to eliminate barriers between peoples and amongst peoples through its positively-impacting programmes such as training and capacity-building, bursaries, consultancies, networking opportunities, programmes exchange, collaborative relationships, publications and e-materials for downloading. The CBA, as a platform for shared experiences and vast opportunities and limitless possibilities, is definitely a rainbow that foretells a good harvest for our Commonwealth.
When juxtaposed with the current global political trend in which democracy and good governance have become critical imperatives, the theme of this conference, ‘Empowering the People’ is not only germane, but most apt as the ideals of accountability, liberal democracy and good governance are only feasible when the citizenry is empowered.
Even as we continue on the path of being a champion for the cause of responsive and responsible broadcasting, we must continue to empower our peoples and communities by helping to nurture, deepen and strengthen democracy and good governance.
I offer a very special welcome to our freshmen colleagues who are attending this as their first CBA conference – I trust you will enjoy the friendly and informal atmosphere and make international friends and contacts through the CBA, just as I have done over the years. The last time the conference was held in the Bahamas was in 1988, and I am delighted that we have at least one delegate here who was at that conference – Bishaka Ghose from India, now in charge of their Parliamentary Broadcasting, and then, I think, DG of Doordarshan, India. That conference was held at this very hotel, so I trust you are enjoying returning here, Bishaka.
I am greatly pleased to welcome to the conference our ever supportive Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt. Hon. Don McKinnon, and his Director of Communications, Eduardo del Buey. I also welcome our Exhibitors, and our major sponsors and very much hope they find this conference a most useful event.
The CBA is very grateful to the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth Secretariat, for providing funds to assist some developing country delegates to attend, as well as DFID in Barbados which have assisted some Caribbean delegates attend the Environmental Workshop. Without such assistance, many would have been unable to be present.
All we have done at the CBA would not have been possible without the co-ordination and support of the Secretariat, particularly the dogged woman controlling the panels at the engine room of the Secretariat, our indefatigable Secretary General, Mrs. Elizabeth Smith. I am also grateful for the support, enthusiasm, devotion and commitment of the other staff – Bishaka, Sally-Ann, Jasmine and Adam.
On a final note, I wish that at the end of this conference in the Bahamas we will all leave with a feeling that although the rainbow has its own positive and negative perspectives, this CBA rainbow is a story of continued success, brotherhood, professionalism, excellence, and a good example of how an international organization should remain relevant with its grassroots.
I thank you all.2008 CBA General Conference Speeches