[ecrea] Aswatona 2015 community media conference, 26-28 Feb, Rabat

*Aswatona 2015 community media conference*

*26-28 February 2015, Rabat, Morocco*

The fourth Aswatona conference on community media in the Arab world, 
will take place in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, 26-28 February 2015, 
under the theme 'All Our Voices', in partnership with "Forum des 
Alternatives Maroc (FMAS)". The three day annual event will provide 
community broadcasters with an opportunity to network and advocate for 
better media law and regulation.

Mohammad Leghtas, the coordinator of the Maghreb-Machrek portal 
/ejoussour/, a program of Forum des Alternatives Maroc, said the 
Aswatona 2015 conference will give a big push to the growing civil 
society interest in communications. “We have been working hard at 
creating the right infrastructure to enable community radio and holding 
the conference in Rabat will give us a big push forward.”

Steve Buckley, Managing Director of Community Media Solutions, said the 
holding of the fourth regional conference of the Aswatona network is a 
testament to community media stakeholders' commitment to mutual support 
and greater recognition in media law and policy. "The growth of 
community media in Morocco is an indicator of a vibrant civil society 
and a desire for alternative voices to be heard including those of 
women, youth, rural communities and minorities."

The conference will feature government and expert speakers from  
Morocco, the Montreal-based World Association of  Community Radio 
Broadcasters (AMARC) and Daoud Kuttab founder/director of the 
Jordan-based Community Media Network as well as practical workshops.

Aswatona’s steering committee consists of community broadcasters in 
Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen. Previous 
regional community media conferences of the Aswatona network were held 
in Tunis 2012, Cairo 2013, and Jordan’s Dead Sea 2014. The conference is 
supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the European Union 
programme "Media and culture for development in the Southern 
Mediterranean" and Copenhagen based, International Media Support, 
together with local authorities in the Kingdom of Morocco.

*For further details visit: http://aswatona.net/category/en
*

*or contact Eman Jaradat: (eman /at/ cmso.co.uk) <mailto:(eman /at/ cmso.co.uk)>*** 
<mailto:(eman /at/ cms.co.uk)>