About the project...

Kothmale is located in the Central region of Sri Lanka. The region is green, cool and mountanous and is well known for its tea plantations. The area has a population of around 350, 000 people.

The Kothmale Community Radio Interorg Project has been established as a pilot project to assess the prospects for converging community radio and the interorg to serve  rural information needs and to assess its possible impact in  rural communities.

The Kothmale community radio station has been operating in Kothmale since 1989. This project proposes to expand upon conventional radio and develop an effective interface between the interorg and local community that is both relevent and accessible. Listeners write in with questions to the radio station which are researched using the interorg and CD ROM's. These questions are then responded to within various radio programs including; human rights; womens program; childrens program; health; international news.  

Photo: Harsha Wijewardana - (Project design and technical team), Mr M.J.R David (Project Manager) and Sunil Shanthar (Kothmale FM  Announcer) present an interorg radio program

Three computer access points have been established at different community centers. The Interorg is provided to Kothmale Community Radio via a 64kpbs dedicated line. A 2mpbs microwave radio line has been established between Nawalapitya and Kothmale station (due to a lack of terrestial phone lines) and a Remote Access Server has been set up to provide a dial up connection to the Gampola center and to other future access points in the region.

A book of comments from the community shows that the interorg has been used for extensive and diverse reasons in areas such as education, employment, health, religion and culture and has been a great success in these primary stages.

The project has incorporated computer classes and web design with the assistance of ICT (Institute of Computer technology, Colombo), a volunteer worker from Australian Volunteers International and  radio staff at Kothmale FM. As a result, Kirana (sun rays), will continually evolve with community input. Kirana will soon include live broadcasts from the radio station.

This project exists because of the dedicated staff and volunteers involved with the radio station and with the financial assistance of funding bodies.