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CAPACITY BUILDING You may well have joined this media project, or enrolled on this training programme expecting to obtain technical competency and broadcast information, that is advice on how to sound like and perform like, mainstream media. You will certainly receive technical competency and broadcast information, but this, in isolation, will only ensure that you sound like a broadcast clone. You will, however, also be introduced to Participatory Learning modules that aim to respond to both your individual needs and those of the community station and the wider community. These Sessions permit considerable scope for self-improvement, but ensure that this is not done at the expense of others. There is considerable interdependency in most communities, which commercial media tend to undermine. Participatory Learning as well as facilitating personal change, seek, through community media, to achieve this in tandem with collective change. The strengthening of collaborative activity, dialogue and mutual concern can be disseminated through programming and can bolster community development organisations. Socially motivated community media practitioners must address the 'events' and 'practices' that are generated in their community. Viewed in this way, media literacy is more than just a set of techniques -- it is a measurement of the nature of the relationship between community media people, the people in their community and their changing perspectives on their world. It should be clear to you by now that Participatory Learning is not solely concerned with what happens within the workshop, or simply within a studio. It is a process that seeks to reach out to touch and change the wider environment. … Empowerment and capacity building are elements, which are crucial if media training is to help you to identify your needs, discover your passions, address your issues and connect with your geographic or cultural community. Capacity building within the workshops is important as people who learn the effectiveness of working together to use the technology to identify and communicate issues important to them and their community, build critical thinking skills and forge coalitions in the process. Information provided by Jesikah Maria Ross about a Video Project in Davis College California, showed clearly that it is possible to build the skills, confidence and motivation of the participants. At the end of her course participants were able to:
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