Association of Community Radio Broadcasters Nepal (ACORAB) was established in 2002 as an autonomous and politically non-partisan organisation. Collectively, 171 community radio stations spread across 70 districts of the nation form the core membership of this association. It works to advance the cause of community radio, facilitates the sharing of knowledge and resources, and speaks with one voice for the community that it represents.
As an association, it aims to promote, protect, and strengthen the capacity of the community radios so that they can contribute to social transformation. It respects, observes and promotes pluralistic democratic norms and values. It will honour, uphold and work to promote and preserve an individual’s right to information and freedom of expression. Fundamentally, it benefits Nepal’s democratisation and peace process by allowing for greater expression at the grassroots and by linking the voices of the marginalised, excluded, and poverty-stricken to the national discourse.
As per its five-year plan, ACORAB’s main focus areas are:
lobbying and advocacy, institutional strengthening of both ACORAB and community radios, and the promotion of community radio for the recognition as a catalyst or agent of social transformation as it can address local agenda and protect the right to information and freedom of expression.
ACORAB established the Community Information Network to connect the community radio stations into a single satellite network and to bridge the information gap among the stations. The network allows stations to receive news and information from the association’s studio as well as to share information.