Who We Are
Community Podium is a non-profit participatory media organisation dedicated to providing support for content creators and creating inclusive platforms for voices of marginalized communities to be heard. Community Podium creates spaces and develops resources for participatory civic media to thrive and in the process, enabling communities to reclaim their voice. The organisation is driven by the conviction that promoting access to information and strengthening the inclusion of marginalized voices leads to meaningful public participation.
Community Podium was established in 2019 and registered as a trust in 2020
Vision
We envision a just society in which communities actively shape their own development agenda
Mission
Our mission is to create an inclusive platform for reliable and trustworthy content that amplifies and brings to the fore, the voices of marginalized communities for their meaningful participation in public discourses.
Organisational Structure
Community Podium is made up of the following organs:
- Annual Content Creators Forum – The Annual Content Creators Forum is a consultative as well as advisory and accountability platform of the organisation which consists of all or representatives of members of the alliance (individuals and start-ups). The forum reviews, reflects and celebrates the work done by the organisation in the preceding period and advises the organisation on key issues to tackle in the proceeding period.
- Board of Trustees – The Board of Trustees is the principal policy and decision making body of the organisation. The Board is responsible for the overall leadership and governance of the organisation at a strategic level as well as oversight over the work of the Secretariat. The Board of Trustees consists of individuals appointed on merit of their expertise, knowledge and experience in various portfolios relevant to Community Podium.
- Secretariat – The secretariat is responsible for the day to day activities of the organisation including operational and administrative functions in pursuance of the objectives of Community Podium. The secretariat consists of full time staff of the organisation headed by the Director who is appointed by the Board.
Thematic Focus
In pursuit of its mission, Community Poidum will have laser focus on the following thematic issues which are relevant to the targeted communities. The content generated by the organization will predominantly be on these issues. The organization will amplify the voices of communities and promote their participation in the political economy of these thematic areas. The thematic areas have been selected for their currency in targeted communities both as challenges that they grapple with on a daily basis as well as for their role in deepening the exclusion and marginalization of these communities.
- Governance and Human Rights
- Climate justice
- Gender and women
HOW WE DO IT
In pursuit of our mission, we employ the following approaches which guide all our interventions to ensure that we create value and achieve results.
- Capacity building approach where we empower and place content creators and communities at the centre of our mission, investing in their potential produce and share content, reclaim their voice and participate in public discourses that shape their development agenda.
- Advocacy approach which frames community issues from a rights-based perspective, supporting individuals and communities to reclaim their voice and transform power relations. We support them to defend and safeguard their rights so that their views and wishes are genuinely considered when decisions are being made about governance, climate change and gender issues. We work with stakeholders to influence policies and practices, reform institutions, alter power relations, change attitudes and behaviors.
- Participatory Civic Media approach to ensure that we produce content for and with our target communities. We subscribe to the notion that at the core of community media is active citizenship whereby community members actively participate both as audiences as well as content creators thereby ensuring their voice is heard.
- Gender transformative approach where we seek to transform gender relations to promote equality by fostering critical examination of inequalities and gender roles, norms and dynamics, recognizing and strengthening positive norms that support equality and an enabling environment, and promoting the relative position of women, girls and marginalized groups. We constantly seek to transform the underlying social structures, policies and broadly held social norms that perpetuate gender inequalities.
- Intersectional approach where we recognize that marginalization is multi-layered, meaning members within the same communities are impacted differently by issues. As such various voices and perspectives need to be considered in order to make real, lasting, and equitable change.
WHO WE TARGET
Community Podium targets individual content creators as well as start-ups in marginalized communities.
DCCA works in marginalized communities in the southern region of Zimbabwe covering Matebeleland, Midlands and Masvingo.
