Purpose Prize

Marc Freedman Portrait

The Latest from CoGenerate

Got a Digital Illustration that Shows Generations Working Together?

Got a Digital Illustration that Shows Generations Working Together?

CoGenerate recently teamed up with Fine Acts, a global creative studio for social impact, to launch an open call for illustrations showing generations working together for change.  We’re looking for illustrations that show older and younger people coming together to...

A New Conversation About Service That Crosses Generations

A New Conversation About Service That Crosses Generations

Can a single meal begin to bridge divides? Back in January, two major partners in CoGenerate’s work teamed up to find out. On the MLK Day of Service, Generations Over Dinner and AmeriCorps joined with senior living communities across the country to host more than 100...

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Bill Siemering

Developing Radio Partners
Purpose Prize Fellow 2008

Strengthening community radio to help developing countries

As a founding board member of National Public Radio and creator of All Things Considered, NPR’s first news program, Bill Siemering understood that local radio stations could change lives and improve society. But his travels in developing countries showed him that existing assistance programs short-changed the small stations that could best do the job. At age 70, Siemering founded Developing Radio Partners (DRP) to support and train community radio broadcasters in developing countries. In areas where illiteracy is high, local radio stations reach nearly everyone. They can promote healthy practices, good governance, environmental conservation, peace-building and better lives for women and young people. But they are chronically under-funded, often operating with transient volunteers and under charged political conditions. Siemering’s DRP offers training in journalism and management; fosters associations to help stations engage as a group with key stakeholders; and operates a network for program exchange that gives each small station a larger audience. He is also promoting the use of text messaging with radio to improve citizen engagement. Siemering’s work has already supported balanced election coverage in Sierra Leone that led to 75.8 percent voter turnout and fair elections, and has empowered herders in Mongolia to add their voices to the public forum. “What other social investment can have a broader reach or affect more lives than an engaging local radio station?”