By Loness Gwazanga

Blantyre, March 7, Mana: Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has partnered University of Malawi (UNIMA), Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) and the Film Association of Malawi (FAMA) to promote production of local content.

This was revealed Monday in Blantyre, during a content validation meeting aimed at unpacking curriculum content that the two universities are expected to offer, as well as seek more views from the players in the industry before rolling out the short courses.

In her remarks, MACRA Acting Director of Broadcasting, Matilda Kanjeri said the ten-year project aims at linking Malawians to content that talk about their own stories.

 She pointed out that broadcasters that will not comply with this, will face some licensing conditions as the authority is trying everything to provide a conducive environment for them to cooperate.   

” We have already provided equipment to MUBAS and we are working on opening a studio. Right now, we are also in the process of procuring equipment for UNIMA. Currently, we are having challenges in television broadcasting and the whole Idea is that we should have a lot of options as well as give room to content producers to have the liberty to produce content at subsidised rates,” said Kanjeri.

UNIMA senior lecturer in the Department of Media and Communication Studies within the school of Arts Communication and Designing Sydney Kamkuzi said although the project will set a minimum qualification for admission, all content creators regardless of their level of education will be accommodated.

Kamkuzi added that; “As a university, we believe that before implementing any project, we should get the views from those who are going to implement the project. Therefore, we will start with defining what local content is, some are producing content they think is local but when you look at it with a critical point of view, you will note that the content is not local”.

President of Film Association of Malawi Gift Sukali commended MACRA for their involvement saying this will help set excellent standards in terms of local content production.

He then described the curriculum as the essential aspect that Malawi needs in order to promote the production of local content, hence need for guidance academic wise on how to go about it.

“We have had trainings in the past and it was more of what we thought was right. But now, even those aspiring to join the industry will know what is expected of them in order to create content that can be ably consumed by the audience.

Some universities may also need some people who are actually on the ground to provide training or even public lectures so this development is welcome”, said Sukali.

Content in the curriculum will include production and management, new media and broadcasting as well as monetarisation of the created content.

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