By AUT News

The Tonga episode in Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific language video series – Adapting to a Changing World, Shaping Resilient Futures – has been released.

The video is narrated in Tongan (with English subtitles) from the viewpoint of a 15-year-old girl, to acknowledge the language being celebrated in Aotearoa New Zealand this week.

It looks at the issue of food security among our Pacific families in Aotearoa, based on significant findings from the Pacific Islands Families Study (PIFS).

PIFS director Associate Professor El-Shadan Tautolo said the availability and cost of healthy food options was a significant issue faced by many communities across Aotearoa, including Pacific families.

“Our research found that around 40 percent of the 1300 families interviewed, could not afford to buy healthy food, and as a result, they would often skip important meals and go hungry, or they would buy food that was less nutritious, but cheaper,” said Associate Professor Tautolo.

“Much more needs to be done for our communities when it comes to this issue.

“There are some resources available, including AUT’s Certificate of Proficiency in Pacific Nutrition, which supports our communities to utilise healthy eating options or alternatives, at a low cost, to avoid diet-related health diseases.

“However, at a policy level, governments need to do more to close the gap between food availability, choice and cost, particularly in light of the recent covid-19 situation and the impact on household incomes and the ability to buy nutritious healthy food.

“The upcoming elections provide an opportunity to see this issue highlighted – we need urgent regulatory changes to ensure healthy food options are prioritised.”

• Tongan language Week: September 7-11, 2020

Release dates for upcoming videos:

• Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week) – Sunday September 13 2020
• Tuvalu – Sunday 27 September
• Fiji – Sunday 4 October
• Niue – Sunday 18 October
• Tokelau – Sunday 25 October

Operating out of a modest three-roomed rooftop suite overlooking the local marketplace in the rice-producing Bicol township of Vinzons, a tiny Filipino community radio startup is quietly making its mark.

Radyo Katabang 107.7FM only began broadcasting two years ago out of a studio lined with egg-container acoustic buffers in the Camarines Norte community in the central Philippines island of Luzon.

But it has already picked up a national community radio award for best coverage of community event.

MORE: Radyo Katabang wins a Nutriskwela national award

It is the only media in town, although Vinzons does have a “sustainable tourism” municipality social media page for communications.

Vinzons was famously renamed from Indan in 1959 in honour of a local wartime resistance hero who fought against the Japanese Imperial Army before being captured and executed.

At the time of the Japanese invasion, Wenceslao Q. Vinzons, was governor of the province after being the youngest member the 1935 Constitutional Convention.

The town is proud of its most famous son who was regarded as a visionary leader and respected for his “advocacy for clean government and moral leadership” until his death in 1942.

Radyo Katabang’s core team of 11 are mostly volunteers but their dedication and pride in the station and community was amply demonstrated at their recent end-of-year Christmas party that I attended as a guest.

Three community stations
Only three community radio stations like this exist in Bicol and Radyo Katabang is all Vinzons has for news and information – there is no local newspaper for the widely spread community of 46,000, which includes the offshore Calaguas Islands, and rarely do copies of the national daily press circulate this far from the provincial capital Daet, an 9km tricycle or jeepney ride away.

National television stations hardly ever run stories about Vinzons.

But the Radyo Katabang crew are under no illusions about the vital importance of their local station for education, disaster risk reduction strategies and combating malnutrition – many coastal barangays (villages) are remote and can only be reached through mangrove-fringed waterways or the open sea.

Merle Fontanilla, chair of the Community Radio Council, praises the support of the Local Government Unit of Vinzons for launching and continuing to back the radio station – part of the national Nutriskwela network – to tackle the nutrition and other community welfare issues.

She says Radyo Katabang is about “community empowerment” and is an “outstanding source of information about health, nutrition and development” since 2017.

“Our station discusses the lives of the local people as reflected in the reduction of malnutrition and boosting health through community broadcasting.”

The station’s editorial policy is declared on the studio wall, guided by the principles of “balance, integrity and accuracy” with the belief that they can fill the gaps left by mainstream media shortcomings.

Independent alternative
“Nutriskwela shall be a reliable, independent alternative to mainstream media,” begins the policy pledge. “It provides balance to listeners, by focusing on underreported communities and stories not heard in commercial radio and highlighting positive and developmental stories, particularly correct nutrition behaviour and good practices in nutrition programme management.”

On diversity, the radio station declares:

“Nutriskwela shall seek out a multitude of perspectives and diverse voices, particularly from underrepresented communities and identities.

“Nutriskwela shall focus content on local issues and grassroots activities. It shall promote an analysis of the news that will lead to dialogues and understanding among individuals of different communities across the Philippines.”

Fifty one radio stations belong to the Nutriskwela community network, which states on its website that the programme was launched by the National Nutrition Council in 2008 with the help of the Tambuli Foundation as a “long-term and cost-efficient strategy to address the problem of hunger and malnutrition” throughout the Philippines by using radio – “the most available form of mass media”.

At the end of its first year of broadcasting in 2018, Vinzons was “marooned” by a savage typhoon – Usman (the Philippines averages about 21 typhoons a year in different parts of the country) that killed 156 people. It was vital to communicate to remote parts of community isolated by flooded ricefields and no electricity for three days.

Emergency generator
However, without power the 300 watt Radyo Katabang transmitter was forced off the air. Last year, the municipality responded by funding a 10kva emergency power generator for 250,000 pesos (NZ$7500).

This was a critical investment for the radio station’s important disaster risk management role. Radyo Katabang also maintains a rooftop garden to follow through on its nutrition advice to the community.

As a community station, Radyo Katabang carries no advertising or political news and it relies on municipality funding and donations to keep it afloat.

Community broadcasting in the Philippines faces a difficult mediascape compared with several other Asia-Pacific countries, according to speakers at the fourth AMARC regional conference for Community Radio in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in November 2018.

This was attended by more than 200 broadcasters, networks and civil society organisations, including the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) partner AlterMidya – People’s Alternative Media Network, which has more than 30 member organisations in the Philippines.

“Unlike corporate media newscasts, the stories which appear in our newscast, ALAB Alternatibong Balita [Alternative News], are deeply rooted in the daily struggles of communities of workers, farmers, indigenous peoples, migrants, urban poor, women and youth,” writes Ilang-Ilang Quijano in a WACC Global commentary.

Storytelling in diversity
“The ALAB newscast and public affairs shows are broadcast to member community radio stations and programmes throughout the Philippines.”

Storytelling in newscasts that span diverse communities in several islands, and in local languages “is invaluable”.

Among radio stations in this network are Radyo Sagada, broadcasting in the mountainous Cordillera region and run by mostly indigenous women, and Radyo Lumad 1575AM, a community station run by the Higaonons in central Mindanao.

Back in Vinzons, Radyo Katabang’s programme manager Fely Koy is optimistic about the empowerment future of her Nutriskwela community station in making an impact on public health.

And the meaning of Radyo Katabang? It is a Bicolano word meaning “ally or helper”.

Professor David Robie, director of the Pacific Media Centre, was recently in Vinzons, Camarines Norte, Philippines, on his research sabbatical.

• Radyo Katabang broadcasts on Facebook
• The struggle for community radio in the Philippines

According to a PACNEWS report, a three-day meeting hosted by FAO is expected to take place in Suva this week to contribute a resolution to the crisis.

‘Health and wealth’

The report quoted FAO’s Policy Officer in Fiji, Dr Tim Martyn, who said NCDs threatened the health and wealth of the 34 Small Island Developing States.

“In the Pacific alone, on average, NCDs account for 70 percent of all deaths, in Fiji that number is 80 percent. A third of the regional population suffers from anaemia, and a quarter from vitamin A deficiency.”

He said most of the deaths are preventable, but access to nutritious food would need to be made available and affordable for many.

Dr Martyn said almost a quarter of Fiji’s population suffers from diabetes.

“One outcome is an amputation conducted in one of Fiji’s hospitals every 12 hours.  A third of Fiji’s population is now considered obese, which puts many at a health risk.

‘Just as startling’

“In the Pacific Islands the statistics are just as startling.  Fifty percent of the male population of Tonga is estimated to be obese, the highest prevalence out of 188 countries worldwide; and over 45 percent of American Samoa’s population have diabetes. Indeed, the Pacific has the highest rate of diabetes in the world.”

The FAO are expected to host up to 40 representatives from the three geographic SIDS regions: Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and South China Sea (AIMS), the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

The meeting is expected to review and update the draft Action Plan which responds to the food and nutrition challenges faced by SIDS.

• Read the full report on PACNEWS
• FAO’s draft prospectus of this weeks meeting in Suva

The AUT Food Network has celebrated the commercial launch of the Nothing Else bar, a milestone achievement after years of rigorous research and taste trials.

The Nothing Else bar is a healthy snack bar, made up of just eight simple ingredients – the date and almond flavour contains oats, dates, almonds, oat bran, manuka honey, sunflower oil, flaxseed (linseed) and cinnamon.

The bars are not only more nutritious than typical muesli bars, but also have a low glycaemic index (GI) to keep hunger pangs at bay for longer.

The bars are now being manufactured and distributed by South Auckland food manufacturer AB Foods, in consultation with Auckland University of Technology’s professor of nutrition Elaine Rush and advertising creativity lecturer Dave Brown, who created the Nothing Else brand.

The product has been four years in the making, and was commercialised through AUT Enterprises Ltd (AUTEL).

Professor Rush says the collaboration brought organisations, experts and partners from many disciplines together, with the goal of providing a healthier food choice for consumers.

“Globally, there is a call for better value food. Yet there’s no shortage of unhealthy food in the market, so we need to work harder to improve the nutrition of New Zealanders – one bar at a time,” she says.

Ingredient transparency
On the creation of the Nothing Else brand, Brown explains it was specifically designed to be transparent about products’ ingredients.

“Consumers are surrounded by product labels with tempting yet questionable health claims. By being upfront and displaying the familiar, natural ingredients that go into Nothing Else products, we’re making it easier for customers to make their own choices,” he says.

The Nothing Else team has also introduced a vegan option for consumers, adding to the original date and almond bar with the addition of a cranberry and cashew version.

“The new flavour contains the sugar in the sweetened cranberries, rather than honey, making this bar a suitable option for consumers following a vegan diet,” says Professor Rush.