Fighting For Survival

This is Samuel and Arash from Radio Fri. Samuel's looking worried. He's got a lot on his shoulders. He needs to figure out how his radio programme is going to survive. Samuel heads up Fanzingo, the Swedish NGO behind Radio Fri, the weekly radio programme which gives young offenders a platform to express themselves. Arash is one of the project leaders and radio producers. The road ahead is uncertain.

They've been very generous with their time, contacts and expertise and have given me a real insight into how young offenders are cared for in Sweden, as well as Swedish life and culture more generally. Today I was able to give a little bit back.

Samuel arranged a breakfast meeting, inviting members of the Swedish prison service, programme makers from Radio Sweden, the head of a commercial media organisation, a senior lecturer in social work from Stockholm University and some of his own staff. I was asked to give a presentation about the way National Prison Radio (NPR) works in England and Wales, and was very happy to do so, even though I finishing my secondment as Head of Prison Radio two weeks ago. I described how successful NPR is with both prisoners and NOMS (National Offender Management Service) and emphasised the main objective which is reducing reoffending. I described the strict editorial and security guidelines around content and contributors.

Everyone's eye contact, body language and questions told me they were engaged and genuinely interested in what they were hearing. They were extremely impressed by NPR and thought it was professional, slick and brave. The academic felt it was a very progressive approach to take.

I sense my presentation was successful in its own right, but having a representative from Prison Radio in the UK, who's also a BBC staff member and Winston Churchill Fellow, helped Samuel bring these key players together in the same place, giving him the chance to highlight his specific situation. My presentation also provided him with a useful, wider context to fit into.

He stressed his organisation's commitment to Radio Fri, the young offenders' programme heard each Friday on a Stockholm community radio station. Samuel explained that funding for the project runs out in January 2016 and without a replacement source the programme could ultimately fold.