Radio Pata makes a case:
-for acknowledging the need for institutional transformation with the same emphasis as community transformation (as opposed to expecting that community empowerment will solve structural imbalances)
-for treating intra-community power dynamics and intra-institutional power dynamics as equal barriers that can block the adoption of social innovation (as opposed to assuming the administration as an ideal bureaucracy)
-for “slow” innovation of social relations (as opposed to the accelerated development cycles of technological innovation)
-for human facilitated innovation of social relations (as opposed to the current trend of automatizing human interaction for sakes of scalability)
-for trust, creation of safe places, an emphatic, non-threatening approach as prerequisites for intra- and inter-community dialogue (as opposed to assuming these by default)
-for applying restorative practices (as opposed to overlooking trauma caused by structural violence)

Currently Radio Pata is in the alpha testing phase. This means the team has already:
-co-designed the app interface
-programmed the app
-trained radio personnel
-trained anchors, reporters
-recruited volunteers
-acquired radio equipment (mics, mixers, laptops, recorders, server space)
-bought a van (a Mercedes Vito) to transform it into a mobile radio studio
-recorded 20 hours of audio material.
Right now the team is assembling the parts, i.e.
-checking the app for errors/usability problems
-doing trial runs with the crew
-testing the equipment
During this period, the team may:
-return to the design pad (redesign the app)
-further train the crew
-enhance the equipment.

Members of the Roma community in Pata Rât: community needs, user interface requirements, programme structure, programme content
Community Association of the Roma from Coastei: community participation/facilitation
AltArt Foundation: community facilitation, software development
Radio Cluj: studio equipment use, demo recordings, coaching
Cluj City Hall, European Commission: (co)financing of workshops

Main stakeholder: the 2,000-strong Roma community in Pata Rât
-co-producing/co-owning the radio
-informing/organizing themselves
-accessing social services
-connecting to the city
-combating racism
The citizens of Cluj-Napoca
-connecting to the first community radio of Cluj
-opening intercultural horizons
-reducing racism
Government officials
-optimizing social service delivery with real-time information/feedback
-changing methodologies
-combating structural racism

Results/Impacts so far:
Level of community trust increased - regular meetings with the Roma community Association from the Pata Rât ghetto are taking place.
Community involved - 12 youth participated in over 30 workshops in the past 2 years.
Professionals involved - 4 theatre professionals, 2 psychologists, 2 community facilitators engaged
Public institutions addressed - contact made with 2 public service providers to integrate the Radio Pata platform in their service delivery

Expected:
Reach - over 22,000 listeners by the end of 2024, streaming 7 types of public services through the app.
Status - at this moment there is no community radio in Cluj. The ambition of Radio Pata is to set the standard for an intercultural radio promoting social equity.
Porting: By 2026 Radio Pata aims to have its first porting implemented. Interested communities include Plovdiv (Bg) and Izmir (Tk).

Challenges:

1. Community trust broken
Being a vulnerable and traumatized medium, trust is breaking down easily.
Addressed with: transparent communication and constant presence in the community.

2. Structural oppression and institutional racism
Addressed with: patience and diplomacy.

3. Financing uncertainties
Addressed with: writing applications, reaching out to corporations.

Failures:
As the context sketched above shows, the project has been a rollercoaster of failures and successes.
Still, it suffered no failure that could be quoted as major sofar.

1. Community adoption of Radio Pata in the long run: this will require constant community facilitation and conflict management.
2. Radio personnel trained: in collaboration with Radio Cluj.
3. Minimum financial resources provided: this will require EUR 2,000 per month to be raised after the social business is transferred to the community
4. Co-decisioning: will need to be fostered by all partners.
5. Institutional collaboration: the team needs to develop an open and supportive relationship the social service providers.
6. Roma activism: it will need also the continuous support of the Community Association of the Roma from Coastei.

Radio Pata is a pilot project. Regarding its portability potential: the number of marginalized communities may be comparable to the number of cities in Europe. Today there are over 12M Roma in Europe, most of them facing marginalisation.

By proposing a Toolkit, the project ensures the portability of its methodology for empowering other communities living in marginalisation and deep poverty (e.g. marginalised local communities, refugee camps) in Europe.

Importing the Radio Pata methodology in a community means fostering:
1. creative expression of cultural identity; 2. development of community cohesion/local pride; 3. planning/implementation/upscale of community processes and projects; 4. sharing public social service information; 5. better connection of citizens; 6. connecting with local public service provider institutions.

In recent years a number of social services have been improved using digital communication technologies. However, technology is far from being a panaceum universalis. The use of “innovative” technologies will not render public governance “more innovative” and even less “more democratic” by default. When relationships between the social stakeholders are unbalanced or broken, technologies may as well just regenerate non-horizontal or even oppressive relations (e.g. between public institutions and citizens). Again, social innovations do not become disruptive solely by using “disruptive technologies” - they will do so only when disrupting social relations. Therefore, in terms of democratising public service provision “disruptive innovation” must mean - beyond improving the efficiency of public service provision - changing the relation between the duty-holder and the rights-bearer to create a more inclusive and democratic society.

Rather then revolving around the Radio Pata-Cluj mobile application, the project sets the platform in motion relying heavily on “analogue” social technologies:
-community facilitation
-institutional facilitation
-mediation (through restorative justice among stakeholders).
In fact, Radio Pata-Cluj must be an intervention project built on facilitation technologies.

Radio Pata will
-stream a 24/7 community radio, with the station programme produced by the Pata Rât community / later also the larger Cluj community
-pipeline social services for the community provided by the local public administration
-facilitate community initiatives
-generate data on social service provision (demand, supply, profiles of the clients, level of satisfaction etc.)
-facilitate communication among community members and local public administration
The platform will implement
-a channel for self-expression, cultural empowerment, a sense of self-respect and local pride of the community
-a social bonding tool to activate community members participation and self-organizing (by access to information, knowledge sharing and expanded capacity for developing initiatives for solving community problems)
-a tool to connect the Pata Rât community with the larger social body of Cluj-Napoca
-a tool that facilitates the opening of the public institution for dialogue