The Power of Talk: Media and Accountability in Three African Countries

This 24-page policy brief draws on BBC Media Action’s experience of delivering the five-year media support project "A National Conversation" in Angola, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania. The project worked with media organisations to encourage improved transparency, accountability, and participation. The brief discusses successes, challenges, and learnings from the project and argues "that the media’s role as a force for accountability - especially in fragile states or emerging democracies - is complex and the most effective strategies tend to be those which are grounded in the cultural and political contexts of the countries concerned."

The brief includes an outline of the project components. Programme production was a core aspect as the project supported weekly radio programmes with local partners using discussion, magazine, and drama formats. These programmes included Fo Rod, Tok Bot Salone, and We Yone Voice (Our Voice) in Sierra Leone, Estrada da Vida and 100 Duvidas in Angola, and Haba na Haba in Tanzania. The other core project aspect was strengthening the capacity of partner radio stations and mentoring production teams.

According to the brief, one of the key lessons learned from "A National Conversation" is that media formats that encourage citizens to "demand" services from leaders could at times risk alienating public officials or the audiences the programmes sought to serve, especially in fragile states. Demand focused strategies are sometimes not rooted in the local context and reality. "In contrast, working with the media to create trustworthy spaces that brought disparate groups together to discuss, mediate, and collectively problem-solve – especially at the local level – often proved more effective at engaging governments and citizens alike." Such approaches require that strategies be flexible, allowing for adaptation along the way. This flexibility during the "A National Conversation" project allowed approaches to be modified based on what was working, and what wasn’t.

The third section of the brief discusses lessons learned and impact in the three countries in greater detail. It was found that the radio programmes helped to develop a culture of questioning and allowed media to open up discussions between citizens and leaders around issues such as access to water, poor health services, or unemployment. As well, the programmes sparked discussion not just on air but off air as well. People who listened to the show generally had higher levels of political knowledge and were more likely to participate in politics. For example, "Of regular listeners surveyed, 59% in Angola, 87% in Sierra Leone and 80% in Tanzania reported increased knowledge of key governance issues as a result of listening to the project's programming." Overall, programmes that focused on local, day to day issues had the greatest appeal and resonance.

The brief also outlines challenges the project encountered. At times, leaders do not respect media as a tool of accountability, and so are reluctant to be interviewed by the media. At the same time, audiences sometimes were more interested in how media could provide solutions to day-to-day problems than in holding leaders directly to account. In addition, in some cases, it was not always clear who to hold accountable for what.

Based on the project experiences, the brief offers a number of conclusions. In general, interventions that seek to prompt discourse and use "locally embedded approaches to governance support that are both adaptive and reflective" will be the most successful.

The briefing's main conclusions for policy-makers and practitioners are as follows:

• Audiences like talking - The project experienced an "overwhelmingly positive response of audiences to the novelty of platforms that brought ordinary people face to face with public officials, community leaders and service providers."
• There is no substitute for political freedom - Media has a very important role to play in accountability and governance, yet its effectiveness is supported or constrained by the reality of the political context in which it is operating.
• The "watchdog" model of the media is, if conceived in isolation from other approaches, overly simplistic - Similarly as the above point, traditionally held notions of media as "watchdog" need to be understood within the local operating context, and appropriate strategies applied.
• Creating opportunities for collective problem-solving - Opening spaces for dialogue and collective problem solving may help to effect real change on the ground, "This is especially true where such discussion would have been previously impossible."
• Audiences respond to issues which affect their day-to-day lives - Programmes focusing on issues affecting daily lives were more well received, yet this does not mean that national level issues can't or shouldn’t be addressed, and "localising national issues such as corruption allows for greater audience engagement because it resonates with people’s everyday lives."
• Development initiatives that aim to foster improved governance through the media must be flexible and responsive - "Creating opportunities for internal learning, flexibility and a non-linear approach to delivering intended impact can allow teams to learn and implement improvements throughout the project life cycle."