Soul Beat Africa

• * RADIO PROJECTS to strengthen radio stations and promote women farmers...
• * RESEARCH REPORTS on radio for peace building and gender equity...
• * EVALUATIONS of a radio revenue generation project and a political discussion programme...
• * RESOURCE MATERIALS on working with children and creating sustainable radio stations...

• 1. Empowering Local Radios with ICTs - Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia Running from 2012 to 2014, this project is working to build the capacity of 32 local radio stations in 7 African countries, with the overall goal of strengthening free, independent, and pluralistic media, as well as encouraging civic participation and gender-responsive communication for sustainable development. The project is helping local radios to improve the quality of broadcasts by building information, communication, and technology (ICT) skills, increasing the range of local news coverage, and improving gender equality and financial sustainability.
  
  
• 2. Radio Platform for Community Development (RPCD) - Malawi, Mozambique, and ZambiaThis one year project was launched in 2013 by the Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf), in collaboration with the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), to empower economically poor and marginalised communities in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia with development information in order to facilitate effective participation in development processes. The project intends to build the capacity of radio stations to accept and encourage development content produced by local members of their community through radio listening clubs and other community groups.
  
  
• 3. Her Farm Radio Initiative - Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana The Her Farm Radio initiative is a series of radio projects developed by Farm Radio International (FRI) which are designed to tune into the voice and knowledge needs of women farmers. Officially launched in July 2013, Her Farm Radio includes projects that use radio drama, participatory radio, and reality radio programmes. The initiative recognises that women's unique role in society must be met with programming that enables them to access, share, and interact with the information they need to increase food security for their families.
  
  
• 4. African Farm Radio Results Initiative 2 - Mali, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and Malawi Launched in January 2011, African Farm Radio Results Initiative (AFRRI-2) is a 36-month project designed to build the effectiveness of radio organisations and broadcasters in helping small holder farmers in Africa to adopt more productive and sustainable farming practices. The programme focuses on building human capacity as well as supporting the continuation of modest action research activities to discover and introduce new ways of using ICTS to enhance farm radio and to assess the longer-term impact of AFRRI's participatory radio campaigns.
  
  
• 5. Cocoa Farmers Livelihood Project - Sierra LeoneLaunched by BBC Media Action in 2011, the Cocoa Farmers Livelihood Project is working to build farmers' skills, increase the quality and amount of cocoa they produce, and encourage more people to take up farming to support themselves and their families. Combining radio drama and talks shows, community work, and distance learning, the project intends to reach 140,000 current and potential cocoa farmers in Eastern Sierra Leone.
  
  
• 6. Dukan Karshe - NigeriaRoughly meaning "the last straw" in the Hausa language, Dukan Karshe, was a nine-part radio series broadcast in 11 northern states of Nigeria between March and May 2013 to guide young Nigerians on how the political process works and how to push for reforms. The series was intended to encourage political participation by women and youth, who are traditionally marginalised in northern Nigeria, by reinforcing the idea that they are capable leaders and can run for office without upsetting religious or cultural sensibilities. The series was produced by Forward in Action for Education, Poverty, and Malnutrition (FACE-PAM), with support from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the United States Agency for International Development, and the United Kingdom Department for International Development.
  
  

• 10. The Wanakonnect Pilot Project: Using Mobile Money to Create a Revenue System for Local Radio Stations [June, 2012]By Angela Crandall and Leonida MutukuPublished by the Internews Center for Innovation and Learning, this report discusses findings from Kenya on the impact of the Wanakonnect dedications pilot project for local community radio stations and their interaction with the community. The community radio stations participating in the pilot project offer special dedication and greeting programmes that allow community members to send greetings to friends and family on air. Overall, the report notes that the Wanakonnect system is a feasible concept that is liked by all stakeholders, including community listeners.
  
  
• 11. Village Voices for Development: A Study in the Use of Radio to Promote Human Rights and Enable Citizens to Act on their Rights to Information and Freedom of Speech in Southern Madagascar [May, 2013]By Yvonne Orengo and Nicola HarfordThis report shares results from the Village Voices for Development (VVD) project in Madagascar, designed to use radio as a tool to empower and enable citizens to learn about, understand, and act upon their rights to information and freedom of expression. The project was implemented by the Andrew Lees Trust in partnership with Andry Lalana Tohana (ALT). The evaluation assessed citizen's access to the programmes as well as their understanding about and ability to act on their human rights to information and freedom of expression.
  
  
• 12. Tanzania: Audience Feedback on Haba na Haba (Little by Little)[September, 2013]This 2-page summary shares audience feedback about Haba na Haba, a weekly discussion programme broadcast by the BBC Swahili service. The programme covers issues relevant to local communities in Tanzania and invites politicians and public figures into the studio to address concerns raised by the programme and audiences. According to the summary report, overall Haba na Haba was viewed by audiences as a programme that provides a meaningful forum for discussion between leaders and citizens. Audiences felt that the programme offered an opportunity to challenge government officials in Tanzania and hold them to account.
  
  

• 13. Linking Generations Through Radio: A Toolkit From Africa for Radio Producers Working with Children and Youth [2013]By Yumna Martin, Clémence Petit Perrot, and Mike RahfaldtPublished by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), this radio toolkit is designed to give community radio stations the knowledge, tools, and skills to get young people involved in producing radio at the local level. It provides examples to allow free exchange of ideas between girls and boys and to increase awareness of radio producers and managers about ethical and legal requirements particularly when working with minors. It was designed to serve as a routine training or programming handbook in radio stations, a reference and resource for young people, and an advocacy tool to inform policy makers and the general public.
  
  
• 14. The Healthy Community Radio Station [2013]This handbook, published by Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), outlines in detail the nature and form of healthy radio stations: how their governing structures should be set up; how they should be staffed and managed; what infrastructure and financial management systems have to be in place; how to produce quality programming; and how to ensure real community participation in all aspects of their daily work. The booklet first presents a detailed description of what a healthy community radio station in the southern African context looks like and also includes a 'health check tool', which allows one to conduct a diagnosis of the 'fitness' of a community radio station.
  
  
• 15. Sustainability of Community Radios Training Guides [2012]Published by Search for Common Ground (SFCG), this series of ten modules provides guidance on different aspects of management and operations within community radio stations. This includes areas related to administrative management, resource generation, financial tools, marketing strategies, and guidelines for programming. The modules are based on a training programme that SFCG has been implementing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to support the development and sustainable management of community radio stations as a tool for peacebuilding and strategic communication.
  
  
• 16. 75 Ways to Fix Your Farmer Programme [December, 2012]By Doug Ward and Marvin HankeFarm Radio International has published a list of tips for broadcasters who want to improve their farmer programmes. According to the authors, radio, more than any other medium, speaks the language of farmers and farmers count on radio to provide them with the information they need, when they need it. Farmers also want radio to include them in discussions of how best to grow the crops that feed their families, and how to make some money at the market. Too often, however, radio lets farmers down as it does not contain the information they need and the information is given by professors, politicians, and agricultural product promoters - not by farmers themselves.
  
  

• The Soul Beat 227 - Media for Development - Resources for Journalists
• The Soul Beat 214 - Radio for Development