Linking Agricultural Research and Rural Radio in Africa (LARRRA)

The LARRRA strategy aims to allow for greater "voice" and participation of local farmers, thereby creating a two-way flow of communication and information; top-down information diffusion is rejected. The LARRRA project posits that lasting and empowering relationships have to be learned, a process that involves team-building and the change of assumptions, attitudes, and behaviours towards partnership and partner stakeholders. The idea is that joint engagement can be accomplished through dialogue that creates change in interpersonal behaviours, within the partnership, and within the participating research and radio stations as a result of this partnership. To read more about this process and to view a graphic that details the LARRRA "learning to link" model, click here.

Grounded in this rationale, the project began with two activities: a review of relevant work by international and national organisations on research/radio linkages, and an assessment of needs and organisational constraints for creating formalised institutional linkages between and among agricultural researchers, extension workers, and rural radio broadcasters. The results of the initial project Training Needs Assessment (TNA) were then developed into a plan for team capacity building that is published as a training module and training kit that is organised in two interrelated sets of content: (1) facilitating partnership between researchers and broadcasters, and (2) mobilising financial resources for research/radio collaboration. The module was initially tested in a week long field workshop in Kumasi, Ghana in July 2002; it is also being adapted and translated into French for use in the Dakar. The English version may be downloaded in PDF format by clicking here.

Capacity building workshops drawing on this manual are carried out for local, Africa-based LARRRA teams (click here to read more about these teams). This process begins with a competitive process of "team applications" from researchers, broadcasters, extension workers and/or farmers. This process is designed to build consensus and raise awareness about potential disconnects between science and society.

The LARRRA website is a tool for sharing information about the project and for providing access to the tools that have emerged from the process. For instance, the "Resources" section includes a knowledge base, learning materials, and a worldwide directory of organisations and universities working in agricultural research. Publications that have emerged from LARRRA are detailed here.

Agriculture, Nutrition, Poverty.

Organisers stress the importance of rural radio as a communication channel in Africa. On that continent, according to the BBC World Service, there were an estimated 65 million radio receivers by the end of 1996. In contrast, by the end of the 1990s, there were approximately 12 newspapers, 52 televisions, and 198 radios for every 1000 Africans (Niang, 2001). Organisers state that, over the past few decades in rural regions of Africa, the evolution of low-cost radio stations broadcasting from local communities has meant that many rural communities are increasingly able to share information. "While these rural communities may have gained access, there is, at the same time, a growing sense that the findings of researchers are not reaching those who need it most: the small-holding farmers and fishers of Africa's rural communities." Organisers feel that rural radio broadcasters have a mandate to provide relevant information that enables audiences to strengthen their agricultural capacities, augment their livelihoods, and achieve greater community engagement.

LARRRA uses research to highlight and address the connection between rural radio and food security/poverty alleviation goals. Organisers explain that international and national agricultural research has produced a wide range of technologies for resource-poor farmers. In some cases, these results have contributed to national food security by, for instance, overcoming important crop or animal diseases or improving environmental and economic sustainability of farming systems. However, organisers urge, this does not mean that agricultural research has not contributed to worsening food security, possibly due to the release of inappropriate technologies. For this reason, they say, it is essential that farmers and scientists communicate and work together. Platforms for "open access" information and communication, they urge, need to be created in order to address the underlying causes of hunger and poverty - and to overcome these development challenges.